OPINIONS ON NEW FORMAT FOR DIVISIONAL SERIES

I personally think this is a dumb idea and it takes away home field advantage from the higher seed. To me the biggest part of home field advantage is starting at home and a chance to get off to a good start. having to travel and play on the road as the higher seed just doesnt make since to me, off course if you win 2 on the road its a huge advantage but I just dont get it. what is the reasoning behind this ? to save travel time and days off ??? do they think the lower seed is at that big a disadvantage its not like a 8 playing a 1... I just dont get it

I love it. Division titles mean something again. The higher seed only needs to split one of the first two road games and the series goes totally in its favor.

I agree with the OP
The higher seed gets games 3 4 & 5 at home - thus homefield advantage
BUT in the history of 5 game playoffs in MLB - game 5 is only been played 25%
Sooo where's the home field advantage for the higher seeds??

IMHO this is only done this way because 1) it gives the lower seed teams 2 home games guaranteed ticket revenue
2) instead of 2 2 1 schedule it is 2 3 with one less travel day - and the less likelyhood of having a WS game around Thanksgiving

All I can say is THANKS BUD !!!

Don't forget the two wildcard teams have to play a game versus each other and waste their Ace, energy, etc. right? So they head into this game 1 and they are already behind the 8-ball IMO.

^ not true for the 2vs3 like my A's

I just read and it says it is only because the travel time to save a day of travel because there is no wiggle room due to the 1 game wild card play in game.

I still think that it's stupid if that's the case make it 3 at home for the higher seed then 2 road if you want real home field advantage & to save a travel day

I can't wait for a few years down the road when Buddy Boy turns these baseball playoffs into just like those in Hockey & Basketball - 16 - 18 teams make the playoffs

Everybody WINS !

Just another Dumb Idea by a Dumb Commisioner...

I liked the Original WC add and SOME inter-league BTW so I'm not just anti-Bud about everything. But just about! :lol:

rum151man said:

I just read and it says it is only because the travel time to save a day of travel because there is no wiggle room due to the 1 game wild card play in game.

I still think that it's stupid if that's the case make it 3 at home for the higher seed then 2 road if you want real home field advantage & to save a travel day

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But But But.... then the lower seed may not reap any home game ticket & concession revenue if they get swept in 3 games

Next year it's going back to 2-2-1.

This was announced very early.

Mahoody said:

But But But.... then the lower seed may not reap any home game ticket & concession revenue if they get swept in 3 games

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thats why it should be 2-2-1

vwnut13 said:

Next year it's going back to 2-2-1.

This was announced very early.

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I saw this too but why change it for just 1 year and divisional only whats the big deal with one extra day ??? if it even happens

Everyone forgets that it made the last weeks of the regular season more exciting.

Not saying I don't like the 2 wild cards just the Format of the divisional series with the higher seed starting on the road for 2 games

Mahoody said:

I can't wait for a few years down the road when Buddy Boy turns these baseball playoffs into just like those in Hockey & Basketball - 16 - 18 teams make the playoffs

Everybody WINS !

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As long as they never do this, I will not complain.

I'm not sure why it matters where they play the first game or two. It's not like the fans are hitting or pitching. They yell and clap and that's about it. Professional baseball players deal with the repetitiveness of fans cheering enough times during the regular season that it really shouldn't give one team an advantage over the other. To say you lost a series because you didn't have homefield advantage or because you couldn't play the first two games at home is a lame excuse.

petMonster said:

I'm not sure why it matters where they play the first game or two. It's not like the fans are hitting or pitching. They yell and clap and that's about it. Professional baseball players deal with the repetitiveness of fans cheering enough times during the regular season that it really shouldn't give one team an advantage over the other. To say you lost a series because you didn't have homefield advantage or because you couldn't play the first two games at home is a lame excuse.

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tell that to the braves fans that clearly had an effect of them not catching that ball even though they got hosed on that call. so your telling me when grant balfour comes in, in the 9th inning it is going to be the same in detroit for him as in Oakland. not to mention having to travel across country to play on the road when your the higher seed.... its a joke

petMonster said:

I'm not sure why it matters where they play the first game or two. It's not like the fans are hitting or pitching. They yell and clap and that's about it. Professional baseball players deal with the repetitiveness of fans cheering enough times during the regular season that it really shouldn't give one team an advantage over the other. To say you lost a series because you didn't have homefield advantage or because you couldn't play the first two games at home is a lame excuse.

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you have obviously have no experience in this situation because home field advantge does make a big difference. why do almost all teams have better home records ???????

I hate that the wild card teams get an extra day off between the Wild Card game and the Division Series.

And then they get to start at home?

rum151man said:

you have obviously have no experience in this situation because home field advantge does make a big difference. why do almost all teams have better home records ???????

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Umm, what kind of experience do YOU have in this situation? Are you a former major leaguer or something? As for homefield advantage being a very real, tangible thing...don't site statistics and tell me it's scientific fact. If you look at the regular season home/away splits this year for all teams, you will find that it's relatively even (with the exception of the NL central) considering a 162 game season. From what you're saying, you'd think all teams have a .125 win% when playing away, and .875% when playing at home. This is not the case.

As for home records in the post season...considering that the better teams usually have homefield advantage to start a series, and the first 2 games are at home, I would EXPECT that the home team more often than not wins these first two games, and that pads the homefield advantage argument in your favor by quite a bit. Find me stats for the lower seeded teams playing at home and I bet it tells a different story. I will try to find some numbers myself. But regardless, these are just statistics which can always be misleading.

And btw, it's unfair of you to assume that the Cardinals "infield fly" drop was 100% attributed to the fans. I see home players get mixed up on routine fly balls all season long....just watch the NOT Top 10 sometime. How do the fans play into that? They don't. Players make errors sometimes.