Now that the Wild-Card games are one and done, the playoffs come down to 8 teams.
In the AL: Detroit Tigers vs. the Oakland A’s, the Boston Red Sox vs. the Tampa Rays.
In the NL: Pittsburgh Pirates vs. the St Louis Cardinals, and LA Dodgers vs. the Atlanta Braves.
The Cleveland Indians and the Cincinnati Reds unfortunately couldn’t win their wild card games and are out. Some people are made to think it’s just a waste of time and that the league should go back to 8 playoff teams instead of 10. I on the other hand, love it and promote the idea of expanding the playoffs further.
There are so many old school fans out there who abhor change, so naturally this wild card game bugs them a lot. Some call them “purists” – not sure that properly describes them, but that’s another topic all together. The thing is, you can’t avoid change. You can delay it, but you can’t stop it entirely. The MLB realizes for it to survive it needs to keep interest in baseball alive in September, especially with NFL, college football, and the NHL and NBA coming back to start their seasons. With so many choices for the casual fan, baseball has to keep their share of the pie.
The playoff expansion idea was a great one and I think they should expand it to 12 teams instead of 10. What the MLB could do is go back to having two divisions, each producing a division winner with four wildcard spots up for grabs. The first playoff series will be a 3 or 5-game series, followed by a second round best of 5, and concluding in a Championship/Pennant Series which would be a 7-games series. The winner would represent their “league” in the World Series.
By using this kind of playoff format, fewer people will complain about the one wild card playoff game and it would put even more teams in contention. It would also serve to motivate the teams to make more trades at the deadline and play with more effort deeper into the season because they wouldn’t be playing for just one game, they would be playing for three or five.
Now before you get upset and tell me that the divisions will be uneven, I already realize that. Two things can be done about that. Either expanding two more teams to become a 32-team league, or if that isn’t an option, the league can just let go of the fact that one AL and one NL division will have one more team that the other. It’s not like it would effect anything really, and there would still be four playoff spots up to grab if the division is already taken. Also let us all remember that it was just last year that the NL Central had 6 teams and that they had done it for years, until this year.
I really think an idea like this could work for baseball. More revenue will be put into the game, because let’s face it, people love playoffs. More non-traditional teams will get exposure and as I said, teams will stay in the hunt longer. Think about it this way: the top 6 teams in the NL and AL will get a fair chance at the world series. Adding another playoff series probably won’t even affect the schedule either.
I will always be a fan of MLB playoff expansion and I don’t think I will ever stop promoting it. I really hope that down the road the MLB will look at expansion as a good thing and not a bad thing.
Do you think MLB should expand its playoffs? Should they be shortened again, or leave it as is? Let us know on the comment section below, or on twitter!
Playoff Nick Note:
This isn’t a fearless prediction, but I would love to see the A’s against the Pirates in the World Series. Although it might affect the ratings I personally would love to see the story of the two teams that can’t spend a lot defy the odds and go all the way. That of course is just a dream. However if I have to pick for sake of picking I think the LA Dodgers and the Detroit Tigers will probably face each other this year, but I’m still hoping for the A’s vs. Pirates.
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