This new playoff format favors the WC teams and penalizes the division winners in two ways:
1. It forces the lowest-seeded division winner to play a short 3-game series where anything can happen.
2. The rest for the top seeds in each league is nice BUT it takes them out of rhythm.
There is no respect given to winning divisions. It used to be a major, major feat. Now with the expanded playoffs, it means very little.
Baseball is a rhythm and repetition game. The byes seem to penalize the top teams because it breaks their rhythm. It breaks the repetition.
MLB needs to fix it.
Here's what I would suggest to MLB (not that they would give a ****):
4 WC teams and 3 division winners per league make the playoffs.
The 4 WC teams would play each other in one game WC games to determine the 4th team in the actual playoffs. So, in the AL this year the seeding would be BAL (1), KC (2), DET (3) and SEA (4).
Under the system after the season:
Travel Day
BAL (1) vs SEA (4) in a one-game playoff.
KC (2) vs DET (6) in a one-game playoff.
Travel Day
WC winners play one-game playoff to determine 4th seed of overall league playoffs. Say BAL and KC won their games, they'd play each other in one-game. The winner would play the highest-seeded division winner.
Travel Day
So, under the system, the ALDS would have been:
(1) NYY vs (4) BAL/KC/DET/or SEA
(2)CLE vs (3) HOU
The layoff would be five days for the division winners -- similar to the All-Star Break.
Also, expand the LDS to 7 games. That way the division winners can get an additional opportunity to get back into rhythm.
This system basically gets you three Game 7s BEFORE the real playoffs start.
1. It forces the lowest-seeded division winner to play a short 3-game series where anything can happen.
2. The rest for the top seeds in each league is nice BUT it takes them out of rhythm.
There is no respect given to winning divisions. It used to be a major, major feat. Now with the expanded playoffs, it means very little.
Baseball is a rhythm and repetition game. The byes seem to penalize the top teams because it breaks their rhythm. It breaks the repetition.
MLB needs to fix it.
Here's what I would suggest to MLB (not that they would give a ****):
4 WC teams and 3 division winners per league make the playoffs.
The 4 WC teams would play each other in one game WC games to determine the 4th team in the actual playoffs. So, in the AL this year the seeding would be BAL (1), KC (2), DET (3) and SEA (4).
Under the system after the season:
Travel Day
BAL (1) vs SEA (4) in a one-game playoff.
KC (2) vs DET (6) in a one-game playoff.
Travel Day
WC winners play one-game playoff to determine 4th seed of overall league playoffs. Say BAL and KC won their games, they'd play each other in one-game. The winner would play the highest-seeded division winner.
Travel Day
So, under the system, the ALDS would have been:
(1) NYY vs (4) BAL/KC/DET/or SEA
(2)CLE vs (3) HOU
The layoff would be five days for the division winners -- similar to the All-Star Break.
Also, expand the LDS to 7 games. That way the division winners can get an additional opportunity to get back into rhythm.
This system basically gets you three Game 7s BEFORE the real playoffs start.