A's Owner: Make 1st round one game playoff

[Chip R]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-playoffs-oneandout&prov=ap&type=lgns

Oakland owner: Make 1st round of playoffs 1 game


By RONALD BLUM, AP Baseball Writer

NEW YORK (AP)—Lew Wolff has a way to shorten baseball’s postseason: Make the first round best-of-one.

“I’d make it one-game-and-you’re-out for the first series,” the Oakland Athletics owner said Wednesday. “It would be exciting. It would be great.”

Begun in 1995, the division series has been a best-of-five competition. Some people have advocated it be expanded to best-of-seven, matching the league championship series and the World Series. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has repeatedly said he favors the current format.

Wolff said he hasn’t brought up his concept with Selig.

“No, I’m afraid to do that,” he said.

Under the current format, Game 7 of the World Series wouldn’t be until Nov. 5 next year. Selig said during this year’s World Series that the postseason has too many off days, but shortening it appears to be impossible if Major League Baseball sticks to having the World Series start on a Wednesday, a schedule that began in 2007.

On other matters, Wolff said he’s inclined to keep newly acquired outfielder Matt Holliday for the entire season, even if he becomes a free agent next November and leaves the A’s.

“I’d rather take the two draft choices than lose him in the middle of the season,” Wolff said.

Holliday, obtained from Colorado, is represented by Scott Boras, who advocates that clients not sign contracts before filing for free agency.

Wolff said that in preparing for an amateur draft, he noticed that certain prospective picks were on “one board with different colored cards.”

“What is that?” he asked his baseball operations employees.

The answer, he said, was: “Scott Boras clients.”

[BRM]

I just read that article on ESPN.com. The idea gets a big "NO WAY" from me. I'd rather shorten the regular season if you want the playoffs to wrap up earlier. One and done in the postseason just doesn't fly in baseball.

[Mario-Rijo]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-playoffs-oneandout&prov=ap&type=lgns

Wolff said that in preparing for an amateur draft, he noticed that certain prospective picks were on “one board with different colored cards.”

“What is that?” he asked his baseball operations employees.

The answer, he said, was: “Scott Boras clients.”

LOL, that's right can't get them incorrect. :D

[REDREAD]

Truly ironic, since the A's were the ones complaining about the playoffs being a crapshoot.

Good thing that baseball would lose too much TV money to even consider this.

[Chip R]

Truly ironic, since the A's were the ones complaining about the playoffs being a crapshoot.

Good thing that baseball would lose too much TV money to even consider this.


I'm not in favor of this by any means but if you promot it as a winner take all game, it may draw more viewers than if it were the best of 5 or 7. I wonder what the numbers have been for the one game playoffs the past few years? That may give you an idea on whether they would draw well.

[Edskin]

What an asinine idea. I HATE the fact that the first round is only a five game series. HATE it.

The "series" is how playoff baseball is meant to be decided. You play 162 games....after that, I think you determine whose best by playing MORE games, not fewer.

Baseball SHOULD shorten the post-season in terms of the duration of the playoffs themselves...not how many games are played in a series.

During the regular season, teams routinely play on back to back days even after traveling...often times traveling across the country. Why in the post-season is a day off required in between each travel day? It's really dumb.

Here's what I would do:

Each series is 7 games.....each of those games is CONSECUTIVELY w/ no off days. You can stagger when each series begins to avoid the possibility of having 4 games going at once.

There is not set schedule beyond the wild card round. Each new series will begin based on logic....if both teams sweep their series, they should get one day off and then start the next one...sitting around for a week is pointless and drags everything out.

[REDREAD]

I'm not in favor of this by any means but if you promot it as a winner take all game, it may draw more viewers than if it were the best of 5 or 7. I wonder what the numbers have been for the one game playoffs the past few years? That may give you an idea on whether they would draw well.

But you have to ask yourself, wouldn't TV pay a lot more for a best of 5 instead of a one game playoff? The one game isn't going to be able to sell commericals at 3-5 times the rate that they sell now. Maybe the single game would draw better ratings, but I'm guessing it would not be significant.

[Cyclone792]

Each playoff series needs to be a minimum of seven games. Heck, I wouldn't be opposed to sending the World Series back to nine games, just as they did for a few years early in the 20th century.

What needs to happen is the regular season to go back to 154 games, and each team needs to schedule one or two doubleheaders during the season. Cut out about 10 days during the regular season and that would help prevent postseason baseball from being played in frigid, late October/early November weather.

[Cyclone792]

BTW, if they did schedule doubleheaders then the Reds would have to put it in Marty's contract that he has to call all those games. And then hopefully each game would go about 22 innings.

;)

[corkedbat]

So the 1st seed in the playoffs, who had an outstanding season and has a solid rotation 1 thru 5, and the fourth seed, who barely made it in and has just a passable 2 through 5 meet. The four seed moves on though, because they have a hoss who is on fire like Sabathia at the front of their rotation and dominates the oone-game series. No thanks.

[Matt700wlw]

Since the 162 game schedule isn't going anywhere, this would shorten it....

1st round: 2 of 3

2nd round: 3 of 5

World Series : 4 of 7

(not saying I would do it, just saying it would shorten it)


...Also, quit with the off days in between games that don't involve travel, at least.

[Chip R]

But you have to ask yourself, wouldn't TV pay a lot more for a best of 5 instead of a one game playoff? The one game isn't going to be able to sell commericals at 3-5 times the rate that they sell now. Maybe the single game would draw better ratings, but I'm guessing it would not be significant.


I'm not sure they would. Obviously a 1 game divisional playoff is different than the Super Bowl but don't you think ad rates would drop if they had a best of 3 series to win the Super Bowl? Or if a Wild card playoff game was best of 3 or 5 instead of single elimination?

The NBA and MLB (and to a lesser extent the NHL) get criticized for their playoff series lasting so long. But that's going to happen when you have 16 and 8 teams respectively in your playoffs. People complain about competitive balance in MLB as opposed to the other 3 sports but what they don't ever say is that the NFL lets 12 teams into the playoffs and the other two let 16 teams in. In the good old days, teams played 154 games and the AL and NL winner met in the World Series and it was done by mid October.

The NFL is appealing because it's one game per week on the weekend and you either win or you go home. The NCAA basketball tournament is somewhat like that except when a team wins they play two days later and then they wait 4 or 5 days. But that winner take all/loser goes home/one and done mentality is appealing to people.

I don't know if it would work in baseball and I'm certainly not in favor of it but while you may not be able to sell 3-5 times as much time with a one game playoff right away, you may be able to down the road. Now if you're going to do that with the 1st round, you need to go all the way and make the LCS best of 5 again or even best of 3. Maybe even make the World Series best of 5.

[Hap]

Bud Selig hasn't asked me what I think, but...........................

I think that the higher seed should have to win one fewer game in the first round, as a privilege for having the better regular season. After the first round, keep it the way it is.

[M2]

I like the idea. It would give some actual importance to home-field advantage and allow teams that have made the postseason with room to spare the ability to set up their aces for the winner-take-all contest.

Honestly, it's not like we'd have lost any drama from the division series this season had they been one-off affairs. That was a snoozefest. And one-game playoffs are pretty exciting. That Rockies-Padres game was dynamite. Bucky Bleepin' Dent. Luis Sojo's mad dash to glory against the Angels in '95. Pretty memorable stuff. Al Leiter, well, I remember that too even I'd prefer not to.

Skip right to the drama, start the playoffs off with a bang. Rather than bore everyone with division series, MLB could hook everybody in with must-see TV.

Beyond that, it's not like they're breaking with some grand tradition. This playoff system has been around since 1995 and only 13 of 56 series have gone 5 games. And how many of those were all that exciting? My guess is within a few years a one-game system would provide more lasting memories than the 5-game model has in 14 years.

[REDREAD]

I'm not sure they would. Obviously a 1 game divisional playoff is different than the Super Bowl but don't you think ad rates would drop if they had a best of 3 series to win the Super Bowl? Or if a Wild card playoff game was best of 3 or 5 instead of single elimination?


The Superbowl has the advantage of being for the championship.
There's not a whole lot of drama in the first round of the baseball playoff series. Not enough to get the casual fan to notice.
I really doubt that shortening it to one game would make it "must see TV".

NCAA basketball is a whole different ballgame because usually the better team wins. Upsets happen just often enough to make things interesting.
But if the NCAA routinely had the top 16 seeds (big names) knocked out in the first round, they'd probably investigate changing things.

Also, since you need a week rest between football games, it's really not realistic to have a multi-game series. In fact, I think if baseball got rid of some of the travel days, they'd keep fan interest more.

It is a good point that since the baseball playoffs last about a month, that it's hard to get fans interested.

[AtomicDumpling]

The best way to shorten the postseason is to get rid of the 1st round altogether. That is the way it was for decades. Go back to two divisions in each league. Then making the postseason is a much greater accomplishment than it is now.

If you make the playoffs now you still have a looooonnnnggg way to go to win the championship. In the old days if you made the postseason you were on the verge of a championship, so it really meant something and was much more exciting.

I can't stand the fact that we have 2nd-place teams in the playoffs. Sometimes those 2nd-place teams even win the World Series. What is the point of having a 162 game regular season to find the best team if you are going to allow an inferior team an equal shot at the championship? If you can't even win your own 4 team division you should not be able to claim the title of the best team in baseball. It cheapens the value of the World Series.

[MrCinatit]

Talk about changing the face of the playoffs. The playoff participants would have been changed - sometimes in major ways - had this method been used from the start*.
Five would champions would have been immediately eliminated.
Four other teams that played in the World Series would have been eliminated.
Seven other teams would have played in the championship series instead of their rivals.
That is 16 playoff changes total.
Remarkably, the only times there would have been no change were the last two years.
1995: The Yankees would have won the playoff instead of Seattle (and we would have missed the smile in the pile)
1996: Texas would have been over the Yankees. No World Series victory for the Yankees.
1997: The Indians never make the World Series, losing to the Yankees.
1998: The Indians don't make the ALCS, losing to Boston.
1999: This time, the Indians go in instead of Boston.
Atlanta misses the World Series, losing to Houston.
2000: The Yankees never become world champs, losing to the A's (ah-ha).
The Mets never face the Yankees as well, losing to the Giants.
2001: Cleveland goes to the ALCS instead of Seattle.
2002: Anaheim never wins the WC, losing to the Yankees in the first round.
2003: The Yankees do not make it to the WS, losing to the Twins.
Oakland makes the ALCS instead of Boston (ah-ha, part two).
The Champion Marlins lose to San Fransisco (and with that, with a different team...maybe Bartman does not become a goat).

2004: The Twins over the Yankees (we are denied that great comeback).
2005: The Yankees go to the ALCS instead of the Angels.
2006: The Tigers do not become champs, losing to the Yankees.
2007: No change.
2008: No change.

*This is, of course, assuming the outcome would have been the same - however, this is unlikely, as teams participating in a one-game playoff would most likely play a bit different than those in a best-of-five playoff.
Meanwhile, IMHO, the playoffs become a bit drab. Yes, there might be some great moments in those single games...but the first round would be over before we could appreciate it.

[M2]

So the 1st seed in the playoffs, who had an outstanding season and has a solid rotation 1 thru 5, and the fourth seed, who barely made it in and has just a passable 2 through 5 meet. The four seed moves on though, because they have a hoss who is on fire like Sabathia at the front of their rotation and dominates the oone-game series. No thanks.

Only 10 of 28 #1 seeds have made it to the World Series during the past 14 years, I doubt a one-game setup would do anything to lower their chances.

[Unassisted]

The best way to get this to happen is for the television-rights bidders to ask for it. They could probably be sold on it.

If those 1-game playoffs could happen on a weekend, that might also entice broadcasters and not just cable to bid on that round. I think the fact that first-round playoff games have been shown on a variety of cable channels since 1995 probably contributes mightily to the decline in the sport's popularity. Make 'em exciting and easy to find and the casual fans will get interested again.

[Chip R]

The best way to get this to happen is for the television-rights bidders to ask for it. They could probably be sold on it.

If those 1-game playoffs could happen on a weekend, that might also entice broadcasters and not just cable to bid on that round. I think the fact that first-round playoff games have been shown on a variety of cable channels since 1995 probably contributes mightily to the decline in the sport's popularity. Make 'em exciting and easy to find and the casual fans will get interested again.


Problemn with that is that you'd have to end the regular season on a weekday or wait until the following weekend to start.

[*BaseClogger*]

Heh, I like it. It adds excitement and shortens the length of the postseason. The playoffs are already a crap shoot, so why not add a little spice?

[Unassisted]

Problemn with that is that you'd have to end the regular season on a weekday or wait until the following weekend to start.Cut the regular season back to 158/9 games and you'd be all set to start the playoffs on a weekend. That way teams wouldn't have to give up an entire week of regular season games.

[OnBaseMachine]

I'm against any idea that shortens the regular season. It already goes by too fast anyways.

[15fan]

The best way to shorten the postseason is to get rid of the 1st round altogether. That is the way it was for decades. Go back to two divisions in each league. Then making the postseason is a much greater accomplishment than it is now.

:beerme:

[Highlifeman21]

Since the 162 game schedule isn't going anywhere, this would shorten it....

1st round: 2 of 3

2nd round: 3 of 5

World Series : 4 of 7

(not saying I would do it, just saying it would shorten it)


...Also, quit with the off days in between games that don't involve travel, at least.

You can thank the MLBPA and their CBA for that....

I'm always amused when the MLBPA has to approve the makeup dates for rainouts, b/c they can't have their membership playing too many games in a row...

[Chip R]

Cut the regular season back to 158/9 games and you'd be all set to start the playoffs on a weekend. That way teams wouldn't have to give up an entire week of regular season games.


No matter how many games you play, you are going to either have to end the season on a weekday or wait till the following weekend to start.

[KronoRed]

Go back to 144 games and have each round be 5 except for the world series.

[Jpup]

The best way to shorten the postseason is to get rid of the 1st round altogether. That is the way it was for decades. Go back to two divisions in each league. Then making the postseason is a much greater accomplishment than it is now.

If you make the playoffs now you still have a looooonnnnggg way to go to win the championship. In the old days if you made the postseason you were on the verge of a championship, so it really meant something and was much more exciting.

I can't stand the fact that we have 2nd-place teams in the playoffs. Sometimes those 2nd-place teams even win the World Series. What is the point of having a 162 game regular season to find the best team if you are going to allow an inferior team an equal shot at the championship? If you can't even win your own 4 team division you should not be able to claim the title of the best team in baseball. It cheapens the value of the World Series.

That about sums it up for me as well. :thumbup: