MLB playoff expansion

Just saw this. Looks like MLB may move to a 10-team playoff this year. Is this a good move?

http://eye-on-baseball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22297882/35034180

 

Really, because it's not really news. The deadline for a deal for this season is March 1.

 

The season is too long as it is. Baseball was not meant to be played in November. Cold weather adds nothing to baseball the way it does with football.

 

It only adds one day to the schedule, so I don't think that's a real big concern. I just think of a year like last year where the final day of the season was so spectacular, but it wasn't "forced" drama, which I feel like this one-game playoff really is -- forced.

I haven't read yet, so I'm curious, how with they handle it when there's a tie for the fifth slot? I guess there will be a one-game playoff to get into the one-game playoff? That sounds a little weird. What if there's three teams tied for the final two wild slots? How will they decide which two of the three will get into the one-game playoff? It will happen at some point, so I'm curious to know now what the plan is for that situation.

 

I think it is a good idea because winning the division means more and getting a wild card poses more risk. That is the way it should be.

 

I think that's the best reason for it. I like that baseball has traditionally let so few teams into its postseason, so I'm leery of expanding it to 1/3 of the league, but I'm OK with giving it a shot.

I do worry that eventually they'll expand the "Wild Card Round" or whatever they end up calling it to best of three, then best of five, etc. But I'm open to this idea.

 

I think it should be a best 2-of-3 if they add a round. The idea is to punish the wild card team and make it harder for them, something I don't really agree with, given that often times, the wild card team has a better record than one or the other of the division winners. I don't like that a division winner gets an advantage just because it won a weak division with an 85-win season.

Also, people can't use last year as some sort of benchmark. Great as it was, it was a rarity.

Moreover, if you look back at baseball standings' past, there are examples where Game 162 would be just as dramatic for the fifth playoff spot as it was for the fourth one in both leagues last year.

In general, though, I'm not opposed to baseball playoff expansion. Even if it adds two teams, the percentage of baseball teams that make the playoffs is still far lower than it is for other leagues.

 

Yep. For instance, we could have had a three-way AL tiebreaker for the second wild card in 1996 between Boston, Chicago and Seattle.

And in both 2008 and 2009, the AL Central co-champions (Twins/White Sox and Twins/Tigers) would have finished with the same record as the second wild card in those years. Consecutive three-way ties instead of the fantastic one-game playoffs we had.

http://sabr.org/latest/who-were-second-wild-card-teams-1995

 

I'm just excited about the fact that there is a chance for the Cubs to miss three playoff spots instead of two.

 

I hope Ryan Braun hits a home run to knock the Cubs out of the playoffs. One that just barely clears the fence, its distance aided by HGH use.

 

Dream on. They'll never be that close to a playoff spot.

Besides he'll break down now that he can't juice anymore...

 

If it creates hope in places like Baltimore and Toronto, or any other city whose team is competing in a brutal division, it cannot be anything but good.