Quote

Major League Baseball's 16-team postseason is underway for the first time in history, and though team owners prefer an expanded format, they want to shrink the field slightly.

Team owners prefer a 14-team playoff structure with the best club in each league earning a first-round bye, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

Under the current structure, the 43-win Los Angeles Dodgers and 40-win Tampa Bay Rays faced the eighth-seeded Milwaukee Brewers and Toronto Blue Jays, respectively. The Brewers were one of two teams to qualify for the postseason with a losing record, finishing 29-31. The Houston Astros finished with the same record but were granted the sixth seed - better than the wild-card Blue Jays and Chicago White Sox - because they finished second in their division.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in mid-September that "an overwhelming majority" of owners prefer the expanded postseason format.

Any changes to the traditional 10-team playoff format beyond 2020 need to be approved by the MLBPA. It was reported during negotiations for a return-to-play plan this past summer that the players were willing to accept an expanded postseason structure for both 2020 and 2021.

The league's current collective bargaining agreement with the players' union expires following the 2021 campaign.

https://www.thescore.com/mlb/news/2034349

So they want the new NFL format. Ok, sure. Will it go back to a one game wild card playoff, stay at best of three? How will they move on to the second round? Etc etc.

I think this system needs to adjust the benefit of league 1st place teams. There's no difference between them and other division winners.

 

Also, this could be reduced tanking and motivate the playoff pushing to the every team including slightly above .500.

Edited October 4, 20206 yr by Bret Hart

2 hours ago, Michael said:

So they want the new NFL format. Ok, sure. Will it go back to a one game wild card playoff, stay at best of three? How will they move on to the second round? Etc etc.

I hate the one game wild card playoff.  3-game series please.

LOVE THIS. I believe I suggested this earlier, but basically, the same as NFL format. Now, I have a question. Would it be top two teams in each division plus best 7 seed team or just do it by record? Also, would first round be just a play-in wildcard game or a best of three series? Or even best of five? I’m assuming with 14 game format, top seed in each league gets bye for first round/wildcard game/series/etc. 

1 hour ago, Italian Marlins Fan said:

LOVE THIS. I believe I suggested this earlier, but basically, the same as NFL format. Now, I have a question. Would it be top two teams in each division plus best 7 seed team or just do it by record? Also, would first round be just a play-in wildcard game or a best of three series? Or even best of five? I’m assuming with 14 game format, top seed in each league gets bye for first round/wildcard game/series/etc. 

Wouldn't surprise me if they did top 2 per division like this year. Otherwide you could, in a very weird season, have an entire division make the playoffs. Definitely rather go top 2 per division + best of the rest.

12 hours ago, rmc523 said:

I hate the one game wild card playoff.  3-game series please.

Many people hate the one game wild card playoff and then this year it's a 3 game series and I still see people calling it too short and too easy for a fluke win. What gives here? One way or another I do like the idea that the wild card teams have some sort of punishment against them. I think more than 3 games for the wild card round would be too much so people gonna have to just live with this.

3 game round for wild card is good IMO. One game elimination was stupid.

Just keep it at 16 and call it a damn day.

So glad they expanded the postseason. Seeing half the league basically done by June every year was the most asinine thing ever.

Edited October 5, 20206 yr by Valid

16 hours ago, SonOfJack said:

https://www.thescore.com/mlb/news/2034349

my proposal cool.

This also makes it crystal clear that expansion is on the horizon within the next 3-4 years.  Hell I wouldnt be surprised if its announced sometime next year once a vaccine is out and widely available.  

43 minutes ago, SonOfJack said:

3 game round for wild card is good IMO. One game elimination was stupid.

I like the 3 games but I wouldn't call the one game elimination stupid...

The rap against the Wild Card in general since 95 has been that a team can get lucky to win the wild card and then they are in no disadvantage heading into the playoffs, in some ways many of them have more of an advantage as a lot of wild card teams got hot in late September and headed into the playoffs with momentum because they were usually on some kind of hot streak...

But the one game playoff gave every wild card team a disadvantage, a punishment for not winning the division. That part of it I enjoyed even though a lot of teams got the shaft because of it but this is what you get for not being able to win the division.

With that said, my argument only works if the one game format is between 2 actual Wild Card teams.

The Marlins and Cubs last week, neither team was actually a wild card team in 2020. Same for the Cardinals vs Padres. Same for Twins Astros Indians and Yankees.

26 minutes ago, Valid said:

Just keep it at 16 and call it a damn day.

So glad they expanded the postseason. Seeing half the league basically done by June every year was the most asinine thing ever.

Nah, 14.

Should also require at least a .500 record. If only six teams do it, 1 and 2 seeds get a bye then. Lol

43 minutes ago, Michael said:

Should also require at least a .500 record. If only six teams do it, 1 and 2 seeds get a bye then. Lol

This is interesting but won't ever happen.

1 hour ago, Michael said:

Nah, 14.

Should also require at least a .500 record. If only six teams do it, 1 and 2 seeds get a bye then. Lol

I just don't like the uneven number of seven teams in each league. The bye could actually hurt the 1 seed. Would they really want their pitchers getting that much rest?

2 hours ago, SilverBullet said:

Many people hate the one game wild card playoff and then this year it's a 3 game series and I still see people calling it too short and too easy for a fluke win. What gives here? One way or another I do like the idea that the wild card teams have some sort of punishment against them. I think more than 3 games for the wild card round would be too much so people gonna have to just live with this.

I have no problem with the 3-game series, and have argued for that since they went to the 1 game setup.  It's still less than the others (like NLDS with 5 games), so you get that "punishment" aspect, without the possibility of a single error ending a team's season.  I get one game makes it more "exciting" but why in a sport where the entire schedule and season and postseason is built around series and winning the series, do you suddenly throw in a 1 game "series"?  An extra game to break a tie is different to me - that's solely to break a tie of otherwise "equal" teams.  I would not go more than 3 games, though.

 

1 hour ago, Das Texan said:

This also makes it crystal clear that expansion is on the horizon within the next 3-4 years.  Hell I wouldnt be surprised if its announced sometime next year once a vaccine is out and widely available.  

I agree, it's an easy way to make a couple of things happen:

 

1) Hand the union x number of new jobs (depending on how many teams - you'd have to imagine at least 2 to keep things even in each league)

2) make up for this years lost revenues by infusing the league with expansion team fees money.

8 minutes ago, Valid said:

I just don't like the uneven number of seven teams in each league. The bye could actually hurt the 1 seed. Would they really want their pitchers getting that much rest?

I was just thinking - when's the last time Pablo pitched?

4 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

I was just thinking - when's the last time Pablo pitched?

9/24

7 minutes ago, SonOfJack said:

9/24

Yikes.  He's probably rusty now.

9 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

Yikes.  He's probably rusty now.

Not if he's been using WD-40

14 minutes ago, SilverBullet said:

Not if he's been using WD-40

I almost posted this but I was nice enough to let you have it