How Would You Fix the Playoffs?

[striker42]

As MLB has added more teams to the playoffs, it seems to have created more issues that MLB hasn't always addressed. So I'm curious how everyone would change the playoffs to improve them. I'm personally assuming that the number of teams stays the same as I doubt MLB is ever going to decrease the number of playoff games and give up that money.

The biggest problem for me is that the regular season is increasingly irrelevant. Baseball isn't like football where the better team will most often win a single matchup. Bad teams beat great teams in regular season series all the time. When you have a 5 game or a 3 game series, all of a sudden a lucky AB or a pitcher just not having his best stuff can sink a 162 game season. So I'd make a couple of changes.

First, I'd let the teams pick their playoff times based on their regular season record. If you want that 7:00 PM slot, win in the regular season and you can pick it. This rewards teams for succeeding in the regular season by giving them the financial boost of better playoff attendance and also lets their team have more normal prep routines.

Second, I'd reseed after the wild card round. It's ridiculous that the Braves had a better record than the Dodgers and are being rewarded by being forced to face off against a better team in the NLDS. If you guarantee the best record faces the worst record in the NLDS, it makes the regular season record even more relevant.

Third, I'd play the wild card round over 2 days with a double header the first day. I'd then start the NLDS the day after the wild card series end. If you don't get a bye and you want a day off between series, you better sweep the double header. Either way, this makes the bye much more attractive. If a team throws their top two pitchers in the double header, they wont be able to start again until probably game 3 of the NLDS.

I'm tempted to make the wild card series longer as I think a 3 game playoff series is ridiculous. Success over 162 games can be wiped out over 2 games. Seems harsh. But I can't figure out how to do it while simultaneously using a double header to incentivize getting the bye.

What would everyone else do?

[bravesfanMatt]

reseeding...
I think every team should have a fairly prime time slot. Use whatever networks available to you, but no day baseball durning weekdays.
WC should be over 3 days and then DS immediately after. No day off.. so in this case, every DS game should be Friday.

[CyYoung31]

reseeding...
I think every team should have a fairly prime time slot. Use whatever networks available to you, but no day baseball durning weekdays.
WC should be over 3 days and then DS immediately after. No day off.. so in this case, every DS game should be Friday.

Yes.

[thewupk]

reseeding...
I think every team should have a fairly prime time slot. Use whatever networks available to you, but no day baseball durning weekdays.
WC should be over 3 days and then DS immediately after. No day off.. so in this case, every DS game should be Friday.

I'd agree. Give more of an advantage to the 2 bye teams.

[WaitingFor2017]

As MLB has added more teams to the playoffs, it seems to have created more issues that MLB hasn't always addressed. So I'm curious how everyone would change the playoffs to improve them. I'm personally assuming that the number of teams stays the same as I doubt MLB is ever going to decrease the number of playoff games and give up that money.

The biggest problem for me is that the regular season is increasingly irrelevant. Baseball isn't like football where the better team will most often win a single matchup. Bad teams beat great teams in regular season series all the time. When you have a 5 game or a 3 game series, all of a sudden a lucky AB or a pitcher just not having his best stuff can sink a 162 game season. So I'd make a couple of changes.

First, I'd let the teams pick their playoff times based on their regular season record. If you want that 7:00 PM slot, win in the regular season and you can pick it. This rewards teams for succeeding in the regular season by giving them the financial boost of better playoff attendance and also lets their team have more normal prep routines.

Second, I'd reseed after the wild card round. It's ridiculous that the Braves had a better record than the Dodgers and are being rewarded by being forced to face off against a better team in the NLDS. If you guarantee the best record faces the worst record in the NLDS, it makes the regular season record even more relevant.

Third, I'd play the wild card round over 2 days with a double header the first day. I'd then start the NLDS the day after the wild card series end. If you don't get a bye and you want a day off between series, you better sweep the double header. Either way, this makes the bye much more attractive. If a team throws their top two pitchers in the double header, they wont be able to start again until probably game 3 of the NLDS.

I'm tempted to make the wild card series longer as I think a 3 game playoff series is ridiculous. Success over 162 games can be wiped out over 2 games. Seems harsh. But I can't figure out how to do it while simultaneously using a double header to incentivize getting the bye.

What would everyone else do?

These are all awesome ideas. I especially like the one about time. Win 104 games, have the best record in the league, and still possibly host a 1 pm weekday playoff game because you aren't in the Northeast? Luckily, the Braves are hosting two 6 pm games. I can't remember the last time the Mets, Yankees, or Red Sox were placed in a day game on a weekday in playoff action.

[Tapate50]

Step 1: dump Manfred in the Canadian wilderness somewhere

Step 2: Profit

[bravesfanMatt]

Step 1: dump Manfred in the Canadian wilderness somewhere

Step 2: Profit

you forgot naked with a quater ductaped in his asscrack in case he can find a payphone.

[DirkPiggler]

If they aren't going to reseed, they should ignore division titles for the purposes of seeding and go by straight record. This wouldn't have changed anything in the NL this year, but it would have made a difference in the AL as Tampa Bay would have been the two seed hosting while MIN would have been the six seed on the road playing HOU.

Agree with the idea of the highest seeds picking their time slots. Or just set the game times before the season and fill in based on seeding. I realize this could have LA or another western team playing at 9AM local time. Too bad. Win more games and get prime time. Any time you let subjectivity into the decision making process someone is going to get screwed, and it usually isn't going to be a team whose city name starts with LA, NY, CHI, BOS, or PHI. MLB wonders why the NFL, NBA, and college football kick their asses ratings wise outside the major metro areas. Pretending like the mid to small market teams don't exist for the purposes of television, along with the blackout rules, are big reasons why.

[DirkPiggler]

you forgot naked with a quater ductaped in his asscrack in case he can find a payphone.

Gorilla glue is much more efficient.

[bravesfanforlife88]

I think a lot of it gets straightened out when the league expands by 2 teams. Then you can go to a more NFL style post season.

[Enscheff]

I'm not exactly sure how game time is an issue with playoff structure. Somebody is going to play in the non-primetime slots, and since both teams play at the same time there is no benefit to other team. Feeding the ego of smaller market teams is hardly of critical concern.

The current actual problem with the playoffs is the 5 day layoff the top teams have to take. Meanwhile, the Phillies played 2 games, and get 2 days off to rest. I believe their Top 2 SPs are still going to pitch the same number of games as the Braves Top 2 SP (3), so what advantage did the Braves get? How much more valuable is not having to beat the Marlins in 3 games compared to not playing at all for 5 games? Because that's really the tradeoff the Braves made.

I'm not sure what the solution is, but whatever it ends up being should make it so painful to be the Phillies right now that the Braves have a clear advantage in the series. Something like making the Phillies play a 3 game series over 2 days (1 game Weds plus 2 games Thurs), followed immediately by the having to play the Braves with a battered BP on Friday.

All that happened now is a rusty Braves team has to play a streaking and rested Phillies team. Seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

[CyYoung31]

I'm not exactly insure how game time is an issue with playoff structure. Somebody is going to play in the non-primetime slots, and since both teams play at the same time there is no benefit to other team. Feeding the ego of smaller market teams is hardly of critical concern.

The current actual problem with the playoffs is the 5 day layoff the top teams have to take. Meanwhile, the Phillies played 2 games, and get 2 days off to rest. I believe their Top 2 SPs are still going to pitch the same number of games as the Braves Top 2 SP (3), so what advantage did the Braves get? How much more valuable is not having to beat the Marlins in 3 games compared to not playing at all for 5 games? Because that's really the tradeoff the Braves made.

I'm not sure what the solution is, but whatever it ends up being should make it so painful to be the Phillies right now that the Braves have a clear advantage in the series. Something like making the Phillies play a 3 game series over 2 days (1 game Weds plus 2 games Thurs), followed immediately by the having to play the Braves with a battered BP on Friday.

All that happened now is a rusty Braves team has to play a streaking and rested Phillies team. Seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

[Strike3urout]

I'm not exactly sure how game time is an issue with playoff structure. Somebody is going to play in the non-primetime slots, and since both teams play at the same time there is no benefit to other team. Feeding the ego of smaller market teams is hardly of critical concern.

The current actual problem with the playoffs is the 5 day layoff the top teams have to take. Meanwhile, the Phillies played 2 games, and get 2 days off to rest. I believe their Top 2 SPs are still going to pitch the same number of games as the Braves Top 2 SP (3), so what advantage did the Braves get? How much more valuable is not having to beat the Marlins in 3 games compared to not playing at all for 5 games? Because that's really the tradeoff the Braves made.

I'm not sure what the solution is, but whatever it ends up being should make it so painful to be the Phillies right now that the Braves have a clear advantage in the series. Something like making the Phillies play a 3 game series over 2 days (1 game Weds plus 2 games Thurs), followed immediately by the having to play the Braves with a battered BP on Friday.

All that happened now is a rusty Braves team has to play a streaking and rested Phillies team. Seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

And the NL teams get the extra off-day Sunday, so all that changes for the Phillies is that they have to start Wheeler in game 2 instead of game 1. so starting the series on Friday seems like an obvious step. Ditch one, maybe even two of the off-days, so the lower seed can surely only throw their top starter once on regular rest.

[SoCalDawg]

Reseeding. Follow the NFL model. Highest seed should play the lowest remaining seed each round. Should be ATL vs AZ and LA vs Philly in the NLDS. As Encheff seemed to imply, there is zero advantage for the #1 seed the way it is currently structured.

[bravesnumberone]

They probably will change to reseeding, but I wouldn't expect the setup or structure to improve until MLB expands to 32 teams and probably 8 playoffs teams per league. Then it'll be like the 2020 setup was.

[Strike3urout]

How about this...

1. Play the first two DS games at the lower seed. First game immediately after the WCS. Then one off-day, then the rest of the games at the higher seed. This minimizes travel and off-days, and ensures that the higher seed gets all elimination games at home. At the cost of maybe only having one home game if things go bad. At least they don't have to shake off the rust at home.

2. Schedule a 2-game tuneup series for the teams with byes, played during the WCS. Get them decent opponents, maybe the top 2 teams that didn't make the playoffs. Define some kind of incentive that makes these games worthwile, but doesn't give an unfair advantage (maybe a supplemental draft pick?). This ensures that the top teams have exactly one off-day after the regular season, and one more before the start of the DS.

I realize that last one is a little bit quirky. But lack of timing and overall energy does appear to be a real problem after a 5-day layoff.

[msstate7]

Wildcard round - best of 5
#1 seed bye
#2 vs #7
#3 vs #6
#4 vs #5

Divisional round - best of 7
Reseed

[Carp]

Wildcard round - best of 5
#1 seed bye
#2 vs #7
#3 vs #6
#4 vs #5

Divisional round - best of 7
Reseed

This makes the most sense. Has the additonal benefit of keeping the regular season worth watching in instances like this year for the Braves where we wrapped up the division 2 weeks before the end of the season.

[Carp]

Best way to fix the playoffs? Contract the Phillies franchise. Eff those douche nozzles and their garbage fans and their garbage city.

[CyYoung31]

Best way to fix the playoffs? Contract the Phillies franchise. Eff those douche nozzles and their garbage fans and their garbage city.

I agree, but our fans are the ones tossing garbage.