Comments on: Report: Expanded playoffs will be a go for 2012

By: meteor32

meteor32 — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 05:05:16 +0000

Craig, are you still mad at Kent Hrbek?

By: dirtyharry1971

dirtyharry1971 — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 03:02:48 +0000

they should get rid of the wildcard but nooooo bud isnt done ruining baseball before he leaves. Pretty soon the MLB playoff format will look like the NBA’s. It’s easier to say who didnt make the playoffs then to say who did

By: bigzant82

bigzant82 — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 01:56:09 +0000

my ny mets have chance now

By: leftywildcat

leftywildcat — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 01:40:15 +0000

Watch for one league to have a 3 way tie for that 5th slot. Then we’ll have a rain delay. Then all of us will hate the whole idea.

Bud, if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. Put a 5th ump in a replay booth for all basepath and fair/foul calls instead. That way you’d be fixing something that is broken. There would be another no hitter in the record books if you had made this change a couple of years ago.

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:11:47 +0000

Wow. Now THOSE are some win gaps.

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:10:53 +0000

A third of teams isn’t a bad ratio. And 20% of those only get to play one game.

By: bigharold

bigharold — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 23:03:19 +0000

If you take 8 games off the season, add 3 for the WC, 2 more for the divisional playoffs you decrease the games, .. and more importantly the scheduling by 3 games. If you make the WC 3 of 5 than you still have one less potential game.

At issue is not only the additional level of playoffs but what if they decide that one game isn’t quite right and then go fora best two of three.

By: sportsdrenched.com

sportsdrenched.com — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:47:22 +0000

I think the economics might be a wash. Most of MLB’s revenue comes from TV contracts anyway. A double-header might get more people out to the ballpark. Especially regionally. I live three hours from Kauffman. If I knew there was going to be a DH on a certain day you can bet I’m more likely to make the road trip.

By: churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:42:21 +0000

The 96-win team should have tried harder during the sacred 162 because the best team gets the real advantage.

In ’01, the 102 win Oakland A’s won the WC [and had to travel to the 95 win NYY]. If the new setup was in place, they would have had to play a play-in game against the 85 win Minnesota Twins. Granted this is the opposite extreme, but how much harder could Oakland have tried win the Mariners won 116 games?

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:41:22 +0000

This. You hear sabermetric writers calling for this a lot, and it would be just great. But it’ll never happen, as that’s a lot of lost revenue.

By: churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged

churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:22:48 +0000

He’s referring to more and more teams making the playoffs, like the NBA and NHL where half the teams qualify.

By: baseballisboring

baseballisboring — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:14:24 +0000

Yeah, I don’t disagree with you but…it would really just suck if, say, the Rays were up 7 games on the wild card race over the Angels, then they played a one game playoff and the Angels won, even though the Rays had the better record by 7 games in a tougher division. That’s the type of thing we’re being set up for. Either make it a 3 game series or don’t do it.

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:11:47 +0000

Last year was a rarity. Someone looked at past seasons and almost every season this would lead to more teams playing meaningful September games. Whether you think it’s worth it or not, this is definitely the way to get a more exciting finish.

The gaps between WC1 and WC2 aren’t going to be severe very often, either. In the last five seasons (with ten different WC1/WC2 matchups), only one would have had a gap bigger than six wins. Half of the matchups would have been one-game differences.

By: kidpresentable

kidpresentable — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:03:40 +0000

Not a fan of this. I get that MLB is trying to get better ratings late in the season and into the playoffs, but adding more baseball isn’t going to do it. If you want more people to watch the game, speed it up. Put the pitchers on pitch clocks, limit the number of times the catcher can visit the mound, don’t let relief pitchers warm up outside of the bullpen, don’t let batters step out of the box unless they took a swing or had to dive to avoid a wild pitch, etc. I love baseball, but people who don’t will cite that it’s boring as the main reason for their apathy.

With a 162 game season, fans of maybe 10-12 teams still care by mid-September. By the final week, fans of maybe 4 teams care because their teams have either long-since clinched or they were eliminated long ago. All this does is guarantee that two fan bases care for one more day.

By: dcfan4life

dcfan4life — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:01:25 +0000

Every one game playoff has been exciting. Last seasons ending came down to 4 one game playoffs and they all delivered unbelievable experiences, with of course the Cardinals carrying into a World Series title. How can any of you say you dont like this. Your probably the same people who said you didn’t like the wild card when it started, and how great has that been.

By: dcfan4life

dcfan4life — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:59:23 +0000

Only Football is a one and done playoff sport. MLB, NBA, NHL and even the MLS have series to determine playoff winners. Im not sure what you mean. Im not sure you know what you mean…

By: belichickrulz

belichickrulz — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:50:19 +0000

I’d be OK with this if they went back to 154 regular season games. I don’t want to watch the World Series during the second month of football season.

By: sportsdrenched.com

sportsdrenched.com — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:45:35 +0000

MLB could make the game more fan freindly and cut a week off the season by each team having a double-header each homestand. And I mean 2 games for the price of one double-header. None of this “day/night you have to leave the stadium between games” Kind of crap.

By: Utley's Hair

Utley's Hair — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:29:28 +0000

Unless they sprayed the screen with that black stuff from that commercial.

By: sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo

sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:27:43 +0000

Nah. Angels/Rangers should uninvite the Red Sox to the dance.

By: rooney24

rooney24 — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:17:49 +0000

You say the schedule will make the playoffs last too long, and then you advocate making it a 3 or 5 game series. That doesn’t add up. One game doesn’t add much time. Try it for a year or two and see what happens.

By: marshmallowsnake

marshmallowsnake — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:13:19 +0000

I can root for the Red Sox in October now, when they make the dance as a 3rd place team? AWESOME!

By: rooney24

rooney24 — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:08:03 +0000

The issue with the wild card being a 3 game series is that the other three teams could then be sitting for likely 5-7 days (with off days), not playing, which would actually be a detriment to them. Sitting 3-4 days while they play one wild card game isn’t as big of a momentum breaker.

By: icanspeel

icanspeel — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:03:10 +0000

I don’t see why it is such a big deal.. if anything it makes the potential #1 wild card try to win the division over settling for the wild card since 1 game could put them out.

By: rooney24

rooney24 — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:03:01 +0000

They need to eliminate some of the off days in the playoffs, and then they won’t run quite as late. If a team can play in one town one night and fly to another town to play the next night in the regular season, why not do that in the postseason? Fewer off days would also force teams to use their 4th and possibly 5th starters in the playoffs, which would be a more true test of your team, rather than just needing 3 good starting pitchers. With the way they work the opening round, some series will open the first day and have a day off without even travelling, before playing game 2 of the series on the 3rd day (for TV reasons). Close up those off days, and I bet you could end a week and a half earlier.

By: phukyouk

phukyouk — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:53:26 +0000

Submarines with screen door… now THERE is the dumbest idea ever.

By: boomerdt

boomerdt — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:32:31 +0000

Yep I like it too! Just wish it was a 3 game series.

By: sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo

sabathiawouldbegoodattheeighthtoo — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:31:25 +0000

Last year was special, but most seasons we had zero teams playing anything as dramatic as a one game playoff. Now we have a minimum of 2 teams doing it every year. We also won’t have to watch as many teams phoning it in for the last week or so of the regular season once they have secured any old playoff spot. People talk about the 1 game playoff cheapening the regular season. I think teams phoning in the last 10 games cheapens the regular season more.

I wonder how many 96-win teams did not win their division? If they didn’t, that means that there was a 97 win (or better) team out there, and they are the ones who deserve the real advantage in the playoffs. The 96-win team should have tried harder during the sacred 162 because the best team gets the real advantage.

By: manifunk

manifunk — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:23:08 +0000

I like the concept, just not the implementation. Baseball has always been about series’. During the regular season you always play at LEAST 2 games in a row against an opponent. Making the “playoffs” different for the first game is wrong. I would be fine if it was a 3 game series, but making it a one-game, do-or-die scenario is just trying to manufacture drama, even though there’s already plenty there for a 3 game series.

By: tcostant

tcostant — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:12:53 +0000

I like it, now if two teams are close to the division (and both have playoff sport locked up) they will actually TRY TO WIN THE DIVISION. This has happened lately, just see the Rays and Yakees last year.

I like it