Playoff structure idea

[atisha]

I have been reading some articles asking whether MLB should continue to expand the playoffs based on the 2020 experiment or rather retain the present 5-teams-per-league structure.

In my opinion, a 6-team structure in both leagues could be a nice compromise and actually give some meaningful wild-card action and a competitive advantage to the better teams.

First and second place in all divisions qualify for the postseason. Make the regular season end on a Wednesday or Thursday.

Teams are then seeded according to regular season record.

#1 and #2 get a bye.

Wild-Card Round, best of three: #6 @ #3, #5 @ #4, Friday to Sunday, all games hosted by the better seeded team.

LDS starts next Tuesday to allow for travel.

This makes for a truly exciting weekend of baseball and allows the teams with better records in the leagues to rest and align their rotations.

I think it makes better sense than a single Wild Card sudden-death game.

 

[Sandy Leon Trotsky]

I'm not sure how to do it... but I'd prefer to reconfigure both the leagues with two divisions each instead of the 5. I can't stand playing the same stinking 4 teams over and over and over again. I'd even be fine if they made an 8 team division and a 7 team division...
Division winners get a bye... 4 other teams with best records across each league gets the wild cards as best of 5 series.
Never sure which is better... the extra rest or the momentum.

 

[Humphrey]

My big gripe are the interleague games, they became very repetitive, and "jumped the shark" when they went to 15 teams in each league.

Having games down the stretch such as the Sox vs the Nationals (last 3 games of the year) is unacceptable. It was a lot more entertaining when the game took a break from league play and had a week or two straight of interleague games.

Seeing as they don't want 14 and 16 any more; I think they should do another money grab (for the owners, of course) and go to 32 teams. 8 divisions, 2, 3 or 4 wild cards.

16 divisional games (48), better than 19. 6 or 7 against the rest of a team's league and one interleague division, and you've got something in the 160 range (I'd rather shoot for 154 but I doubt the owners would).

 

[OCST]

my plan has always been:

Manifest Destiny League: OAK SEA LAA LAD SF SD COL AZ
ACELA League: BOS NYY NYM TOR BAL PHI WASH
Hot As Balls Here League: ATL MIA TB HOU TEX STL KC
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald League: CHC CWS MIL PIT CLE CIN MIN DET

12-ish games against each of the teams in your league; one series against each of the others

8 team playoff

Four league champions are ranked 1-4, in order of win %
Four second place teams are ranked 5-8, in order of win %

8 team playoff is a round-robin tournament, each team plays each other team a single game over a two week period - 7 games with one travel day between each

1 seed (best overall record) gets all 7 games at home
2 seed gets 6/7 games at home, playing away only at the 1 seed
3 seed gets 5/7 games at home, playing away only at #1 and 2

etc.

down to 8 seed playing all 7 games away.

Best 2 teams play best of 7 WS

 

[dirtynine]

my plan has always been:

Manifest Destiny League: OAK SEA LAA LAD SF SD COL AZ
ACELA League: BOS NYY NYM TOR BAL PHI WASH
Hot As Balls Here League: ATL MIA TB HOU TEX STL KC
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald League: CHC CWS MIL PIT CLE CIN MIN DET

12-ish games against each of the teams in your league; one series against each of the others

8 team playoff

Four league champions are ranked 1-4, in order of win %
Four second place teams are ranked 5-8, in order of win %

8 team playoff is a round-robin tournament, each team plays each other team a single game over a two week period - 7 games with one travel day between each

1 seed (best overall record) gets all 7 games at home
2 seed gets 6/7 games at home, playing away only at the 1 seed
3 seed gets 5/7 games at home, playing away only at #1 and 2

etc.

down to 8 seed playing all 7 games away.

Best 2 teams play best of 7 WS

This is definitely in line with what I'd do as well. Only tweak is I'd do five 6-team divisions/leagues (for a little more variety). That would make the playoff a 10-team round robin which helps keeps more clubs involved too.

Accent Division: Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Pirates, Blue Jays
Humidity Division: Marlins, Rays, Braves, Nationals, Orioles, Reds
Dive Bar Division: Tigers, Indians, Brewers, Cubs, White Sox, Cardinals
Truck Stop Division: Diamondbacks, Rockies, Twins, Royals, Rangers, Astros
T-Shirt Division: Mariners, Giants, A’s, Dodgers, Angels, Padres