Major League Baseball Has A Problem

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by GaryPassamonte

This year's baseball playoffs further expose a glaring problem with the format. Five of the top 6 seeded teams have been eliminated. This is just not acceptable from a fairness standpoint. The baseball season has traditionally been long to mean something, that the best teams over the long haul are rewarded. Given the layers of playoffs now used, the "best" teams throughout the season are vulnerable to losing to an inferior "hot" team. This is not what baseball has been about for most of its history and is not weighing the regular season fairly. I don't know what the solution is, but a format needs to be implemented that respects the regular season record much more than it does.

I know that Manfred has gone on record advocating that MLB split into 4, yes 4, leagues. 2 leagues would play a series, 2 leagues would play a series, and the winners would meet in the World Series. American, National, Federal and Continental leagues. Doing away altogether with wild cards, and endless layer after layer after layer of fan fatiguing playoffs. He even said that, to the extent possible, put the original teams back into the American and National leagues. This will NEVER happen, though, as he himself stated, there is just too much against it.

[MichiganMan24]

Manfred has had some questionable calls in the past and this one might just take the cake. First off I think it's important to recognize the deeply-flawed system that is the MLB playoffs. The fact that baseball has the longest regular season (which is considered by many to be boring and arduous) and the shortest post-season (one of the most exciting times in all of sports) shows a deep misunderstanding of what the fans want. Don't even entertain the idea of splitting the league into all these divisions and whatever, it's not going to change that reality. Shorten the regular season, elongate the playoffs, and I absolutely guarantee it will increase fan engagement and sustain more consistency with better teams moving on.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by jingram058

I know that Manfred has gone on record advocating that MLB split into 4, yes 4, leagues. 2 leagues would play a series, 2 leagues would play a series, and the winners would meet in the World Series. American, National, Federal and Continental leagues. Doing away altogether with wild cards, and endless layer after layer after layer of fan fatiguing playoffs. He even said that, to the extent possible, put the original teams back into the American and National leagues. This will NEVER happen, though, as he himself stated, there is just too much against it.

I don't remember ever hearing this suggested. I remember talk of expansion to 32 teams and then splitting each league into 4 divisions (like the NFL), but I don't remember how many playoff teams there would be along with the 8 division winners. I would imagine some number of wild cards, but not sure how many to make the playoffs really work.

[BobbyStrawberry]

I've heard just the opposite, that MLB wants to get rid of divisions entirely. The scheduling change whereby teams no longer play more games against division rivals seems to presage that...

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

I've heard just the opposite, that MLB wants to get rid of divisions entirely. The scheduling change whereby teams no longer play more games against division rivals seems to presage that...

I think the more balanced schedule was to make the wild card competition fairer to teams in tougher divisions. I don't see how they can get away from divisions.