846 replies to this topic

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Starting pitching is already a premium. Short series make it even more so. It takes a rotation of 5 starters to play the regular season. No team uses more than 4 in the post season and a lot of times just 3.

[glenn__davis]

I don't think it's appropriate for a 162 game season to come down to a 1 game winner take all. It's a baseball game.... even the worst team can beat the best team on any given day. Usually, the better team will prevail in a 3 or especially 5/7 game series.

 

Disagree with the last sentence.  In the grand scheme of a baseball season a 3, 5 or 7 game series is not much more definitive than a 1 game series.  But at least you get multiple cracks at it.

 

But that was the beauty of the 1 game wild card.  Don't like it?  Win your division.

[BaltBird 24]

Am I correct in assuming that you would have preferred the Bucky Dent game to be the Bucky Dent 3, 5 or 7 game series?

That's different. It was a continuation of the regular season as the Red Sox and Yankees had finished in a first place tie. I'm fine with that scenario to determine a winner.

A playoff round should be a series, not a single elimination.

[BaltBird 24]

Disagree with the last sentence. In the grand scheme of a baseball season a 3, 5 or 7 game series is not much more definitive than a 1 game series. But at least you get multiple cracks at it.

But that was the beauty of the 1 game wild card. Don't like it? Win your division.

I'd say there's a much greater chance the "better" team prevails in 5 or 7 games. Yeah, 3 could still be a toss up.

[weird-O]

The team with the better regular season record has only won the WS 24.1% of the time, since the WC was introduced.

[makoman]

The team with the better regular season record has only won the WS 24.1% of the time, since the WC was introduced.

 

I guess it depends on the specific teams and their specific odds. But if the better team is 66-33 to win any particular series, then having to win the DS, CS, and WS is under 30% (ignoring WC cause the best teams have the bye). If the better team is only 60-40 it's under 22%.

 

Keeping in mind 66% is like a 108 win team, but they got to play all the bad teams too, they weren't 66% against a playoff team.

 

This reminds me of my dislike for the idea some have that it's bad to get the bye. Your odds would have to go down vastly to overcome the automatic trip to the next round.

[russsnyder]

I would prefer this format

WC - Single Game
Division Series - 3 games
Championship Series - 3 games, but I could live with 5
WS - 7 games

I agree with all of this except the championship series. I think 5 games is appropriate. I think MLB lost something when they moved away from the one game wild card.

The one game play in was exciting as hell. It also made a team's regular season record that much more important. If you want to avoid a one game playoff, have a better regular season record

IMO, the only seven game series should be the World Series. All these extra playoff games have been put in for TV revenue. I doubt these formats change.