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BKL · 08-26-2016, 12:37 PM

I'd be interested in other's thoughts on this - baseball seems to be a sport where randomness plays a larger role than in some other sports. In other words, it seems more likely in baseball than in other sports were a mediocre but still decent team can make a run in the playoffs and possibly win it all. In football, hockey, and basketball it seems like the more dominating teams over the season are more likely to advance and win the championship.

So, this leads to the next issues, which is how to format a season and playoffs to allow for less randomness, more fairness to stronger teams, and yet still has excitement.

As an example, I tested a 2 league, 4 divisions per league, 4 team per division season. While the playoff hunt was exciting since a lot of teams where in the hunt with so many division, there was also a lot of random - and sometimes even less than .500 teams making it to the championship. This format seemed to "cheapen" the value of playoff championship.

The format I ultimately went with, and I'm pretty happy with results, is 2 leagues, 2 divisions per league, 6 teams per division. There is also a wildcard playoff. Best team in each league gets a "bye" and the other division winner gets home field advantage against the wildcard team. All series are best of 7. I noticed with this format is you almost always get the top 3 teams making a playoff birth.

I play out all my games so I only have 9 seasons finished so far. In those 9 season, the team with the best record in all of baseball won the championship 6 times. The 2nd best team won 1 time, and the wildcard team won 2 times. Of the 9 seasons and 18 potential teams to advance to the Championship, 11 teams of 18 spots were at the top of their league; 5 teams were 2nd best in their league, and 2 teams were 3rd best.

Overall, I'm pleased with the results. The season is exciting with two divisions and a wildcard, yet the playoffs generally give a fair results.

I'd be interested in anyone else's experience and thoughts - and solutions - on this topic - randomness, fairness, and excitement.

Thanks!

08-26-2016, 12:37 PM	#1
BKL All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 935	Randomness, Fairness, and Excitment I'd be interested in other's thoughts on this - baseball seems to be a sport where randomness plays a larger role than in some other sports. In other words, it seems more likely in baseball than in other sports were a mediocre but still decent team can make a run in the playoffs and possibly win it all. In football, hockey, and basketball it seems like the more dominating teams over the season are more likely to advance and win the championship. So, this leads to the next issues, which is how to format a season and playoffs to allow for less randomness, more fairness to stronger teams, and yet still has excitement. As an example, I tested a 2 league, 4 divisions per league, 4 team per division season. While the playoff hunt was exciting since a lot of teams where in the hunt with so many division, there was also a lot of random - and sometimes even less than .500 teams making it to the championship. This format seemed to "cheapen" the value of playoff championship. The format I ultimately went with, and I'm pretty happy with results, is 2 leagues, 2 divisions per league, 6 teams per division. There is also a wildcard playoff. Best team in each league gets a "bye" and the other division winner gets home field advantage against the wildcard team. All series are best of 7. I noticed with this format is you almost always get the top 3 teams making a playoff birth. I play out all my games so I only have 9 seasons finished so far. In those 9 season, the team with the best record in all of baseball won the championship 6 times. The 2nd best team won 1 time, and the wildcard team won 2 times. Of the 9 seasons and 18 potential teams to advance to the Championship, 11 teams of 18 spots were at the top of their league; 5 teams were 2nd best in their league, and 2 teams were 3rd best. Overall, I'm pleased with the results. The season is exciting with two divisions and a wildcard, yet the playoffs generally give a fair results. I'd be interested in anyone else's experience and thoughts - and solutions - on this topic - randomness, fairness, and excitement. Thanks! Last edited by BKL; 08-26-2016 at 12:39 PM.