BeefLoaf’s MLB Playoff Solution
The MLB’s Commissioner office has been a mess lately, they’ve been cocking things up worse than Clark Griswold tryna have the best family Christmas. Lots of people are calling for Rob Manfred’s head, as if it were a possibility….
The commissioner these days is nothing more than a nominal figurehead that works for the owners. One of the MANY things that got people hot under the collar this past week was a proposal by MLB, more than likely just a proposal to get people to stop talking about those no good, cheating, asshole Astros. This was a proposal on an adjusted playoff structure.
As you might imagine, this structure pissed off the traditionalists who already think there are too many teams in the playoffs and delighted those that are used to the playoffs basically being it’s own entire season (like in the NBA or NHL). I’m somewhere in the middle, sure, adding additional teams like this is going to reduce the probability of the best teams winning, but it’s also going to create additional excitement as more teams are battling for said spots come September, which is a positive. But what if we added teams without reducing (in fact increasing the chances) of the best team in each league playing for the World Series.
ENTER
The BeefLoaf Solution…..
Instead of the current version of the playoffs with 5 teams in each league (the 1 game WC playoff and 3 division winners)…AND instead of that monstrosity in the table above, I present my solution.
6 teams in each league, 3 Division Winners, 3 Wild Cards. Instead of the 1 game playoff for the Wild Cards (which you now can’t do because there are 3 teams), we have a 3 team, 2 day, 1 location, double elimination tournament to play against the #1 seed (top division winner) in each league. A round robin of sorts by the Wild Card teams to move on to the divisional round. The location would be that of the top wild card team (by record).
Let’s say the Oakland Athletics, Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels were the wild cards…..Oakland has the best record, this schedule would occur at their ballpark.
GM1 – Tuesday 12pm – Angels 4 vs White Sox 7
GM2 – Tuesday 4pm – Angels 3 at Oakland 4
GM3 – Tuesday 8pm – White Sox 2 at Oakland 5
GM4 – Wednesday 12pm – White Sox 7 at Oakland 1
GM5 – Wednesday 4pm – White Sox 5 at Oakland 3
Now, the winner of this mess (which would be the White Sox in this made up scenario) would move on to play the top team in the league for a 5 game series. The craziness of this sort of round of playoffs would be so fun to watch and it would also allow teams more than one game. Lastly, it would magnify the edge of the team with the best regular season record in the Best of 5 Game Series, because the winner of this onslaught would have to use up a lot of pitchers and play many games in just two days.
I’d love to hear your avant garde thoughts on how you’d adjust the MLB playoffs.
-BeefLoaf
About The Author
beefloaf108
Low information White Sox Fan. Big Feet Energy ORIGINAL 108er Like Whore 2019 Opening Day #SoxMath WINNAR Mediocrity Personified
Love the round-robin aspect, but I’m going a step further with expansion. Add 2 teams (in 2 of Vegas, Nashville, or Montreal). Move to 4 4-team divisions in each league. New schedule for each team is 16 games each against your own division, 8 games each against the rest of the league, 6 games against 1 constant interleague rival, and 3 games each against a rotating interleague division. Season stays at 162 games so the owners won’t bitch about losing money.
In each league, all division winners make the playoffs along with 4 wild cards from any division. The wild cards play their own weird playoffs. The 3 vs. 4 seed play a single-elimination game at the home park of the 3 seed. Then the remaining 3 teams play a round robin with the 3/4 winner needing to win 2 games to advance, while the 1 and 2 seed only need to win 1 game (2 teams advance out of this).
Now you’re left with 6 teams. The top 2 division winners get a bye. The other teams play a 5 game series with all games at the home park of the higher seed. The next round, all games are at the home park of the top 2 division winners in a 7 game series. The NLCS/ALCS are standard 7 game series with alternating home field, but in the proper 2/2/1/1/1 format instead of the bullshit 2/3/2 they use now. World Series is also a 7 game series in 2/2/1/1/1 format.
This is a much more balanced schedule than we have now. It adds 6 more playoff teams per year to help the middle class teams but also provides large tiered benefits to help the best teams win more frequently. Plus who wouldn’t want to watch a Sox road series out in Vegas?
Only like playoff format change when expansion to 32 teams happen. Then do NFL style playoffs- 4 division winners plus 2 WC teams. Best two teams get bye. First round is at teams with best record best of 3,NOT division winner ( to avoid NFL situation where a 11-5 team plays AT a 8-8 division winner). Best of 3 ensures other 4 teams get advantage of WC round teams wasting pitchers but won’t get too rusty with it only being 3 days. Second round LDS best of 5, LCS and WS both best of 7 rounds like current system. PROs: Only max of 2 more overall games. 2 more overall playoff teams. Reward teams with better records