I go 4 divisions of 7 (with 2 getting 8) and the top 4 teams battle it out in 7 game series.
The 2nd place teams all play in the NIT of baseball with 5 game series.
I go 4 divisions of 7 (with 2 getting 8) and the top 4 teams battle it out in 7 game series.
The 2nd place teams all play in the NIT of baseball with 5 game series.
Couldn't disagree more with the article. Just dropping the Rays in the series this year would have been stupid and bad for baseball.
I don't mind opening it up for more teams with the current wild card system, they just need to stop it with the off days. Seriously, it ruins it for me.
I'm with Dom.
I'm a huge Posnanski fan, but he's off base here:
...and no one gave a damn about the AL West, either, because the Rangers ran away with it. (Well, and also because it's the AL West....)Because playoffs, by their very nature, cut into the drama of pennant races. Nobody gave a damn who won the American League East this year since both teams were making the playoffs.
Pennant races are only dramatic if there are two teams battling head-to-head, and they are only really dramatic for fans of those two teams. Fans of the game itself appreciate a good pennant race, but unless they have a dog in the fight, the passion is missing.
Also, for Joe to assert that baseball isn't a game that thrives on intensity is just plain dumb, especially considering how he pines for a "dramatic" pennant race.
But hey, you know what more than makes up for the alleged, prolonged "drama" of a pennant race? PLAYOFF GAMES.
"I prefer books and movies where the conflict isn't of the extreme cannibal apocalypse variety I guess." Redsfaithful
Baseball playoffs are terrible. Almost unwatchable. Too many off days with 4-hour games that start way too late. This is a major reason why the NFL dominates MLB. Who wants to stay up to midnight to watch the end of a game? A 4-hour game no less.
Games should start no later than 7 PM, there shouldn't be off days in between games in the same city, and they must find a way to get the games closer to 3 hours long.
"....the two players I liked watching the most were Barry Larkin and Eric Davis. I was suitably entertained by their effortless skill that I didn't need them crashing into walls like a squirrel on a coke binge." - dsmith421
This is the most telling thing in the whole article to me. Poz clearly lays out that the is a traditionalist and wants the game the way it was 20 or so years ago. I don't have an issue with that, I would just tell him to embrace the change. While purist may not like the wild card and interleague play, it has brought a lot of excitement back to baseball.I don’t like them. I don’t need them. I don’t want them. If we lived in some sort of strange baseball dictatorship where I was the only person deciding baseball’s fate, I would get rid of the wild card, return baseball to a world with two divisions in each league, a championship series, then a World Series. I wouldn’t be opposed to getting rid of the playoffs altogether and just taking the best team from each league and going right to the World Series*.
I also would challenge the notion that the better team doesn't win a large percentage of time. To be honest bad teams don't make the playoffs. So when you have a playoff series it is a crap shoot because both teams are good, and home field advantage is relegated to 1 game over the course of a 5 or 7 game series.
I agree with what Kyle said above. 1st pitch should be no later than 7pm. The only time a game should start after 7pm is if the game is played on the west coast. But to start the games as late as they do they lose viewship.
"Reality tells us there are no guarantees. Except that some day Jon Lester will be on that list of 100-game winners." - Peter Gammons
I think the flaw in Posnanski's argument is that he's only beginning to realize that, regardless of the sport, playoffs are silly. They don't actually tell you who the best team is. Sometimes the best team actually wins, but often it's the hottest or luckiest team. And the only reason you know they're the best teams is because they played better than everyone else during the regular season.
We construct tortured rationales designed to convince ourselves that playoffs are a sensible way to determine a champion, but the truth is they're not and the only time a playoff ever sort-of served that function was before 1969 in baseball when the champions of two completely separate leagues with balanced schedules faced off in a series to crown the best baseball team on the planet. And, even then, it was more spectacle than on-field proof of which team was the greatest in all the land.
In fact, spectacle is exactly what playoffs are designed to be. You can love the regular season and still enjoy the spectacle that is the playoffs.
And, in terms of putting on a spectacle, I think a play-in game between two wild card teams (and, most likely, their ace pitchers) would be a neat addition.
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
Play more DH during the year. Expand rosters to 28 through April and then 26 from May through into Sept. Then with expanded rosters you an deal with DH.
You can schedule about 2 in each month. With the Reds deep staff it would actually benefit them. But main thing is that it ends the year before October begins.
The playoff days off are something that everyone blames the networks for. How are you going to help that?
Yep. And we as sports fans generally accept that the team that wins the Super Bowl or the NCAA Tournament etc. wasn't necessarily the best team, but they're the champion, and that's that. The flip side is something like the NBA playoffs -- the best team (or in the discussion for it) almost always wins, but it requires slogging through a mini-season's worth of games to get there.
Reading comprehension is not just an ability, it's a choice
It's good that the best team doesn't always win the playoffs. It's good that a scrappy underdog can knock off a better team. It's what we love about sports.
"I prefer books and movies where the conflict isn't of the extreme cannibal apocalypse variety I guess." Redsfaithful
I'm currently really enjoying watching the Rangers beat the Yankees. And the best part, regardless of the outcome, is I'll get to see the end of the game. What a novelty! And, for an added bonus, I should be able to see the end of tonight's Lincecum vs. Halladay battle because they're starting it at a decent time. As you can tell, starting the games late is my biggest pet peeve. Today's schedule is good, a rarity for the MLB playoffs.
Another thing that stinks for many is the fact that most of the games are on TBS now. Many have cable now, but quite a few still don't. These games should be able to be seen by everyone.
The thing that MLB doesn't seem to get is how they're not connecting with future fans, aka children. For future growth of the game, kids need to enjoy playing it and watching it. Unfortunately, baseball seems to do everything in their power to turn children away from the game.
"....the two players I liked watching the most were Barry Larkin and Eric Davis. I was suitably entertained by their effortless skill that I didn't need them crashing into walls like a squirrel on a coke binge." - dsmith421
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please. |