Confession

[Kc61]

Personally, I agree with 757690's opening post. Yes, it's great if your team wins the World Series and your team is the MLB champ. Fair and square.

But it no longer reflects the best overall team for the whole baseball season.

One third of MLB now makes the playoffs. And then, there are so many hurdles that it becomes a short-term obstacle course. One game wild card playoff, five game DS, 7 games league championship. Only then do teams qualify for the WS.

If you really want the full season championship, abandon divisions, have the top two records in each league play each other and then the World Series.

Today, it's a matter of which team is best suited and hottest for/during post-season tournament play. The winner is the champ, but not always the best team in baseball over a whole season of regular and post-season games.

[mdccclxix]

I like it more like the NFL where the 6th or 7th team can make the super bowl, as opposed the the NBA where teams like the Hawks or 76ers are just a little blip and literally have zero hope of winning. Baseball has a wonderful dynamic that allows for the Astros to win a 3 game series against the Reds, etc. I'd say honoring that by letting a few more teams in, all while limiting the reward for winning a wild card slot, was a great idea for the sport. The life long guys like Leyland and Larussa on the committee were quickly all for it.

[mdccclxix]

You also have to face more teams, all of good quality, just to win the WS, so you could say it's that much harder.

Finally, they say the new format will favor a team with a deep rotation, not your Brewers type teams with 1 maybe 2 guys. And as we know, had the Reds not lost Cueto, we'd be up 3-0 on the Cards right now.

[traderumor]

The Tigers were the weakest division winner, based on record. They also tied the Cards for season record. Now, those two teams are steamrolling through the playoffs. I used to be on the fence about the playoffs and crapshoot. Having watched the craziness this year, the MLB playoffs are anti-climactic to the race to get there.

It is sort of like having your favorite meal every day for 6 months, then all of a sudden they give you a bologna sandwich, carrot sticks, and apple sauce lunchables for the last month.

The starter of the thread is on to something.

[Sea Ray]

Originally Posted by traderumor

The Tigers were the weakest division winner, based on record. They also tied the Cards for season record. Now, those two teams are steamrolling through the playoffs. I used to be on the fence about the playoffs and crapshoot. Having watched the craziness this year, the MLB playoffs are anti-climactic to the race to get there.

It is sort of like having your favorite meal every day for 6 months, then all of a sudden they give you a bologna sandwich, carrot sticks, and apple sauce lunchables for the last month.

The starter of the thread is on to something.

We're also seeing that homefield in MLB is overrated

[RedsBaron]

One change I would like to see for the Divisional Series is no home games for the wild card team. I would give the team with the league's best record a reward by having all of their Divisional Series games at home, with the team that emerges from the wild card game having to advance to the league Championship Series by winning out on the road. Wild card teams should face a major hurdle in order to advance.

[RedsBaron]

Originally Posted by Sea Ray

We're also seeing that homefield in MLB is overrated

It is, but I still would want it, despite what happened in the Reds-Giants series.

[George Anderson]

Maybe my reading comprehension is lacking but if we are complaining about teams winning the WS and not having the best regular season record, shouldn't we just put all the teams in the same division, cancel all the playoffs and instead just crown the team with the best record as champions?

In 1973 the Mets came very close the winning the WS with a 83-79 record. Had they won it would that of made their WS victory less legit? Or the 1987 Twins example that I gave earlier?

The NFL, NHL, NBA, NCAA and all the other sports often have teams with not the best record crowned champions. Are they less legit??

This has been going on forever throughout sports but now it is a problem?

What am I missing here?

[dsmith421]

Originally Posted by George Anderson

This has been going on forever throughout sports but now it is a problem?

What am I missing here?

I don't think you're missing anything. Our team won 97 games and choked in the playoffs. The team that finished 9 games behind us is steamrolling into the World Series.

If the roles were reversed no one on this site would be complaining about the playoff crapshoot.

[mdccclxix]

Originally Posted by George Anderson

Maybe my reading comprehension is lacking but if we are complaining about teams winning the WS and not having the best regular season record, shouldn't we just put all the teams in the same division, cancel all the playoffs and instead just crown the team with the best record as champions?

In 1973 the Mets came very close the winning the WS with a 83-79 record. Had they won it would that of made their WS victory less legit? Or the 1987 Twins example that I gave earlier?

The NFL, NHL, NBA, NCAA and all the other sports often have teams with not the best record crowned champions. Are they less legit??

This has been going on forever throughout sports but now it is a problem?

What am I missing here?

Exacty, makes no sense. This reminds me of the argument against conference tourney's in college. If you over-think these things, it will diminish them, until (invariably) it's your team that's coming out on top.

Teams that are truly great will be remembered and will always stand out above the others. The Big Red Machine is a reference to the teams that were fielded before, during, and after the 75-76 run. In general, I don't think there are many people that accept as fact that the WS champ is the definitive version of any particular year's best team. It's a title, it's a tournament. The benefit of winning that title is that you can at least lay claim to the best team, even if others will protest. No, the best team doesn't always win, never has.

[*BaseClogger*]

Originally Posted by mdccclxix

Teams that are truly great will be remembered and will always stand out above the others. The Big Red Machine is a reference to the teams that were fielded before, during, and after the 75-76 run. In general, I don't think there are many people that accept as fact that the WS champ is the definitive version of any particular year's best team. It's a title, it's a tournament. The benefit of winning that title is that you can at least lay claim to the best team, even if others will protest. No, the best team doesn't always win, never has.

Exactly. Dynasties will always be remembered for their prolonged dominance, whether they won the Fall Classic every year or not. The important thing is to win at least one World Series crown...

[757690]

Originally Posted by George Anderson

Maybe my reading comprehension is lacking but if we are complaining about teams winning the WS and not having the best regular season record, shouldn't we just put all the teams in the same division, cancel all the playoffs and instead just crown the team with the best record as champions?

In 1973 the Mets came very close the winning the WS with a 83-79 record. Had they won it would that of made their WS victory less legit? Or the 1987 Twins example that I gave earlier?

The NFL, NHL, NBA, NCAA and all the other sports often have teams with not the best record crowned champions. Are they less legit??

This has been going on forever throughout sports but now it is a problem?

What am I missing here?

I am not talking about that at all. I even replied to your Twins example. I'll restate my position so it's clearer.

The playoffs are always going to be a crapshoot, based mostly on luck factors instead, like whose hot and whose cold. The best teams will not always win in the playoffs because of this. To make the playoffs meaningful and the winner of the playoffs legitimate, only deserving teams should be able to make them and play in them. For me, this means teams that won their division after a long regular season. If all the teams in the playoffs deserve to be there, then the results are acceptable and legitimate, no matter how much luck is involved.

One can argue that one wild card team per league is deserving to make the playoffs, I disagree, but I can understand that argument. I can't see any way in which a second wild card team deserves team deserves to get in, and thus, the whole playoff system is corrupted, making the winner meaningless, imo.

As for the other sports, I think you are making my point. In Football, and especially Basketball and Hockey, there is strong disconnect between the regular season and the playoffs, making whoever wins the playoffs less meaningful.

That is happening in baseball and it shouldn't. One thing that makes baseball so great and better than the other sports is that the regular season matters. Adding an extra wild card team to the playoffs ruins that.

[757690]

Originally Posted by dsmith421

I don't think you're missing anything. Our team won 97 games and choked in the playoffs. The team that finished 9 games behind us is steamrolling into the World Series.

If the roles were reversed no one on this site would be complaining about the playoff crapshoot.

I absolutely would not feel comfortable with a Reds World Series Championship won in a season in which they were a wild card team. I would enjoy it, and celebrate it, but it would always feel dirty and cheap and I would be embarrassed by it.

I have a lot of Cardinal fans as friends and everyone of them feels a little guilty about last seasons World Series win, and their success so far. Granted they, are all my age, and I doubt younger Cardinal fans feel the same way, but those who grew up without the wild card all feel that way I do.

[George Anderson]

Originally Posted by 757690

I am not talking about that at all. I even replied to your Twins example. I'll restate my position so it's clearer.

The playoffs are always going to be a crapshoot, based mostly on luck factors instead, like whose hot and whose cold. The best teams will not always win in the playoffs because of this. To make the playoffs meaningful and the winner of the playoffs legitimate, only deserving teams should be able to make them and play in them. For me, this means teams that won their division after a long regular season. If all the teams in the playoffs deserve to be there, then the results are acceptable and legitimate, no matter how much luck is involved.

One can argue that one wild card team per league is deserving to make the playoffs, I disagree, but I can understand that argument. I can't see any way in which a second wild card team deserves team deserves to get in, and thus, the whole playoff system is corrupted, making the winner meaningless, imo.

As for the other sports, I think you are making my point. In Football, and especially Basketball and Hockey, there is strong disconnect between the regular season and the playoffs, making whoever wins the playoffs less meaningful.

That is happening in baseball and it shouldn't. One thing that makes baseball so great and better than the other sports is that the regular season matters. Adding an extra wild card team to the playoffs ruins that.

I understand your point better now and maybe adding another team to mix might dilute the playoffs a bit but at the same time having the WC race adds to the excitement of the regular season. Would you be in favor of going back to pre 1969 when only 2 teams made the playoffs?

[757690]

Originally Posted by George Anderson

I understand your point better now and maybe adding another team to mix might dilute the playoffs a bit but at the same time having the WC race adds to the excitement of the regular season. Would you be in favor of going back to pre 1969 when only 2 teams made the playoffs?

The wild card race does add to the excitement, but at what cost?

No, I would not want only two teams making the playoffs, but only because there are more teams now. I'd be fine with eight teams making the playoffs, if there were eight divisions, although you would need to add two teams to make that work.