Expanded playoffs looking more like a reality

gt2590 · Nov 17, 2010

Reports out of the owners' meetings are saying It's looking more and more like a reality that they will be an extra round of playoffs.

The exact have to be ironed out, especially length of each round, but it hasn't been ruled out for 2011.

Personally, I hate the idea. Not 'cuz it's different, I embraced the Wild Card idea (and interleague) and still think it's very good. Four more teams just seems like too much to me. I like that the regular season in baseball is so important and makes it unique among the major North American sports.

I can live with a proposed 1 game playoff among the Wild Cards only, giving the Division Winners more rest. But even the extra time off backfires some time. This year, for instance, I think it killed the Rangers' pitching.

Anyway, anybody else wanna share their thoughts?

sheetskout · Nov 17, 2010

I am not in favor for further expansion of the playoffs. /Opinion

muskiesfan · Nov 17, 2010

I don't think that the playoffs need to be expanded either. Honestly, it just seems to me that baseball wants to go year round. The season is too damn long already. Adding more teams to the playoffs is only going to make it that much longer.

I guess we'll have a Christmas World Series one of these years.

TBTwinsFan · Nov 17, 2010

muskiesfan said:
I don't think that the playoffs need to be expanded either. Honestly, it just seems to me that baseball wants to go year round. The season is too damn long already. Adding more teams to the playoffs is only going to make it that much longer.

I guess we'll have a Christmas World Series one of these years.

It will be the year the Twins FINALLY make it too...

Zambrano38 · Nov 17, 2010

I don't see the point. They play a 162 game regular season. It's bad enough in the NBA where half the teams make the playoffs.

joey12508 · Nov 17, 2010

if they go to a extra round, they would have to go to a 154 game season. its going to be hard to get all teams on board. jmo

TenaciousJDD · Nov 18, 2010

I haven't read anything yet about a proposal to add four more teams. If that is the case I think it would be a horrible idea.

What I'm in favor of is a second wild card in each league. The two wild card teams would play a best-of-3 play-in series beginning the day after the regular season ends. All games would be played at the home field of the wild card with the best record to (a) eliminate any need for travel days and (b) reward the team with the better record. The importance of the regular season would also remain intact as the team with the best record in each league would theoretically go into the Division Series with an advantage over a wild card team that has just played at least two additional high leverage games (the rule prohibiting teams from the same division playing in the first round would have to be eliminated for this to work best).

For those who argue that this would extend the season deep into November there is a simple solution: Day/night doubleheaders one Sunday a month for each team. This would cut a week off of the regular season without reducing gate revenue the way cutting the schedule would.

If the plan Selig puts together looks something like this I would be really pleased.

rsmath · Nov 18, 2010

I'm definitely not in favor of expanded playoffs.

162 games is pretty good at separating the wheat from the chaff and I also MLB is not the NHL or NBA. MLB is better because only a few teams go to the playoffs (not about half the league like NHL/NBA) and the playoffs are finished in less than a month - they don't last close to 2 months like the other leagues.

TBTwinsFan · Nov 18, 2010

I am on both sides here...

On one hand, an expanded playoff system would give more teams a chance to prove themselves, one last time. HOWEVER, they had 162, and in some cases 163 games to prove themselves. That is more than enough to decide playoffs,usually.

If they can in-corporate some sort of way to make it so the season length doesn't extend more than a week, I am all for it. I love baseball, but I think there is a point where it gets old, and I need to move onto another sport. This year is hockey for me, because I live in a hockey town, with hockey-enthusiast friends, and I don't know a whole lot about it.

pigskincardboard · Nov 18, 2010

I am thoroughly in favour of expanded playoffs. Baseball has always lagged behind.

The actual playoffs don't matter, but you know what does matter?

Giving an extra 4-5 markets in each league hope in late-august, september and october. Obviously, I watch the AL East, so i'm a bit jaded but I don't see how giving fans a reason to get excited is a bad thing.

For anyone that lives in a City where baseball is over by July/August (probably about 1/2 the league on a yearly basis) this is good news. Just give the customer a reason to go to the game!

If baseball wants to permeate football markets, it's going to have to give people a reason to watch. People in Tampa really don't give a crap because the odds of them actually being in the race are piss-poor. If Tampa goes five years of being in the playoff hunt, baseball itself will pick up. They don't even have to make the playoffs, they just have to keep things interesting until the start of October.

I can understand why you wouldn't want this in already massive baseball markets, but it's good for baseball.

notjomommasclint · Nov 18, 2010

i dont mind more baseball but you are going to have to tighten up the season, tighten up the postseason, and add a spot to the post season roster. if not the freaking season wont end til thanksgiving. the old model of playoffs scheduling (only day off is the travel day) will need to return!

Bosox3 · Nov 18, 2010

Please NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! There is WAY too much baseball being played now.
Feb(players ST report) - Nov......HAHAHA Thats INSANE!

All The Hype · Nov 18, 2010

sheetskout said:
I am not in favor for further expansion of the playoffs. /Opinion

+1

I like the current setup...it keeps them short enough that you stay interested all the way through. Even in the first round games, teams are close enough to the World Series to give the games huge magnitude. I like it that way. The NBA playoffs are so long that the first round games don't even seem meaningful to watch because the teams are still so far from the Championship.

Bornagaincollector · Nov 18, 2010

The rule they should change is if the wildcard team has a better record than a division winner,then the w.c. gets homefield advantage.

gt2590 · Nov 18, 2010

It's being reported that a January vote is probably going to be for the expanded team count starting in 2012, and now it's just a matter of specifics and how exactly it will work.

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