FanPost

Revise the Playoff System

Prior to 1968, baseball playoffs were based on the two best teams in a long regular season playing for the World Series Title. In 1969, the championship series were added and in 1995 the Division Series. The effect of adding these series has diminished the value being the best regular season team. The only advantage given to the best team is home field, which has the smallest impact in baseball compared to the other major sports.

I propose that the best playoff model is in the NFL where the best teams get a bye week. The reality is that baseball won't give up the revenue by dropping a playoff series, so I have an alternative proposal.

The regular season records of the 4 playoff teams in each leagues should be compared, and if one team has 10 or more wins in the regular season than their opponent they should start with a 2-0 series lead in a 7 game series. If the team has 5 - 9 more regular season wins they should start with a 1-0 lead in the series.

This effectively means that if the weaker team has 10 or more less wins than their opponent, they need to win 4 of 5 to prove their superiority. A team with 5 - 9 less wins must win 4 of 6. If the gap between the teams is less than 5 games they play a standard best of 5 in the Division series. This gives the teams that played well throughout the season a well deserved advantage that they earned during the long season. The added bonus is that it will probably make late season games for locked in playoff teams more important because they may be playing to reach the 5 or 10 game gap threshold versus their opponents, so they will play their regulars instead of the callups.

 

In 2008, the following would have occurred:

Cubs would have started 2-0 over Dodgers, Dodgers would need 4 of 5 to win

Phillies/Brewers would have been a traditional best of 5

Angels would have started 1-0 on the Red Sox, Red Sox would need 4 of 6 to win

Rays would have started 1-0 on the White Sox, White Sox would need 4 of 6 to win

 

Championship Series goes back to the standard 4 of 7 

 

 

 

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