MLB to add 2nd Wild Card Team per league?

[SouthSideRyan]

Nobody would give a [expletive] about the 12 team NIT.

[jersey cubs fan]

That's a ridiculous idea.

 

 

Having only 2 teams with a chance for a world series, which is all that fans care about, is horrible. Having the rest of the field play for some sort of NIT banner isn't going to excite people. Having this year's standings determine next year's playoffs is just flat out dumb, given the roster turnover. That will not force teams to keep rosters together. Why would it?

[Guest]

Nobody would give a [expletive] about the 12 team NIT.

 

A lot more people would care about the NIT if the NCAA tournament was just the Final 4. Conference tournaments are a better comparison, and those are wildly popular.

 

EDIT: Or better yet, Bowl games.

[jersey cubs fan]

Nobody would give a [expletive] about the 12 team NIT.

 

A lot more people would care about the NIT if the NCAA tournament was just the Final 4. Conference tournaments are a better comparison, and those are wildly popular.

 

EDIT: Or better yet, Bowl games.

 

Bowl games that people care about are 50-100 year old institutions.

[Guest]

Nobody would give a [expletive] about the 12 team NIT.

 

A lot more people would care about the NIT if the NCAA tournament was just the Final 4. Conference tournaments are a better comparison, and those are wildly popular.

 

EDIT: Or better yet, Bowl games.

 

Bowl games that people care about are 50-100 year old institutions.

 

With the exception of maybe the Rose Bowl, bowl games are watched for the teams involved, not because it's time for the Outback Bowl or whatever.

[jersey cubs fan]

Nobody would give a [expletive] about the 12 team NIT.

 

A lot more people would care about the NIT if the NCAA tournament was just the Final 4. Conference tournaments are a better comparison, and those are wildly popular.

 

EDIT: Or better yet, Bowl games.

 

Bowl games that people care about are 50-100 year old institutions.

 

With the exception of maybe the Rose Bowl, bowl games are watched for the teams involved, not because it's time for the Outback Bowl or whatever.

 

Because for the past 50-100 years the best teams have played in those games. If, for the past 50 years they had a playoff series to determine the national champion and then all of a sudden decided to only allow 2 teams to play in that tournament and then everybody else can play in a make-up tournament, nobody would care.

[bcl412]

College sports are different than pro sports, at least American pro sports are. In college, I think a lot more people are willing to accept multiple trophys and tournaments and what not because a lot of people still perceive college sports as being more important than determining a champion and people are willing to accept and celebrate consolation prizes (I hope this is being presented in the way I am trying to present it but it makes sense to me.)

 

Pro sports, on the other hand, because they are paid professionals playing the game, people are more in the line of thinking championship or bust and would not care at all about a consolation tournament.

[rocket]

Yeah, if it's not the World Series people are not going to care

[Guest]

College sports are different than pro sports, at least American pro sports are. In college, I think a lot more people are willing to accept multiple trophys and tournaments and what not because a lot of people still perceive college sports as being more important than determining a champion and people are willing to accept and celebrate consolation prizes (I hope this is being presented in the way I am trying to present it but it makes sense to me.)

 

Pro sports, on the other hand, because they are paid professionals playing the game, people are more in the line of thinking championship or bust and would not care at all about a consolation tournament.

 

That's fair, but baseball has the most provincial interest of pro sports, and the public's interest in professionals playing in events like the Olympics, World Cup, even the WBC belies the idea that there's zero interest if the ultimate championship is not at stake.

 

I mean, if the Cubs were about to play in a playoff right now that didn't involve the World Series(because the Yankees and Phillies will play for that) are you saying you wouldn't watch? The casual fan wouldn't care about Giants/Angels in the first round of that setup any more or less than they'll care about the Brewers/Braves NLDS. This way you're at least pulling in more fans in sum because there's more fanbases involved, and in time it can potentially develop an NCAA tournament atmosphere because of the variability of the short series and the amount of teams in the playoff.

[davearm2]

College sports are different than pro sports, at least American pro sports are. In college, I think a lot more people are willing to accept multiple trophys and tournaments and what not because a lot of people still perceive college sports as being more important than determining a champion and people are willing to accept and celebrate consolation prizes (I hope this is being presented in the way I am trying to present it but it makes sense to me.)

 

Pro sports, on the other hand, because they are paid professionals playing the game, people are more in the line of thinking championship or bust and would not care at all about a consolation tournament.

 

That's fair, but baseball has the most provincial interest of pro sports, and the public's interest in professionals playing in events like the Olympics, World Cup, even the WBC belies the idea that there's zero interest if the ultimate championship is not at stake.

 

I mean, if the Cubs were about to play in a playoff right now that didn't involve the World Series(because the Yankees and Phillies will play for that) are you saying you wouldn't watch? The casual fan wouldn't care about Giants/Angels in the first round of that setup any more or less than they'll care about the Brewers/Braves NLDS. This way you're at least pulling in more fans in sum because there's more fanbases involved, and in time it can potentially develop an NCAA tournament atmosphere because of the variability of the short series and the amount of teams in the playoff.

Assuming for a minute that the Cubs were actually halfway good this year...

 

Under your system, interest in the regular season would have died 6 or 8 weeks ago, when their chances of catching the Phils evaporated. And with football season in full swing, it's not too likely that a ton of fans would come back to baseball to watch a meaningless also-ran tournament.

 

Under the current system, interest in the regular season would continue to build through September as the race to reach the postseason intensified, and that intensity carries over into October for the fans of teams that make it in.

[SouthSideRyan]

It would probably make fans of also-rans care a lot less about the regular season and real playoffs.

 

WBC ratings are certainly nothing special, and at least that has the USA USA USA factor.

[Cubfanintheknow]

There is a lot of interest in four games today involving the Cards, Braves, Red Sox and Rays. With a two team wild-card system, no one cares about these games. I'm not a big fan of anything that would take value away from the regular season.

[UMFan83]

There is a lot of interest in four games today involving the Cards, Braves, Red Sox and Rays. With a two team wild-card system, no one cares about these games. I'm not a big fan of anything that would take value away from the regular season.

 

Just because one season doesn't work out in favor of 2 WCs doesnt mean it should be scrapped. Right now the NL Wild Card will be decided by one team playing a 100 loss team and another playing a 100 win team. Wouldn't you rather see them settle it against each other?

 

Plus you can't even really look at it the same as if the season was played with 2 WCs in each league at play. Maybe the Giants don't play a bunch of young players or stick with their regular rotation if they are within striking distance of the WC with a week left. Maybe a team that's on the fringe of the WC race in July makes a couple of trades knowing they can get back into the race.

[jersey cubs fan]

There is a lot of interest in four games today involving the Cards, Braves, Red Sox and Rays. With a two team wild-card system, no one cares about these games. I'm not a big fan of anything that would take value away from the regular season.

 

And there could have been a lot of attention paid to games played by the Cards, Braves, Red Sox, Rays, Angels and Giants all the way up to this week, plus huge interest in the 1-game playoff those first four teams would eventually play for the right to play against division winners in the playoffs. The regular season is 162 games long, people are going to pay attention to it. And more people are going to have a reason to pay attention in September because of the change.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

No matter how many teams you do or don't let into the playoffs, it's always going to be kind of fluky whether or not there is a close race down to the wire for the last spots.

[Cubfanintheknow]

There is a lot of interest in four games today involving the Cards, Braves, Red Sox and Rays. With a two team wild-card system, no one cares about these games. I'm not a big fan of anything that would take value away from the regular season.

 

Just because one season doesn't work out in favor of 2 WCs doesnt mean it should be scrapped. Right now the NL Wild Card will be decided by one team playing a 100 loss team and another playing a 100 win team. Wouldn't you rather see them settle it against each other?

Plus you can't even really look at it the same as if the season was played with 2 WCs in each league at play. Maybe the Giants don't play a bunch of young players or stick with their regular rotation if they are within striking distance of the WC with a week left. Maybe a team that's on the fringe of the WC race in July makes a couple of trades knowing they can get back into the race.

 

An in the AL you had one team playing an also-ran fighting for a spot against another team whose opponent had the best record in the AL. If you stayed up to watch the finish of both games (I did!), you would likely have found it to be the most amazing night of baseball in a long time.

 

I'll still stand behind my original assessment. I don't want anything taking away from the value of the regular season. Doesn't make me right and you wrong. Just my opinion.

[jersey cubs fan]

There is a lot of interest in four games today involving the Cards, Braves, Red Sox and Rays. With a two team wild-card system, no one cares about these games. I'm not a big fan of anything that would take value away from the regular season.

 

Just because one season doesn't work out in favor of 2 WCs doesnt mean it should be scrapped. Right now the NL Wild Card will be decided by one team playing a 100 loss team and another playing a 100 win team. Wouldn't you rather see them settle it against each other?

Plus you can't even really look at it the same as if the season was played with 2 WCs in each league at play. Maybe the Giants don't play a bunch of young players or stick with their regular rotation if they are within striking distance of the WC with a week left. Maybe a team that's on the fringe of the WC race in July makes a couple of trades knowing they can get back into the race.

 

An in the AL you had one team playing an also-ran fighting for a spot against another team whose opponent had the best record in the AL. If you stayed up to watch the finish of both games (I did!), you would likely have found it to be the most amazing night of baseball in a long time.

 

I'll still stand behind my original assessment. I don't want anything taking away from the value of the regular season. Doesn't make me right and you wrong. Just my opinion.

 

this proposal does not take away from the value of the regular season, it makes the regular season more important.

[Cubfanintheknow]

Not sure how the last week of the regular season isn't devalued, particularly this season. Over the last five days, it was down to the Cards and Braves in the NL and Red Sox and Rays in the AL. With a two team wild card, those last five games are totally irrelevant. All four teams are playing out the string and setting themselves up for that one game playoff. No one would have cared about the drama that unfolded Wednesday night.

 

The real reason Bud Selig wants to add a second wild card team is to give a slight competitive edge to the division winners. Wild card teams will not have the luxury of setting up their rotations knowing they have to get past the play-in game.

[CubColtPacer]

Not sure how the last week of the regular season isn't devalued, particularly this season. Over the last five days, it was down to the Cards and Braves in the NL and Red Sox and Rays in the AL. With a two team wild card, those last five games are totally irrelevant. All four teams are playing out the string and setting themselves up for that one game playoff. No one would have cared about the drama that unfolded Wednesday night.

 

The real reason Bud Selig wants to add a second wild card team is to give a slight competitive edge to the division winners. Wild card teams will not have the luxury of setting up their rotations knowing they have to get past the play-in game.

 

With 5 games left, the Rays were 2.5 games behind the Red Sox. But if there had been a second wild card, the Angels would have only been 1 game behind the Rays. On the National League side, Atlanta was up 3 games on St. Louis with 5 to play. If there had been a second wild card, St. Louis was only up 2 on the Giants. At that point, it looked like 2 wildcards would have ended up causing closer races.

 

Now it turned out this season that in the final 5 days both Boston and Atlanta choked and let the teams right behind them catch up. So yes, the final day or two would have been devalued (although those teams would have still been fighting for who gets to be the home team in the play in game). You can't really predict how many playoff teams will cause a race to go down to the final day. Sometimes 1 wildcard will cause things to go to the last day and sometimes it will be 2. But the more teams you let in, the more chance there is for races in the final 2-3 weeks. More often then not it's going to cause more drama not less.

[rocket]

Not sure how the last week of the regular season isn't devalued, particularly this season. Over the last five days, it was down to the Cards and Braves in the NL and Red Sox and Rays in the AL. With a two team wild card, those last five games are totally irrelevant. All four teams are playing out the string and setting themselves up for that one game playoff. No one would have cared about the drama that unfolded Wednesday night.

 

The real reason Bud Selig wants to add a second wild card team is to give a slight competitive edge to the division winners. Wild card teams will not have the luxury of setting up their rotations knowing they have to get past the play-in game.

 

that's just how it shook out this season. there will be seasons in the future where the 2nd wild card slot won't be decided until game 162 (or even 163).

 

even if we had next year's playoff system this year, the rays/sox and braves/cards 1 game playoffs would be intense and awesome.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Would they really do a one-game playoff for the second WC spot? That'd be kind of cool, but I wonder if they would go through with it.

[minnesotacubsfan]

USA USA USA factor.

 

 

huh?

[Sammys Boombox]

There are no perfect solutions to the playoff format for MLB, and I am for keeping the current format. However, there are a few aspects that people want from a pennant race/playoff format, and many of those clash drastically. I have not seen anybody else propose the following format, but I'm sure it has been because it's not that complicated.

 

2 leagues with 2 divisions each. This works with AL or NL.

4 wildcards in each league.

 

Best-of-Three Wild Card Series (LWS) starting immediately after season ends with no off days after the regular season or before the start of the LDS. All three games played in the higher seeded teams park. The division winners get a bye.

 

Best-of-Five LDS.

 

Best-of-Seven LCS. (Would be ok with Best-of-Five)

 

Best-of-Seven WS.

 

This makes the race for each division important, which makes the purists happy. The race between wild card seeds 2 and 3 becomes important (they will play each other but all the games will be in the #2 seed's park). The race between wild card seed 4 and the first team left out is still important. There would be many potential races each season of great importance. It solves the AL East problem as well as decreases the chances of a mediocre team winning their division (larger divisions) while good teams are left out. While introducing other problems, I think this format is a decent compromise and better than any 5-team format.