dablackguy
10-28-2006, 06:07 PM
Figured I'd start off with a controversial statement. This year is an exact image in a nutshell of why the baseball playoffs suck. Very rarely can you say that the best team wins. I'm all for unpredictability and the like, but have a problem with an 83 win team who LOST into the playoffs winning a World Series. Really, what you've learned this post-season is that the baseball playoffs are far more about luck than talent. This is prevalent in all sports but more so in baseball. Think of the last ten world champions in every major sport, in football, the team that won may not have always been the best team, but was certainly an upper echelon team. I'll make the only exception the Steelers of last year, but if you win out on the Road, you deserve to win it all. Basketball, the same.
Now think of the last ten world champions in baseball. Most of which weren't the elite team in baseball. The only ones I come up with that were an elite team: 97 and 99 Yankees. How do you get the playoffs to be more balanced and less about luck? My proposal:
Firs, make the first round five consecutive days. This favors the team that has played well all year because if you win a division 3 weeks in advance, you have plenty of time to set up your pitching. Conversely, the team that limps in, will not. That means you see their ace probably once in a 5 game series and your ace twice should you pitch them on short rest.
This also favors the more complete team. In a 5 games in 5 days situation, you cannot rely on 2 hot pitchers to carry your team because more likely than not, you're only seeing four bodies and one on short rest. A team limping in, probably has injuries or more likely, 2 solid starters and 2 so-so ones. Thus giving an advantage to the team who has played well most of the year, which is how it should be. Teams that get in (Wild Card or Division) should not be on equal footing as the team that dominates its division and clinches in August.
Which brings me to point 2. Let the first round home field be dictated by record as it is now. But let the lower seed play all 5 games on the road. To a solid team that won its division but it a lower seed, it wouldn't make to much of a difference. But to the team getting in on the last weekend or last day, you face another hurdle. Again, I just don't think a team that limps in should be on equal footing with one that has played well all year. I say beyond that, keep the next rounds the same, if a lower seed gets in to the LCS like that, they've earned it
Again, unpredictability is fun and I'm a huge baseball fan. But really, its not much of a world series when the 2 best teams or even 2 top tier teams aren't in it. This World Series didn't have a great WS feel to it. And I defy anyone to tell me that the best best teams played, or even that two upper tier team (out of those that made the playoffs) decided this World Championship.
Thoughts?
Now think of the last ten world champions in baseball. Most of which weren't the elite team in baseball. The only ones I come up with that were an elite team: 97 and 99 Yankees. How do you get the playoffs to be more balanced and less about luck? My proposal:
Firs, make the first round five consecutive days. This favors the team that has played well all year because if you win a division 3 weeks in advance, you have plenty of time to set up your pitching. Conversely, the team that limps in, will not. That means you see their ace probably once in a 5 game series and your ace twice should you pitch them on short rest.
This also favors the more complete team. In a 5 games in 5 days situation, you cannot rely on 2 hot pitchers to carry your team because more likely than not, you're only seeing four bodies and one on short rest. A team limping in, probably has injuries or more likely, 2 solid starters and 2 so-so ones. Thus giving an advantage to the team who has played well most of the year, which is how it should be. Teams that get in (Wild Card or Division) should not be on equal footing as the team that dominates its division and clinches in August.
Which brings me to point 2. Let the first round home field be dictated by record as it is now. But let the lower seed play all 5 games on the road. To a solid team that won its division but it a lower seed, it wouldn't make to much of a difference. But to the team getting in on the last weekend or last day, you face another hurdle. Again, I just don't think a team that limps in should be on equal footing with one that has played well all year. I say beyond that, keep the next rounds the same, if a lower seed gets in to the LCS like that, they've earned it
Again, unpredictability is fun and I'm a huge baseball fan. But really, its not much of a world series when the 2 best teams or even 2 top tier teams aren't in it. This World Series didn't have a great WS feel to it. And I defy anyone to tell me that the best best teams played, or even that two upper tier team (out of those that made the playoffs) decided this World Championship.
Thoughts?