How Good Are The Sox Now?

JimD

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 29, 2001
8,681
To create a perfectly fair system, you would have to:

- Create an unbalanced schedule somehow for all 30 teams, regardless of league. Each team would have to play every other MLB team the same number of games (to reduce the probability that the AL is stronger than the NL in any given season or vice versa).

- After 162 games, seed all 30 teams and invite the top eight teams into the playoffs.

- Re-seed the remaining teams after each round to give the teams with the best records the easiest path to the World Series.
 

biff_hardbody

New Member
Apr 27, 2016
317
Crowning champions through playoffs is a gimmick.

I like the one game wild card playoffs for reasons mentioned: incentivizes winning the division and is exciting. I'd hate to see more wild card teams because the NBA and NHL are a joke - more than half the teams make the playoffs.
 

Hagios

New Member
Dec 15, 2007
672
Crowning champions through playoffs is a gimmick.

I like the one game wild card playoffs for reasons mentioned: incentivizes winning the division and is exciting. I'd hate to see more wild card teams because the NBA and NHL are a joke - more than half the teams make the playoffs.
I agree that playoffs are a gimmick in both hockey and baseball. That's why I'm glad the baseball has gone back to making winning the division worth something.

In the NBA, a seven game series is generally enough for the best team to win, so they could let all teams in the playoffs and I'd be fine with it.
 

lexrageorge

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2007
18,101
There is no perfect system for determining playoff teams. No matter how many teams are invited, there is always one team that will get "screwed" somehow. I think MLB does a pretty good job between making the regular season count (which it should given that it's 162 games), generating fan interest in local rivalries, and keeping travel from getting ridiculous (which it likely would if all 30 teams played each other each season). Those constraints are real, and so every system will be a compromise no matter what.

The bottom line is that the best 2 teams in each league are guaranteed a playoff spot. There will be situations where the 2nd best team, as judged by regular season record, is forced to play in a wild card playoff. But that will not always be the case, and this year I would argue that the "right" teams made the playoffs. I'm not sure why it's wrong that the Pirates were forced to be in the wild card game in 2014; they had the 4th best record, and played a team that had an equivalent record. If a team has to rely on just one starting pitcher to win a game, then that's the risk a team takes if it burns that starter in a failed effort to win the division. I don't see anything unfair about that.