Expand LDS to 7 games?

[ElTexan]

Would you like to see the LDS expanded to seven games?
What about doing that and making it 2-2-3 to advantage the higher seed?

 

[ElTexan]

I would start the season a week earlier.
Or get rid of 'play in' games in case of tie for the WC... just use tie-breakers. That way we. An cut out days between the end of the regular season and the playoffs

 

[podsox]

Or just have teams play doubleheaders on a few Saturday's every yr

 

[calsnowskier]

I am OK with starting the season a week earlier, but I am not sure that would solve much.

- Cold weather cities may still have issues with rain outs that week (I have not done any research here, just mentioning a potential issue).

- The ASG would either need to be moved a week earlier or be held 5 games later and played at the same time. Again, not sure if there are any issues here, but if it is played earlier, it may interfere with the 4th of July, and I really don't think teams want to sacrifice that big gate. Continuing to play it the week after works for the schedule, but I think these guys want the earlier break.

- This is a relatively obvious fix that MLB has never adopted. There are likely other scheduling issues involved that I am not aware of (Arizona/Florida scheduling, holiday scheduling, perpetual contracts with hotels etc...) that make it a tougher adjustment.

As for the LDS, I am OK with changing it from 5 to 7, but I prefer keeping it at 5, while changing it to a 2-1-2.

For the WC, I LOVE that it is 1-gamer. The entire concept is that it is a WILD CARD. Changing it to a series would cause lots of problems...

- Provide too long a break for the division winners. Baseball is a game of timing and routine. The #1 seed would be at a huge disadvantage since they would not have played a game in over a week. Remember the 2012 World Series? The Tigers were rolling until they had a long layoff while the Giants continued to play. That killed all the Tigers momentum and timing while the Giants were crisp.

- The 1-gamer burns the WC teams Ace. The argument that a series burns more pitchers is not necessarily true. There would still have to be days scheduled for a 3-game series, including travel days, so the game-1 starter could still pitch game-1 of the LDS. As it is, the Ace is put off until game 3 of the LDS (potentially too late to make a difference).

- It pushes the start of the LDS off of the weekend. Maybe this isn't an issue, but I don't suspect the league wants to lose the weekend broadcasts. They absolutely want the last day of the season on a Sunday, so that is not a variable.

There may be solutions to each of these "problems". I am just listing the concerns that would need to be addressed.

 

[Gatorchip]

LDS can have as many wives as they want.

 

[JohnU]

Wild card play-in is a bit of a joke but it's more interesting watching teams try to get to the game. The extra wild card keeps fewer teams from dumping at the deadline.

Going to a best-of-7 is not going to enhance the popularity of the sport, just make it closer to the NBA model that makes the sport go on and on forever. As well, I think the teams are pretty worn out by post-season. Quality of play is marginally worse now. But it would add a component not in place now -- that being how managers structure their rosters.

I like the idea of adding a couple of DHs through the season to shorten the schedule but it's the 26th man that makes all that a joke anyhow.

 

[broncosmitty]

Mitt Romney for commish?

And to the OP, no. Divisional Series could be One game as far as I'm concerned.

 

[The Derski]

Wildcard series best of 3

 

[stanford the manford]

i don't see any reason to expand the lds to 7 games, but i would support (tho it would never happen) dropping interleague play and rolling back the season to 154 games. if nothing else it might reduce the possibility of a snowed out ws...

wild card is a fun way to kick start the playoffs imo, leave it alone

and for the record, the latter day saints should be able to figure out how many games they play.

 

[tducey]

Option 1, it's fine the way it is.

 

[rmilia1]

It wouldn't really solve anything. The reason teams with better records lose in the divisional round so often is that playoff baseball isn't like the regular season. Most all teams have 1 ace and a really solid number 2. Teams that win 100+ have great pitching 1-5 but that becomes irrelevant in the post season. At MOST your going to roll with 4 starters but you really don't even need 4. With off days you can go a whole series with 3 starters. If you REALLY want to change the playoffs for the better just change the schedule do there's a max 1 off day per series. Doing that will benefit the better teams more than anything

 

[broncosmitty]

If we're trying to fix what's wrong with the end of the season. Put a freaking cap on September roster spots.

And quit having the AS game mean something.

 

[Jekku]

I am ok with it being 5 games. I want the wildcard to be 3. 1 game series is a joke.

 

[Clayton]

I like the current format. In theory, it favors the 1 seed over the wild card heavily but in practice it's a crapshoot. The reality is that even a best of 7 is a ridiculously small sample size.

 

[Battlelyon]

No, we didn't need see another Ranger game.

 

[Erie Warrior]

LDS is fine, WC needs to be a 3 game series.

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

As for the LDS, I am OK with changing it from 5 to 7, but I prefer keeping it at 5, while changing it to a 2-1-2.

So the away team would only have game 3 at home? That's a hell of an advantage, no?

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

I like the current format. In theory, it favors the 1 seed over the wild card heavily but in practice it's a crapshoot. The reality is that even a best of 7 is a ridiculously small sample size.

I love the current format and, while I'm open to hearing new ideas, I haven't heard any that I like better than what we've got.

I love the 1-game wild card deal. How is kick-starting the playoffs with two guaranteed "Game 7s" a bad thing? What? It's not fair that a good/great team's season comes down to one game? They had 162 games to sort it out, if you don't want a wild card, win your division.

The MLB Playoffs are not intended or designed to identify the best team in any given year. They identify a Champion, and hopefully provide a lot of drama along the way. The current format hits the ground running with high drama right at the start.

Great stuff.

 

[Clayton]

I love the current format and, while I'm open to hearing new ideas, I haven't heard any that I like better than what we've got.

I love the 1-game wild card deal. How is kick-starting the playoffs with two guaranteed "Game 7s" a bad thing? What? It's not fair that a good/great team's season comes down to one game? They had 162 games to sort it out, if you don't want a wild card, win your division.

The MLB Playoffs are not intended or designed to identify the best team in any given year. They identify a Champion, and hopefully provide a lot of drama along the way. The current format hits the ground running with high drama right at the start.

Great stuff.

MLB playoffs are in a really good sweet spot right now.

Generally a couple of contenders get left out of the playoffs every year. This is a good thing because it makes regular season games matter.

The single game Wild Card really emphasize winning your division like it should. It also means you 100% need an Ace when entering the playoffs which is probably good from a 'star' standpoint in terms of gaining national interest in each game. Single elimination is also really exciting.

Best of 5 in the DS puts a huge burden on the Wild Card team because they are playing a short series without their Ace. If we get a large enough sample size...lets say 30 years...this should eventually play out to where the 1 seed has the advantage but last year the Cardinals limped into the playoffs with a pitching staff that fell apart and this year the Rangers had one of the flukiest seasons I've ever seen. Thats baseball, though.

I thought the Rangers were super clutch and battle tested against a tough schedule in an impressive way but they lost easily to a team with a better point differential. Go figure.

I'm all for baseball cutting the regular season down by 8-10 games but not at the expense of changing the playoffs. Making the playoffs any longer will give it that NBA playoff effect where it feels like it just goes on and on.

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

MLB playoffs are in a really good sweet spot right now.

Generally a couple of contenders get left out of the playoffs every year. This is a good thing because it makes regular season games matter.

The single game Wild Card really emphasize winning your division like it should. It also means you 100% need an Ace when entering the playoffs which is probably good from a 'star' standpoint in terms of gaining national interest in each game. Single elimination is also really exciting.

Best of 5 in the DS puts a huge burden on the Wild Card team because they are playing a short series without their Ace. If we get a large enough sample size...lets say 30 years...this should eventually play out to where the 1 seed has the advantage but last year the Cardinals limped into the playoffs with a pitching staff that fell apart and this year the Rangers had one of the flukiest seasons I've ever seen. Thats baseball, though.

I thought the Rangers were super clutch and battle tested against a tough schedule in an impressive way but they lost easily to a team with a better point differential. Go figure.

I'm all for baseball cutting the regular season down by 8-10 games but not at the expense of changing the playoffs. Making the playoffs any longer will give it that NBA playoff effect where it feels like it just goes on and on.

Do you have the other half of this 'Best Friends' amulet?