should mlb change their playoff format like the nba?
it seems that barely anybody goes inside the playoffs. only 4 teams in each conference goes inside the playoffs. in the nba, 8 teams on each conference goes inside the playoffs. I think MLB should change the amount of teams allowed in each conference to be 8. Here's why.
1. More games in the playoff season. It seems kind of odd that the nba has more playoff games than the mlb even thought the mlb has twice as many in the regular season 2. More underdogs can win the playoffs. Look at the 94 Rockets where they were the sixth seed. 3. More teams in the playoffs mean more fans watching the playoffs, resulting in better ratings. 3. *MOST IMPORTANT ONE* make every team who deserves to be in the the playoffs be in the playoffs. There are weak divisions and strong ones. Strong ones might have a few teams that have better records than the weak division's best team. the weak division's best team is allowed to be in the playoffs while the others teams, fighting for the wildcard, can't even though they had a better record than the weak division's team. that does not seem fair.
-they should let the best teams from each division to be selected in the playoffs and another 5 teams with the best record to be entered in the playoffs too for each conference. DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE.with this new format
Fozzy2009-09-02T23:42:12Z
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I'll take your points one at a time. 1. More games in the playoff season. Of course the NBA has more playoff games. And the reason is simple - that they allow half of the league to make the playoffs. As for the length of the season being different, that is simple - baseball can be played nearly everyday. But you never want to see an NBA team play for a couple of weeks straight - they never even play more than 2 days in a row. But the mere existence of more playoff games is not a guarantee that the playoffs are better in the NBA - for every upset there are 3 series that end yup being blowouts because you have a team that wins 60 - 65 games playing against a team that might be a .500 team or so. (Look at the last 2 seasons - both years saw 3 teams with a winning percentage of .500 or worse making the playoffs) 2. More underdogs can win. First off, the 1994 NBA champion Rockets were NOT a sixth seed. The 1995 team was. And in their case, they still had a winning record (47-35) Unfortunately, again, you could have a mediocre team simply getting lucky. 3. Make every team that deserves to be in the playoffs be in the playoffs. Sorry, but to me a .500 team does not deserve to be in the playoffs in any sport. The playoffs should be about the best teams, not simply the teams at .500 or better. Again, let's look at history here. If the top 8 teams from each league made the playoffs, the Al would have had the Indians playing in 2008 (as the eight seed) with a regular season of 81-81. So an incredibly average team would be in the playoffs. And in 2007 the Twins would have been in with a record of 79-83. And while perhaps you would see more people watching playoff games, you also might see a drop in regular season viewing. If a fan knows that his team has a 50 % chance of being in the playoffs, how much will he care about the regular season? Also - you need to think of the logistics. If you were to have 8 playoff series running at a time in baseball, maybe 5 games spread over 6 or 7 days apiece, you may have 8 games played on a single day. And you are going to be playing those games at a time when other sports are starting their season - the NFL will basically own Sunday afternoons, you will have college football being played on Saturday (and during the week as well), So how do you broadcast these games? Do you make an effort to have fans see as many as possible? Or is it more likely that you will have more regional games - in other words, you may have 6 games all being played at the same time, but the folks in Philadelphia might just get the Phillies game. So all you will actually be doing is splitting the audience into smaller segments. And do you really want to have your team's broadcast be relegated to the eighth slot? Do you want to go so far down in the talent pool as to have Fox or ESPN using their 8th best announcers on that game? Scary thought. And as far as I'm concerned, the only people that need to be concerned about ratings are network executives and advertisers. I personally don't care if the World Series has 20 million or 100 million viewers. Too many variables come into play with those things - what cities are represented, etc. To water down your playoffs simply to draw fans is not only silly, but may eventually result in lower ratings. People want to see the good teams playing in October, not the mediocre ones.
The reason for only 4 teams making the playoffs is simple - the regular season is considered more important in MLB than it is in the NBA. To allow average, and in some cases, below average teams to make the playoffs would diminish the importance of the regular season. Sports that have half the teams making the playoffs (not just the NBA - the NHL does it as well) are basically allowing teams to simply worry about surviving the regular season and then hoping to get hot at the right time.
I will agree with you on one point - it is a shame that a team may miss the playoffs because they are in a strong division. Maybe the leagues should go to a balanced schedule, eliminate the divisions, and just have the 4 best teams go into the playoffs. But the answer to that problem is not to reward teams for mediocrity. Having a sub .500 team in the playoffs is definitely not the solution to that particular problem.
If the season were to end today, the Minnesota Twins would be the 5th Wildcard at 67-66. One game over .500 is not playoff worthy. They're 18 games behind the Yankees, the best record in the league!
The Cubs would be the NL's 5th with only a slightly better record at 67-64.
Sending more than half the teams to the post-season is ludicrous.
I don't buy in to the weak division-strong division argument either because a 5-team division has 72 divisional games. The weak AL Central teams ought to be able to beat up on the other AL Central teams. And if they can't, they're not making it more than a week in to the post-season anyway.
Disagree. You have to think of something else with baseball that isn't a factor in basketball...the weather. If you add another round to the baseball playoffs then the World Series won't even begin until November. This wouldn't be a problem if theres 2 southern teams in the World Series but usually there is atleast 1 team from the North in the World Series and it gets cold fast. You cant have players out there in 35 degree weather playing baseball. Too many people would get hurt. Whether it be throwing out their arms or tearing or pulling muscles.
Edit: And to your point about every team who deserves to be in the playoffs gets to be in the playoffs. I think the NBA needs to redo their playoff system. Every year theres 2 or 3 teams that aren't even a .500 team in the playoffs. Theres no way you can say that they are deserving.
I disagree but i think they can go to a NFL format with 6 teams per League and the top 2 division winners get a bye. You can make this happen pretty easy without making the season longer. (Add 3 early season doubleheaders back on the schedule and I am not saying the day night kind. I am saying 3 for the price of one kind.) I think you do this cause the only teams making the post season are the high salary teams. You also can sell another round of playoffs as part of the TV DEAL.
I follow basketball only in the vaguest terms, but I do know the NBA postseason drags on for two months, with ridiculous amounts of off days in order to let television have the schedule it wants, and the first round amounts to little more than eight sacrificial lambs getting eliminated. All of which happens in indoor, air-conditioned comfort. Yawn.
Does anyone ever pop up in the basketball (or hockey, or football) groups and propose that that league should consider trimming down the size of its postseason field ("like baseball")?