Would MLB Playoffs become more popular if the series were shortened to best of 3?

[RiverRat13]

I'd like to see the Wild Card play-in be a three game series in two days with all of the games being at the higher seed's place. In that scenario, if it was 1-1 you'd play a double-header the second day to determine who moves on. Then the winning team would have to get on the plane that night and play the next day with the potential of three starters being used up. That would really penalize the Wild Card team as well as giving the division winner with the best record a huge advantage.

But I know it would never happen as the uncertainty of the double-header being necessary would not be TV-friendly.

[Salukifan2]

^That would be nuts, but awesome.

[AtomicDumpling]

Originally Posted by RED VAN HOT

The regular season is a grind in which roster depth, especially starting pitching depth comes into play. I would like to see the playoff format reward the same team structures that got the participants there, e.g., no leaving the fifth starter off the playoff roster in order to add an additional bat. For me that would be 1-7-7-7 with no days off except between series. Number 5 starters would likely come into play. At times teams are able to play successive days on opposite coasts during the regular season by scheduling a night game after a day game. Why not during the playoffs?

Agreed. I believe the 2010 World Champion Giants had more off days during the playoffs than they did during the entire regular season. Its ridiculous.

[_Sir_Charles_]

Originally Posted by AtomicDumpling

Agreed. I believe the 2010 World Champion Giants had more off days during the playoffs than they did during the entire regular season. Its ridiculous.

That's just freaking nuts. Too much catering to the networks' schedules. Schedule the games as you need to, let the networks adjust accordingly. If one network doesn't like it, some other network would be more than willing to pick up that inconvenient game.

[SweetLou1990]

Going back to the orginal post, def have to agree with some others that a 3 game series may not determine the best team. I don't like the 1 game rub-off either between the wild cards, but thats between 2 teams that shouldn't be there, IMHO. THe Wild card is a necassary evil to keep an even # of teams for the Divisional series, but the format should hurt those teams greatly. (Start the NLDS the day after the Wild card game)

Also agree with the sentiment to reduce the quantity of OFF days, & I would target the Divisional series w/ no off days to weed out the weaker times, but let the teams relax a little at the NLCS & Series.

[westofyou]

Why does it need to be more popular ?

What's the gain? What's missing that needs to be fixed?

Why make a already short series result even more random?

[SweetLou1990]

Originally Posted by _Sir_Charles_

That's just freaking nuts. Too much catering to the networks' schedules. Schedule the games as you need to, let the networks adjust accordingly. If one network doesn't like it, some other network would be more than willing to pick up that inconvenient game.

It was hard not to notice last year that the networks had all the power when it came to scheduling the games. When did they post the Reds game times for the NLDS? Was it on Saturday for a Tuesday game ???? THese TV schedules can be scheduled in advance, such as what is done for the NLCS and the Series. (THe TV schedule can be pre-determined by the seeding, just like in the NLCS & Series)

[AtomicDumpling]

Originally Posted by SweetLou1990

It was hard not to notice last year that the networks had all the power when it came to scheduling the games. When did they post the Reds game times for the NLDS? Was it on Saturday for a Tuesday game ???? THese TV schedules can be scheduled in advance, such as what is done for the NLCS and the Series. (THe TV schedule can be pre-determined by the seeding, just like in the NLCS & Series)

True, true.

If TV ratings are the motive for designing the playoffs, maybe they should just have the TV networks decide which teams get to make the playoffs and win each series. That way we won't have the pesky baseball players interfering with what could be a major ratings win for TNT and TBS. We don't want the wrong team winning and messing up the next lucrative TV contract for Major League Baseball. It would be a catastrophe for TV ratings if one of those small towns in flyover country between the Northeast and Southern California were to win a World Series. We can't let that happen.

[Degenerate39]

Would've worked for the Reds last year

[remdog]

Originally Posted by AtomicDumpling

True, true.

If TV ratings are the motive for designing the playoffs, maybe they should just have the TV networks decide which teams get to make the playoffs and win each series. That way we won't have the pesky baseball players interfering with what could be a major ratings win for TNT and TBS. We don't want the wrong team winning and messing up the next lucrative TV contract for Major League Baseball. It would be a catastrophe for TV ratings if one of those small towns in flyover country between the Northeast and Southern California were to win a World Series. We can't let that happen.

[remdog]

How do we know that the networks don't control who wins the playoff Series now, Buddy Boy? :-)

Rem

[AtomicDumpling]

Originally Posted by remdog

How do we know that the networks don't control who wins the playoff Series now, Buddy Boy? :-)

Rem

Hmmm. Well, I guess I can't prove they don't. So maybe they do.

[Unassisted]

Originally Posted by AtomicDumpling

If TV ratings are the motive for designing the playoffs, maybe they should just have the TV networks decide which teams get to make the playoffs

The sport already has a TV network partner parceling out news coverage to the teams who maximize its ratings and nobody here seems to like that very much.