2022 MLB Playoffs Format

[Ragnar]

Originally Posted by cephasjames

I know. I grew up in the era of two divisions in each league with only the division winners advancing. That's my preferred. Three divisions with one wildcard is my next. 8 teams max in the playoffs is where my OOTP games land. This whole 16 teams thing is very much not to my liking.

I'm with you on every point. I liked it when just making the playoffs was something to celebrate. Now 40% of the league makes the playoffs? Sooner or later every league will have 16 total teams making the playoffs. It's just a matter of time.

[Ragnar]

Originally Posted by cephasjames

Yep. Add one more team per league and then have four divisions with four teams.

The league has too many teams for only two divisions in each league with only the division winners moving on.

I don't think so. Two 8 team divisions isn't that much different from the past when they had 6 or 7. Besides, and 8 team division should ensure at least one team is good. You're just playing with fire with 4 team divisions.

[Amazin69]

2006, under 1993 rules:

AL EAST

NY Yankees...97-65
Detroit............95-67
Toronto..........87-75
Boston...........86-76
Cleveland......78-84
Baltimore.......70-92
Tampa Bay…61-101

AL WEST

Minnesota.....96-66
Oakland........93-69
Chicago Sox.90-72
LA Angels.....89-73
Texas............80-82
Seattle..........78-84
Kansas City..62-100

We gain…tight races in both divisions, instead of only one out of three.

We "lose"…the Twins-Tigers "nailbiter", which actually didn't matter once the Sox were washed, because wild card.

NL EAST

NY Mets.........97-65
Philadelphia...85-77
Houston.........82-80
Cincinnati.......80-82
Atlanta...........79-83
Florida...........78-84
Washington...71-91
Pittsburgh......67-95

NL WEST
LA Dodgers...88-74
San Diego.....88-74
St. Louis........83-78
San Fran.......76-85
Arizona..........76-86
Colorado.......76-86
Milwaukee.....75-87
Chi. Cubs......66-96

We Gain…a battle to the wire and a 1-game playoff in the West! (As opposed to the actual "eh, flip a coin, they're both in, who cares?" non-resolution IRL.)

Nothing we can do to scare up competition for the Mets, though.

We "Lose"…the chance for the Cardinals to pack it in and coast into the playoffs by going 3-7 down the stretch, then jump up for a few quick weeks of full effort and a bit of luck to win the title.

Gee, it's almost as if getting rid of the Losers' Trophies (aka "Wild Cards") makes the season actually mean something. Who'da thunk it?

[GeoWar]

Originally Posted by cephasjames

I know. I grew up in the era of two divisions in each league with only the division winners advancing. That's my preferred. Three divisions with one wildcard is my next. 8 teams max in the playoffs is where my OOTP games land. This whole 16 teams thing is very much not to my liking.

16 teams per league -- Balanced schedule -- 4 divisions ---
let's move Houston back to the National League ---- Move Milwaukeeback to American League ......

baseball would be different.

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

...

You do realize that if you were to replay those seasons with different league structures that there'd be different schedules they'd play too. So their records wouldn't be the same, maybe not even close to the same.

It makes me think about the implications of their announcing their intention to move to more balanced schedules. The more balanced the schedules become, the less meaningful division winners become. Meanwhile, wild cards become even more meaningful. I wonder if they plan on changing the postseason format even further and that this is just a mid-measure (I don't think that's the correct term, but what is isn't coming to me).

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

That single-game elimination thing was not right, IMO. Three games ought to be just enough to fairly decide the better team in most instances.

Absolutely not. Even in seven game series the better team wins only a bit more than half the time.

[Brad K]

More playoff games is not a good way to make more money. Closer division races with more teams in contention is the way. The have nots are the majority. Why haven't they pushed for parity?

[Déjà Bru]

I'm not sure where we left off in this discussion, but this ESPN blurb about the Mets-Braves series this weekend speaks to the idea that the new playoff system puts great emphasis on winning the division. That, I think, is a terrific improvement.

Yes, both teams have clinched playoff spots, but given the ramifications of winning the division and receiving a first-round bye compared to having to use your best starters out of the gate in a best-of-three wild-card series -- where anything can happen -- both teams desperately want to win the division, and which one does will shape the shape the entire MLB postseason.

[WestCoastGuy]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

I'm not sure where we left off in this discussion, but this ESPN blurb about the Mets-Braves series this weekend speaks to the idea that the new playoff system puts great emphasis on winning the division. That, I think, is a terrific improvement.

But ... this year, only two-thirds of the division winners receive that all-important bye and not needing to face elimination in an extra round when 100% of them received that a year ago.

Or am I missing something?

[WestCoastGuy]

Originally Posted by WestCoastGuy

But ... this year, only two-thirds of the division winners receive that all-important bye and not needing to face elimination in an extra round when 100% of them received that a year ago.

Or am I missing something?

Earning a top-two seed is more valuable than it was a year ago (especially for the second seed who now faces a club that had to play an earlier playoff round), but that is balanced by the situation facing the third division winner worsening significantly from last year to this.

So, yes, in the Mets-Braves situation, winning that division means more than it would have in a similar scenario a year ago.

[WestCoastGuy]

One ridiculous aspect of this playoff format is that, in most seasons, the teams battling for the 5 and 6 seeds would rather be the 6 seed. That's because the top wild card team is generally going to be better than the third division winner. And that appears true this season in both leagues, plus the Blue Jays faced a lot tougher of a schedule than the Guardians did. Not only that, but finishing as the 6 seed allows you to avoid the 1 seed in the Division Series should you get there.

The main benefit of being the 5 over the 6 is that should they both advance to the LCS, you would get game seven at home.

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by WestCoastGuy

plus the Blue Jays faced a lot tougher of a schedule than the Guardians did.

With divisions, unless schedules are 100% identical, this is always going to happen. No two divisions are equal.

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by WestCoastGuy

The main benefit of being the 5 over the 6 is that should they both advance to the LCS, you would get game seven at home.

And that seems pretty unlikely to happen, given that a 5 game series should be enough to see at least one of the top seeds through to the LCS. I can't remember anything like that happening in the NFL, and that's single-elimination. The closest I can recall is #4 seed Arizona getting to host the Conference Championship game against #6 seed Philadelphia in 2008.

[jg2977]

Originally Posted by WestCoastGuy

One ridiculous aspect of this playoff format is that, in most seasons, the teams battling for the 5 and 6 seeds would rather be the 6 seed. That's because the top wild card team is generally going to be better than the third division winner. And that appears true this season in both leagues, plus the Blue Jays faced a lot tougher of a schedule than the Guardians did. Not only that, but finishing as the 6 seed allows you to avoid the 1 seed in the Division Series should you get there.

The main benefit of being the 5 over the 6 is that should they both advance to the LCS, you would get game seven at home.

They should reseed after the wild card series, so that if the 6 wins their series, they would be forced to play the 1 seed.

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by jg2977

They should reseed after the wild card series, so that if the 6 wins their series, they would be forced to play the 1 seed.

While this won't happen this year, I believe reseeding is planned for the future.

[monkeyman576]

I disagree, the #1 seed already has enough of an advantage with the bye.

[cephasjames]

1) The #1 should have an advantage because they are the #1 seed. 2) I'm still in doubt that getting a bye (and thus five days off) in baseball, a sport built on rhythm and routine, is going to be a good thing. In baseball, teams get cold when they sit too long. Time will tell if my doubts are warranted or not.

[Déjà Bru]

The new playoff format is taking some flak now.

One team whose spot in the tournament wasn't clinched until the closing days of the season, the Philadelphia Phillies, earned a date with the defending champion Atlanta Braves. Meanwhile, the St. Louis Cardinals -- a division champion playing a wild-card series -- are done after a dispiriting stretch that from start to finish lasted around 30 hours.

Houston will take on division foe Seattle after winning the division by 16 games over the M's during the 162-game season. The Astros won 12 of 19 against Seattle en route to their fifth AL West title in six seasons.

[Braves-Phillies] is another LDS matchup between division opponents who weren't particularly close to each other in the standings. The Braves beat the Phillies 11 out of 19 head-to-head meetings and finished 14 games better than the Phils in the NL East. In the old format, the Phillies would never have even gotten this opportunity because 6-seeds weren't a thing.

The Dodgers are now matched against a rival whom they buried by 22 games during the season. In fact, the Padres weren't even within 10 games of the Dodgers after the middle of July. And, oh yeah, the Dodgers beat San Diego 14 out of 19 times the teams played head-to-head.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

The new playoff format is taking some flak now.

I like how they make arguments for canning divisions and make it all a big league and the playoffs is just the World Series, first in the AL against first in the NL, 1937 style!

[WestCoastGuy]

They never should have gotten rid of keeping same-division opponents apart in the Division Series. (Same thing for the NFL for the corresponding round.)