How many teams in each league should make the playoffs?

[Bote McBoteface]

10 is great. I like 10 teams making it. Everything else i disagree with. I want 2 leagues without divisions to play a 154 game season and the best 5 records in each league make the playoffs, with teams 4 and 5 being the wildcard teams. The wildcards play a 3 game series. Division series, Championship series, and World Series are 7 games a piece.

[champaignchris]

Someone might be able to convince me that the divisional series should be 7 games instead of 5.

 

Otherwise, I think the playoff format as it exists now is perfect.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Love the intensity of the WC game. It's interesting to note that 5 of the 10 games have been shutouts. Although the games have been close and competitive regardless.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

10 is great. I like 10 teams making it. Everything else i disagree with. I want 2 leagues without divisions to play a 154 game season and the best 5 records in each league make the playoffs, with teams 4 and 5 being the wildcard teams. The wildcards play a 3 game series. Division series, Championship series, and World Series are 7 games a piece.

 

You've just cut the number of potentially interesting regular season races from 8 to 4 (the 3 and 5 spot in each league). You're losing a ton of regular season drama on average

[jersey cubs fan]

I wish they went back to the way it was with just 12 teams in the league and train travel.

[Omar]

16 teams like the NBA, making the regular season basically meaningless.

[Brian707]

16 teams like the NBA, making the regular season basically meaningless.

 

1 super team and 1 near super team making the regular season and 1st 3 rounds of the playoffs meaningless

[Regular Show]

We are never going to back to a time or playoff format with fewer teams and/or no WCs so people need to stop coming up with ideas about having only the 2 "best" teams face each other. That's just silly and will never happen. Honestly, the Cardinals won more games than the Cubs in 2015, but I felt by the end of the season the Cubs were better than the Cardinals and they proved it in the NLDS.

 

Somewhat relevant tangent: Having the best record at the end of a 162 game schedule doesn't necessarily mean you're the best team btw. I can't remember where I found it or read it, but to definitely prove who is the best team in MLB in any season you'd have to play close to 10,000 games! It was either on Fangraphs or fivethirtyeight.com. I can't find the link for the article, but I'll post it when I find it. So, thinking the team with the best record in each league deserves to automatically play in the WS is folly.

 

I definitely think the NLDS should be 7 games like the other series, and I believe the WC teams should probably play a 3 game series (maybe a doubleheader on the first day :-k ). I honestly don't know how to make it more fair, but a 1 game playoff doesn't seem fair or make sense...

[davell]

Its perfect the way it is.

 

My guess is they'll change it though, at some point, just to mess it up. But, not for a while.

 

NFL format, with 2 expansion teams. 4 division winners, 2 WC teams, top 2 teams get buys. Even then, I'd suspect its still a 1 and done opening round, but best of 7's after that.

 

Still, its great, as it is. No need to add extra teams to the mix, or to get rid of the 1 game opening round.

 

At any rate, my guess is we're a ways away from expansion, so hopefully it stays the current way for a long time.

[jersey cubs fan]

We are never going to back to a time or playoff format with fewer teams and/or no WCs so people need to stop coming up with ideas about having only the 2 "best" teams face each other. That's just silly and will never happen. Honestly, the Cardinals won more games than the Cubs in 2015, but I felt by the end of the season the Cubs were better than the Cardinals and they proved it in the NLDS.

 

Somewhat relevant tangent: Having the best record at the end of a 162 game schedule doesn't necessarily mean you're the best team btw. I can't remember where I found it or read it, but to definitely prove who is the best team in MLB in any season you'd have to play close to 10,000........

 

I definitely think the NLDS should be 7 games like the other series, and I believe the WC teams should probably play a 3 game series (maybe a doubleheader on the first day :-k ). I honestly don't know how to make it more fair, but a 1 game playoff doesn't seem fair or make sense...

There's nothing particularly "fair" about a 3 game series, not to mention forcing teams to play a doubleheader in the playoffs. This system rewards division winners, and rewards the team with best record by allowing them to face a team that had to spend its ace, or another high caliber pitcher, in the WC game. It adds excitement and immediate viewer attention with 2 elimination games. Nobody is watching a 3 game series. Nobody wants to attend a playoff doubleheader.

 

Just stop with this idea of "fairness" being involved. If you want in to the division series round, win your division. Or deal with the 1 game playoff.

[Hunter]

The current 1 game playoff between the 2 wildcards is awesome. It is almost like people are forgetting about the Marlins twice backing in to the playoffs as the Wild Card and winning the World Series. The current format was designed to make it much more difficult for a Wild Card to win. The division winners should be rewarded and the overall best record team is rewarded playing the Wild Card winner. As others have said, it makes the regular season much more important. The NBA and NHL has over half of their leagues going to the playoffs, which generally makes the regular season a snooze fest.

[BigSlick]

Before it was implemented I hated the wild card game idea but its actually been really exciting and added additional importance to the regular season and winning your division so I like it now.

 

Also the 2015 Cubs - Pirates game was one of my favorite sporting experiences ever

[biittner77]

The only format that could even come close to being as good as the current format would be a double elimination tournament like the college world series. That would allow more teams to participate but still have the regular season count for something since it would determine seeding. The added bonus would be a wider variety of potential match ups.

 

The downside would be that the existing system is still better. I'd be ok with making the division series best of 7 but I understand why they don't.

[Banedon]

The only legitimate playoff change argument, imo, is whether or not the Division Series' should be 7 games. But that should only happen if they shorten the regular season to something like 154 to accommodate...the playoffs already run late enough in the year.

[Regular Show]

In response to Jersey Cubs Fan it's pretty obvious a 3 game series is more fair than a single elimination game. No executive or person involved in baseball thinks the single elimination game format is fair. Baseball is too unpredictable and too much random luck can determine the outcome in 1 game. Even a 3 game series isn't enough, but at least 3 games is more fair than an elimination game.

 

We all enjoyed the WC game in 2015 when Jake dominated and the Cubs advanced. We would feel very differently if the Cubs had lost in heartbreaking fashion in a close game. A LOT of posters would be bitching and complaining about the format for the WC game in that scenario. A doubleheader isn't fair, but WC teams need to be penalized. Btw, I'm not the only one who has purposed that idea. Theo also wanted a doubleheader in a 3 game series for the WC game. The Players Union is very much against the idea so I don't know if it'll ever happen.

 

Last thing, I'd rather start the season earlier and expand the NLDS to 7 games than increase the WC format to 3 games.

[jersey cubs fan]

Fairness has nothing to do with it. This is a sport. People pay to be entertained.

[Regular Show]

Fairness has nothing to do with it. This is a sport. People pay to be entertained.

 

That's dumb. Sports isn't just about pure entertainment. Why did the NBA expand to a 7 game series for every round? There are fewer upsets now in the first round because of it. I'd say that's more fair to the better teams in the NBA.

 

Yes, entertainment is the primary goal, but fans also care about fairness and rewarding the best teams/players. That's why we complain about shitty umpires and why educated fans want an automated strike zone that will be more accurate and more fair in calling balls/strikes.

 

Fairness is somewhat of an abstract concept (I get it), but it's an important part of sports whether you want to admit it or not.

[Cubswin11]

I think it’s mostly fair. The teams that should get in typically do by winning their division the WC teams should have some “disadvantage” by playing a coin flip game. If they don’t think it’s fair, win your division.

[WrigleyField 22]

Fairness has nothing to do with it. This is a sport. People pay to be entertained.

 

That's dumb. Sports isn't just about pure entertainment. Why did the NBA expand to a 7 game series for every round? There are fewer upsets now in the first round because of it. I'd say that's more fair to the better teams in the NBA.

 

Yes, entertainment is the primary goal, but fans also care about fairness and rewarding the best teams/players. That's why we complain about horsefeathers umpires and why educated fans want an automated strike zone that will be more accurate and more fair in calling balls/strikes.

 

Fairness is somewhat of an abstract concept (I get it), but it's an important part of sports whether you want to admit it or not.

Winning your division is a fair way to get more than a 1 game play in.

[WrigleyField 22]

Also one game may be random, but it's not unfair. Both teams have an equal chance.

[Regular Show]

I think it’s mostly fair. The teams that should get in typically do by winning their division the WC teams should have some “disadvantage” by playing a coin flip game. If they don’t think it’s fair, win your division.

 

The problem with your argument is that it's possible that some superteam wins 100+ games and the second place team (WC#1) in that division wins like 98-99 games. That second place team is clearly the second best team in the league. Their win total is higher than the other two division leaders...

 

What I'm describing is basically what happened in 2015. The Cubs, Pirates and Cardinals were probably the 3 best teams in the NL that year. A shame they all play in the same division.

 

Look, the WC teams should be penalized, but in some years the WC teams are legitimately good to great teams that deserve better than a single elimination game.

[WrigleyField 22]

I think it’s mostly fair. The teams that should get in typically do by winning their division the WC teams should have some “disadvantage” by playing a coin flip game. If they don’t think it’s fair, win your division.

 

The problem with your argument is that it's possible that some superteam wins 100+ games and the second place team (WC#1) in that division wins like 98-99 games. That second place team is clearly the second best team in the league. Their win total is higher than the other two division leaders...

 

What I'm describing is basically what happened in 2015. The Cubs, Pirates and Cardinals were probably the 3 best teams in the NL that year. A shame they all play in the same division.

 

Look, the WC teams should be penalized, but in some years the WC teams are legitimately good to great teams that deserve better than a single elimination game.

Since divisions promote an unbalanced schedule you can't exactly say that even by win total that's the case. The point of the regular season is to win your division.

[bukie]

The wild card was added to make sure a great team didn't miss out on the postseason just for being in the wrong division.

 

The wild card game was added to make sure winning the division still meant something. It's just the right amount of unfair.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

You have to balance fairness vs. entertainment. The only truly fair system is a 165-game round robin between all 30 teams or something stupid like that.

 

The fairness gain from a 1-game WC series to a 3-game WC series is almost nothing, and a 3-game wildcard series would be completely horsefeathering boring, so it's an awful idea.

[SouthSideRyan]

I wish they went back to the way it was with just 12 teams in the league and train travel.

 

Anything to make it more like the 6th most popular sport in the US. Let's have it so the bottom 16 teams are all playing for a chance to play for something that might matter a season from now