Always found it weird baseball is the only sport played in series throughout the whole season, has the longest regular season, most games played, but has 2 rounds of shorter playoff series than basketball and hockey. Wildcard round as 3 games is fine, but when the best seeds start to play it should be 7 games.
Well, back in the day there were NO playoffs at all. No divisions, even. Then, there were two divisions in each league which meant that sometimes the 2nd best team was left out entirely (see 1993 SF Giants, among others). Now, with 3 divisions it makes sense to have a Wild Card team, but why should only one team get to make more money? Another (and now two) teams should get to make more money!
@@brandonsheumaker2673 exactly and back then the "pennant race" was actually a pennant race, not a "get in and get hot" race have no idea why people still call it a pennant race now Best team won each league, played in the world series. That's a true representative of the best team. They added in the LCS for the top TWO teams. Makes sense. Adding divisions complicated it more, now you have 3 instead of 4, because alot of times that 2nd place team had more wins tahn the other division so it was unfair to them, in a way. IF I RECALL, i dont know the history but this is how i remember reading about it. IN NO WORLD. SHOULD YOU HAVE A TEAM. THAT WINS 84/162 WITH NEGATIVE RUN DIFFERTENTIAL BE EVEN CLOSE TO THE WORLD SERIES. YOU PLAY 162 FOR THE SAMPLE SIZE BECAUSE BASEBALL IS INHERENTLY A LUCK SPORT.
Besides the format itself, this is the worst part about these games. Watching a playoff game while the sun is still out takes all of the ambiance away and it just feels like another regular season game to me. October baseball needs to be played under the lights in chilly weather, not in the heat of the day with shadows everywhere
@@patholmwood2030 that’s a you thing a playoff game is still a playoff game just cause the suns out doesn’t not make it a playoff game. Also it’s like 50 in OH with the sun out it’s far from hot where I’m at
There's no reason a division winner should be playing in the wild card series. Go back to 2 wild cards per league and play best of 3 there. Also, bring back tie breakers.
This is a good idea. Especially if you start having the 3rd wild card teams getting in with like 82 wins, might have reason to get rid of 3rd wild card. But I would be open to trying Jomboy's play in idea first.
If you think the MLB, who is already more money motivated than any other league, is gonna ELIMINATE playoff spots so dynasty programs have it easier? Nahhhh fool, that’s more games for them to cash out on. If you want the structure to change find a way to do it where the MLB still makes money.
All division winners get bye to DS. #6 vs #5 in first wild card game. Next day, winner of that vs #4 in second wild card game. Winner of that game plays #1 in DS.
Interesting idea. Only problem is there's often a division winner that is clearly not as good as the other two. I'd change it to top 2 div winners and the top WC in each league get a bye into the 2nd rd, while the 3rd div winner gets your #4 spot. I still prefer Jimmy's idea however.
@@kq76i’d change that slightly. i’d say once you take the 3 division winners and 3 wild card winners, sort them by record regardless of divison. then no matter what the best teams are getting the advantage they probably deserve
@@joshjensen6509 Since MLB doesn't truly play a balanced schedule (they claim they do, but they really don't), I don't think we should put too much into team records. I'd be more okay with basing it off pythagorean records, but I suspect most would balk at that. The value people put into winning divisions, even if there's a clearly inferior division, is just too ingrained to do anything different. And I'm not saying I don't also put value in division winners, I do, I've just seen far too many people argue only division winners should make the postseason regardless of whether or not there was a clearly better second place team to think we'd ever seed based solely on records of any kind. Just look at any discussion where someone advocates for a 32 team, 8 division, 4 teams a division MLB. It'd be insane for the 162-game season MLB, yet the NFL is so popular some people think MLB should do it too. No, I think we're close to an ideal MLB postseason format, we're just not quite there yet. A best-of-seven second round is key IMO however. Pair it with Jimmy's idea for the first round and I think we'd have the winning formula.
The downside is it could just be an unforgiving logistical nightmare unless all the games were played at a designated neutral field which would take away from the atmosphere. The three NL wild card teams were NYM, ATL, and SD. Granted this wouldn’t have been the order the exact order this year but this what could potentially happen: NYM fly to SD for a one game WC and win, have to fly to ATL for another one game WC and win. Have to fly to LA to face the #1 seed. 3 cross country flights in as many days.
@ibraheemrao8434 Or just shorten the season instead. 162 is a slog to get through, even for the most die-hard of die-hards. It really becomes a drag once you get to September and there's all these meaningless games being played between garbage teams that have been out of it since the all-star break if not earlier. There's literally no reason for baseball to start as early as it does to begin with. Late March & early April, where some years it's likely to still be cold in the northern cities and not all of those parks are domes. You ask me the regular season would be better off starting in mid-April or even May. Just do away with 10-15 games from that 162.
It's hilarious how we're inundated with calls for a playoff format overhaul when teams that "sneak into the playoffs" i.e. a wild card team beat a division winner/team with the best regular season record, but when the favorites win all you hear are crickets
I think there should be no divisions. Best team in regular season is crowned league champion at the end of the season and playoffs remain the same as they are now. Bracket is decided by seed number
I am old school. I don't like all of the expanded playoffs. But with that said I think the only real solution here is to have MLB expand by 2 more teams to a total of 32 - 16 in each league. If they do that then the playoffs are pretty simple. Create 4 divisions of 4 teams in each league. All division winners make the playoffs. No wild cards. Then you have best of 5 LDS, best of 7 LCS and best of 7 World Series. Also maybe reduce the regular season to 154 games which creates more time for the playoffs and lets you not have to schedule so many day games. If you don't like only the 4 division winners going to the playoffs because potentially you could have a team with 100+ wins finish 2nd in a division and not make the playoffs.....then do something more radical - eliminate divisions. Just put all 15 or 16 teams in each league in 1 big division. Play out the schedule and then the top 4 teams from each league make the playoffs and then you guarantee you have the 8 best teams in the playoffs. Divisions seem like an artifact left over from when teams traveled by train and it made more sense to group them geographically.
I like this, i've always given a casual thought as a casual fan to how the MLB playoffs should be formatted ... i am a big proponent of reducing to season to 154 games ( i highly doubt it would happen) i think it would actually be good for the sport, because then you could expand the playoffs, there probably should be radical. realignment, you might as well eliminate the American and National league, but people like the tradition too much, however, I think it would make more sense for geographical and schedule reasons plus you could make a balanced schedule... I really like the idea you posted, and I see you have put some thought into it
I don't know how expansion could work. Personally, I think there should be retraction 😏, but we are not ready for that discussion 🤣 .... if all American sports had, a promotion, slash relegation system like i don't know the rest of the world, I would really like that
Nah, that makes it way too likely for the second best team to make the playoffs. The 4th seed might have like the 6th or 7th best record. If you want to do 4 teams it should just be 3 division champs and a wild card.
Please talk about the terrible new ads on the players helmets an shirts. 5 years we’re NASCAR. This is unacceptable, without a hard rule, no ads on unis, they will not stop.
What I hate the most about it is the trickle effect. This year the sponsor is a reputable company that makes a worthwhile product - which, I suspect, is the point; if they'd started with some sportsbook the legions would have risen in Gaul. But what's to stop them from plastering uniforms with gambling ads next year now that the precedent has been set? It's to the point now that fans recovering from gambling addiction have been either tempted too far or driven out of the fandom. Will the deluge continue until the only people who can tolerate watching are the industry's current victims?
Its pure greed. Players making ridiculous money. Decent seats for a family of 4 are becoming unaffordable for many teams. Breaking up games to multiple streaming services so you have to pay for all of them to follow your team. Its getting easier and easier to give up on baseball.
Here’s an idea: The #3 seed plays the number #4 seed in one game and also the #5 and the #6 seed plays each other. The LOSER of the first game plays the WINNER of the second game for the final spot. The winner of the first game gets the #3 seed, just like the nba play-in tournament for the 7-10 seeds. That way we have can drama and prime time games. Also, to compensate for the revenue lost from fewer wild card games, we can make the division series 7 games.
Of all the changes MLB made, my FAVORITE was getting rid of the 1 game wild card I despise the 1 game wild card because that's not baseball. Every series is just that: a series. All year. So why kick off the height of competition, the playoffs, going against the format teams play and practice all season long? It felt like a dice roll every time, a fluke, and fans of the participating teams always left the 1-game wild card round wondering what would've happened if it was a series. This year's wild card round was fantastic and having a chance for each day 1 losing team to play again ADDED to the drama in my opinion.
I mean, he says in the video every wild card series has been decided by the winner of game 1. So that defeats the purpose of “what if it was a series” since the data shows it has not mattered.
Agreed. The 1 game format was dumb as all hell. 1 game playoff rounds are better left for the NFL. Made no sense to have a 1 game format that led to get to a best of 5 division series and then later the best of 7 LCS and World Series.
I personally like the way the current format. The start times annoy some people, but I like day game playoff baseball. Reminds me of older eras. I get all the complaints about the alleged disadvantages to the division winners, but I'm not a huge fan of one and dones if avoidable.
As of right now, with the Mets and SD up 2-1 and the Tigers leading game 3 2-0, there is a very real chance every single division winner is out in the divisional series. That is a huge problem. If the regular season means so little now, there's no point in 162 games.
No team win 100 games this year. Now that my Braves had to settle on a wild card spot I had a reason to keep watching the regular season. But yeah, 20 less games and don't start when snow is still falling in different ball parks
Here is a format idea: Wild Card Ladder- 5 vs 6 in one game playoff then winner goes to one game playoff against 4 seed, After this completes, DS starts with 1 seed playing against winner of the ladder and 2 seed plays the 3, Playoffs continue as normal. Another addition of spice, the 1 seed can choose who they want to play in the Division series. Could be a good story line addition.
Wild Card Round: Four teams total with the highest seed playing at home and you have one game elimination games, that's two games total and then you start the divisional round. OR The two top Wild Card teams are automatically slotted and you start the Divisional Series. Both versions help you sell tickets, get eyeballs on TV and get the casual fan watching
Your playoff idea was exactly what I suggested to my mom the other day! In a way, we are rewarding teams that get hot at the end of the season over the teams that gutted out an entire season of a strong performance to win a division. In the case of Detroit this year, they'd've deserved it since they swept Houston. But why are we treating San Diego (who lost to Los Angeles in the division during the regular season) an even-up chance? I know Los Angeles gets an extra home game, but it just seems like we're rewarding Wild Card teams too much as is.
Two other postseason changes that I think would be positives: 1. Allow the #1 seed in each league to choose whether to have a day off between games 1&2 in the ALDS. 2. Reseed after the wild-card round. The best team should play the worst team remaining.
Start times are INSANE. 2:08 on a weekday is ridiculous. I love day games during the regular season, but now is not the time for them. Sun should be down for all of them.
Why? That’s just not always workable when you’re talking about air times these games are all televised. They have to work out those times to especially when most of the playoffs are on one network or stream being TBS mainly sometimes they’re on other broadcast but that’s not every game. Hence the start times idk how the sun makes it not a playoff game
I like that weighted Bo3 idea. Here's my playoff format: cut the last two weeks of the season and have divisional gauntlets with Bo3s of 4 vs 5, winner vs 3, winner vs 2, winner vs 1. The gauntlet champions win their division, and the non division winner with the best record before the gauntlet is the wild card.
Once MLB expands to 32 teams I believe they will expand playoffs to include 16 teams just like every major US sport. 1 seed plays 8 seed in each league. Best of 5 series. This would only increase the playoffs by 3 to 4 days.
It's bad enough 40% of the teams make the playoffs. 50% would be worse. Might as well play a one month warmup season for seeding the start a tournament for every team.
@@ComradeArthurWhen the NHL expanded to 21 teams in 1979 the playoffs went from 12 to 16 teams, so 50% making is not that bad, which is what the NHL is currently at with 32 teams.
@@AJ13688 I think the NHL system is bad so I don't want to copy it. Postseason should be limited to *good* teams, not teams a little bit above average.
Love the wild-card series idea... basically like the end of a true double-elimination tournament where you have the team that hasn't lost yet taking on the last remaining team from the losers bracket.
That idea of having the top seed only have to win one game would have the added benefit of making the difference between 4 and 5 seed be tremendous, which would increase the tension of the wildcard race. Really like that idea.
2:26 Jimmy is being really kind to the Baltimore fans and crowd. I was in the third deck for the game he mentioned, and I feel like a big part of the low attendance was how bad the team was down the stretch, and especially getting shutout in a 1-0 loss the day before. Playing at 4:00 on a Wednesday didn't help anything, but if they won the day before, I think the ballpark would've been just about full.
Old School is best. No divisions. 15-team Leagues. Only playoff is: AL League Champion plays NL league Champion in a 7-game World Series. Finito. That’s it.
Playoff times are the worst! Today's game in LA is at 5 PM. Try getting anywhere in LA at 5 PM! You have to leave wherever you are at like 3 PM to get to the stadium in time to get to your seat by first pitch. The WORST!
You go back to 4 teams per league, if you really want to have the one game wild card game then that's fine as well. They also need to shorten playoff series time wise so teams don't skate on two or three starters. My problem with the playoffs is the fact too many teams get in and it doesn't reflect the same style of baseball as in the regular season.
My dad and i were kicking around the idea of a double elimination tourey at a neutral site like omaha or williamsport, or at a rotating site where u pair up AL and NL locations. Like dodgers and angels, or mets and yankees are the easiest ones. Make them geographically similar so people could go to both. You bring a 4th wild card in and only allow the winner of the tourney into the post season. It allows for planning of trips and availablity of fans. Makis it an interesting destination thing for fans. 1 plays 4, 2 plays 3, losers play and winners play. Winner of the loser game plays the loser of the winner. The winner of the winner gets a bye. Then winner of that game plays the winner of the winner game. But they have to win twice. It would take 5 days, same amount as the current lay off. Games through the losers bracket, three games through the winners bracket
As a Mets fan, the biggest difference for Edwin Diaz is not his Slider. It's that his Fastball accuracy is almost gone. He has thrown so many non competitive Fastballs that the slider is easier to sit on.
Playoffs fix: Peel off 1 team from each division and expand by 2 more teams. You then have 8 divisions with 4 teams each, top 2 from each division advance and then you go 8 team bracket, no breaks, 5 game series for everything except championship and world series.
Baseball got a couple things right in recent years. The pitch clock is the biggest plus MLB implemented. The ‘anti-shift rules’ is also a great rule. The playoff system is spot on. The three game Wild Card is a win. All home games to the high seed team….spot on baby!
There is no need for a playoff just do it like football in Europe premiere league, la liga. Make the regular 162 games count season count instead of calling regular season useless.
That’s what I was thinking. Make the regular season the World Series. Just play every team 6 times (3 home, 3 away). So every team theoretically has the same schedule. Team with the best record wins the league. If there’s a tie then you can go to run differential. What’s the point of 162 games if all that gets erased ?
@@marcusstrinidad to see who gets a bye and home field advantage like almost all American sports that’s are leagues here. NFL, NBA, and NHL all do this idk why we want to watch a regular season team go to the WS it’s shown that a lot of teams who are good regular season performers aren’t making it their in the playoff format idk if I wanna see that in the WS cause they play well without that pressure of October ball
Your playoff idea is the best version of 3 wildcards I've heard. Another early playoff vierwership problem is the season ending on Sunday every year is rough when starting the playoffs Thurs/Fri night would be best, but the MLB can't change that from a last home game ticket selling perspective.
My thought is a majority of owners see a greater likelihood of being a WC consistently than a division winner. So they do not have the incentive to help division winners with the format. The top 10 payrolls might want the advantage they obtained over season to carry more weight in playoffs, buy say top 10 spending franchises, that is still the minority. Also the extra wildcard games just give them more money what it's all about to most of them
The format before the latest expansion was the best----three division winners, two wild cards who face-off in a winner-take-all to be the final team for the divisional round. If MLB still insists on keeping it the way it is, then at the very least the 1 and 2 seeds should be given at least 4 home games guaranteed in the best-of-five divisional round
I love that idea with the 1st game being an elimination game. Maybe schedule the end of the season where 1 league (either AL/NL) finishes 162 on one day and the other the next. That way their playoff schedules will be more aligned and more primetime games, rather than day games.
Playoffs in baseball are different from the other big leagues because of the ratio between regular season games and postseason games. It will always look unfair when a 80-wins team eliminates a 100-wins team, but the alternative is to get rid of playoffs altogether. The previous 1 game wildcard format didn't have that playoff vibe. It reminded more of the old tiebreakers for division wins. Even the current format has the issue of not granting a home game to all teams. With teams getting byes to LDS, I personally think only teams that get there should be considered as making the postseason. It's like in the Champions League, the big teams enter straight in the league phase, others play preliminary rounds, but you don't count those as the real competition.
I REALLY LIKE THE WILDCARD IDEA - Makes the season matter. The only potential modification is based on season win totals. For example, if both teams have season win totals that are separated by more than 3 or 4 games, then your idea is super. However, if it is 3 or less, then perhaps a 3 game series. I like any idea that puts more weight on the season win totals. The best teams deserve the rewards, the weaker teams need to earn their advancement, not just get hot at the end of the season/post-season.
Agreed with wild card round. Still gets viewership, stadiums get butts in seats for high stakes game, doesn’t drag it on, plenty of money to be made…. Let’s make it happen.
I like the advantaged Wildcard idea. We use to do that in Quiz Bowl tournaments. Higher seed: home field, and you only have to win once. That is much more of an incentive to be the higher seed.
What you recommended is the KBO style for Wildcard playoffs. I love it. I just wish the MLB has a better reward for the team that won the most games all year. The best teams for both leagues should get automatic byes to the Championship Series. Makes the regular season more important and the best team acts like a final boss before the World Series. It'd be much more entertaining.
The biggest issue with the format is the start times. I am going to the Tigers vs Guardians game today which is at 3:08pm and I have to leave work 5 hours early just to get a parking spot. First home playoff game in 10 years and it’s in the middle of the work day. I am lucky enough to have a job that lets me go but most people especially in this city don’t have that luxury.
Yes life sucks 🤷🏻♂️ it can’t be all fair sadly these games are still sold out so clearly it’s not stopping a lot of people to show up to these games. I’ve yet to have gone to an nba playoffs and it’s not cause of start time it’s price. But that’s life no use sitting and complaining about something that won’t change
It makes sense that the wildcard team is more likely to advance to the CS because there is a selection process in the wildcard games that means that the better team is most likely to come out of that round. Meaning that the division winner is going to have to play a proven series winner rather than just a random wildcard team.
They’ll never decrease the number of games played because that means a decrease in revenue. With that in mind, I think this is the best case scenario: 8 teams in each league get in - 3 division winners and 5 wild cards. No byes. 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, and 4 vs 5. First round is best of 5, except the higher seed starts with a 1-0 series lead and all games are played at the higher seed ballpark. Games take place on 4 consecutive days to give baseball a March Madness feel of being on all day and night. Then the DS, CS, and WS rounds remain the same. 8 teams in each league is a lot, but it eliminates the factor of teams getting rusty from having a bye. You also get a significant advantage for winning your division or being the top wild card: In all best-of-5 MLB postseason series, the team that wins Game 1 has gone on to take the series 109 of 152 times (72%). So starting your first round series already up 1-0 is very significant.
So you basically want it to be the nba playoffs/ also sorry giving teams a win already as an advantage is fucking a horrible idea that’s just literally stupid to give a team a win as an advantage that’s borderline unfair and not a series
The format is fine. It's the scheduling that sucks. MLB has to give up on this whole 1 game on at a time thing on weekdays. Solution: Always schedule the Wildcard Round on the weekend. Stagger the games for game 1 and 2 on Saturday and Sunday. Then for whatever game 3s happen schedule them evenly between 6PM to 9PM EST starts depending on where they are played. (Or better yet start 2 series at night on Friday, and end the other 2 series at night on Monday)
I like your wild card format idea, but personally I like adapting what the Korean league does (so I was told). End season on a Friday. Wild card weekend with doubleheader Sunday IF needed. Start Divison Series Tuesday. Cuts down on the lengthy byes substantially to 3 days, makes the wild card a tougher challenge with no off day before and only 1 after. Current format totally hurts the momentum of the top teams, the best teams, and that sucks!
I have another idea for the Wild Card: make it two legs, similar to how a lot of soccer tournaments work. The winner is the team with the highest combined runs scored through 18 innings played over 2 days.
I agree on the wild card teams needing to win an additional game. The only advantage a division winner has in the wild card round is home field but to your point they aren't even prime time so these home crowds aren't as electric or full as they should be. You don't know what day you're playing ahead of time or what time the game is in order to take off of work. No more M-F playoff day games!!!
I have an idea that I've put a fair bit of thought into. Current system doesn't reward top teams enough for the long season. Too volatile and tv start times are a joke. Any team can get hot for a 3 or 5-game stretch. Baseball is best over the long haul. My idea is for a 15-game mini season in each league among the 6 qualifying teams. #1 seed hosts 3-game series against the other 5. #6 is on the road for all games, and so on. All games could be played in the evening on the current TV networks or partnered with local broadcasters. Top team goes to World Series. Tiebreaker would be head-to-head in the postseason series. We would finish the mini season by Oct 22 and play the World Series completely in October!
Originally thinking the issue with the Wild Card Series winners have too much of an advantage in the next round, I thought that maybe having a 2-day series where Games 1 and 2 are a double-header on day 1 and Game 3 is on day 2. But now I realize that idea is worse for both TV and attendance so I do like this idea better. It still solves some of the timing problems by getting to the DS quicker but it also does a fabulous job of making every game an elimination game. You could theoretically do an NBA-style play-in tournament but that would require more travel and, possibly, more days before the DS.
Too many back catchers are pulling the mitt into the strike zone after a ball. It used to be the catcher would move his mitt just a little bit towards the strike zone on a 2 strike pitch but now catches just pull dead center to the strike on EVERY pitch.
Call me crazy but i likes the way they did it with two divisions, east vs west. Take the top team from each division and who ever wins best of 5 heads to the WS. If you want to take the top 3 from each side, then reduce the season to 145, like pre 1961. Switch divisions for the match ups, 1 v 3, 2 v 2. Start the playoffs with everyone getting 2 days rest. The length of the post season causes a lot of old records getting broken just from teams making the post season for 10 years straight like the braves, dodgers, yankees.
This is the NBA's Play In Tournament format. I'm not mad at it. At least under this format, you can schedule the games to be in Prime Time. As a Tigers fan, cutting out of work to watch a 230pm game in Houston on TV was one part anti-climactic and another part weird, despite not seeing my Tigers in the playoffs for a decade.
For me, the biggest irritant is that they have gaps between Game 1 and Game 2. Happened in the Yankees/Royals series and as a Yankees fan, I hate giving the Royals extra rest when there should be some sort of punishment if youre a lower seed. I think the Wild Card series lets lower seeded teams get hot, roll into the ALDS, and then whip on the higher seed teams cause of momentum. Idk. Im kind of arguing my point with my own point but I think you get what I mean lol
I say all 3 division winners get a bye, not just the top 2. Now take the 3 wild card teams and rank them in a stepladder. Bottom 2 play 1 game at the 2 seed's location. Winner plays at the top seed's location 1 game. Winner moves onto divisional round.
I think the biggest problem with MLB playoff expansion is there really is a limited amount of time to get the games in so these early afternoon games are a result of trying to cram too much in before it gets too cold. I think they need to cut the season down if they're going to do this. Regular season ends the first week of September and then they can do these games at a more reasonable pace.
Since 2019 I’ve wanted to do wildcard weekend. 4 wild card teams fight for the one spot in the DS. 3 game tourney with single game elimination at a neutral site.
I think the bye week and the improper seeding in the divisional round are the bigger problems with the format than the wildcard series. Which is why we see division winners not having success in the new postseason format
I think the real problem is how quickly they're playing after the regular season. It's ridiculous they play all year and then we rush to start the playoffs. If you want entertainment, then give time in between regular season and playoffs so each team can play their best players. That's what the playoffs should be about anyways. It really isn't fair to teams that have to reschedule games due to inclement weather and play double headers the day before the playoffs. And yes, having a playoff game at 3:00 p.m. on a Tuesday is insane.
The reason more wild card teams make championship series is because some division are just so bad that the winner ends up being worse than a wild card team. At least I think they finally fixed the schedule so you are not getting an easier schedule with inflated win percentage because you played the white Sox 18 times a year while the rest of the league played them 4 to 6 times.
I would love to see a 2 Game Aggregate scoring system like Champions League Soccer. Both games are played till a team wins like usual, but the total score over the 2 legs determines the winner. Only way the 2nd game sucks is if you have a blowout game 1. But even then if Team A loses game 1 by seven, there is always a shot that the come back and win a game by 8. Then that turns into the most dramatic comeback in play off history. It also keeps a blowout game in play, cuz if you can plate 3 runs (while losing 6-3) then in game two if you win 5-1 you win the whole thing. I watched my Phils plate meaningless runs, that don’t have to be meaningless
There's ZERO reason to have a postseason game starting in the afternoon. I'm in Houston, & both of the Astros-Tigers games started at 1:30PM...I was offered a pair of tickets to both by a vendor, & no one in my company could take them because the games were so early. They were both done before any of us were off of work. My SVP is a hardcore Astros fan, who goes to all their playoff games, & he couldn't go to either due to work. That's plain stupid by the MLB. It doesn't matter if it's one game or 3, or the 5- or 7-game series later on. Weekday playoff games should never be during the day.
Jom can you speak on some of these pathetic broadcast crews in the postseason. These guys don’t know anything about the teams they’re talking about
All they care about is HRs. Like there aren't 100 other ways to score.
Can you give several examples cuz my job ends 6.30 CT and I only follow it on mlb gameday.
Joe Davis knows about the Dodgers
I was listening to them and it was fucking god awful just silence half the game.
It was bob costas
Costas rambling..
Start times are ridiculous Its so stupid not to have prime time playoff games
Don't worry just wait few weeks the world series will start at like 9 eastern
I bought tickets a few years back only to find out it was a day game. Killed the atmosphere entirely.
I love afternoon games. I can listen while I work.
@@blessd24a lot of people dont have that ability, easier for most to enjoy the games AFTER work
@@MaddMan621 I understand. It just happens to be kind of nice for me.
Regular season games: 6 pm
Post Season: 1 PM
This is so funny
Except many regular season games were day games
Literally have these guys play night games all year 75%+ of the time but oh play off time gotta go at lunch boys lol
It's to minimize how many games are being played at the same time.
Always found it weird baseball is the only sport played in series throughout the whole season, has the longest regular season, most games played, but has 2 rounds of shorter playoff series than basketball and hockey. Wildcard round as 3 games is fine, but when the best seeds start to play it should be 7 games.
Well, back in the day there were NO playoffs at all. No divisions, even. Then, there were two divisions in each league which meant that sometimes the 2nd best team was left out entirely (see 1993 SF Giants, among others). Now, with 3 divisions it makes sense to have a Wild Card team, but why should only one team get to make more money? Another (and now two) teams should get to make more money!
@@brandonsheumaker2673 exactly
and back then the "pennant race" was actually a pennant race, not a "get in and get hot" race
have no idea why people still call it a pennant race now
Best team won each league, played in the world series.
That's a true representative of the best team. They added in the LCS for the top TWO teams. Makes sense.
Adding divisions complicated it more, now you have 3 instead of 4, because alot of times that 2nd place team had more wins tahn the other division so it was unfair to them, in a way.
IF I RECALL, i dont know the history but this is how i remember reading about it.
IN NO WORLD. SHOULD YOU HAVE A TEAM. THAT WINS 84/162 WITH NEGATIVE RUN DIFFERTENTIAL BE EVEN CLOSE TO THE WORLD SERIES.
YOU PLAY 162 FOR THE SAMPLE SIZE BECAUSE BASEBALL IS INHERENTLY A LUCK SPORT.
162 game regular season and Bo5 division series will never feel right to me.
@@daaaaaaaaniel the single game wild card never felt right either
The 3 game series sounded proper, but its a complete waste of time
@@piggy8761 if you can’t beat an 84 win team in 7 games your team was never that great
Also I’d add that no games can start before 5 PM local time during the week
It’s mostly because of baseball tradition
Besides the format itself, this is the worst part about these games. Watching a playoff game while the sun is still out takes all of the ambiance away and it just feels like another regular season game to me. October baseball needs to be played under the lights in chilly weather, not in the heat of the day with shadows everywhere
@@patholmwood2030 that’s a you thing a playoff game is still a playoff game just cause the suns out doesn’t not make it a playoff game. Also it’s like 50 in OH with the sun out it’s far from hot where I’m at
@@patholmwood2030agreed.
@@SideStrafedf tradition. We normal people work. And want to watch the game after we are finished working
Quietly watching Jimmy dive into a rabbit hole is somehow the most interesting content on TH-cam. Bro is just locked in
the fact that this was uploaded while absolute chaos unraveled in San Diego is wild but i like it
There's no reason a division winner should be playing in the wild card series. Go back to 2 wild cards per league and play best of 3 there. Also, bring back tie breakers.
This is a good idea. Especially if you start having the 3rd wild card teams getting in with like 82 wins, might have reason to get rid of 3rd wild card. But I would be open to trying Jomboy's play in idea first.
its crazy that you can win the division and be sent to what feels like a 1 game elimination lol
I would agree with you if some division winners didn’t have worse records than wild card teams
If you think the MLB, who is already more money motivated than any other league, is gonna ELIMINATE playoff spots so dynasty programs have it easier? Nahhhh fool, that’s more games for them to cash out on. If you want the structure to change find a way to do it where the MLB still makes money.
@@Vienna107Arizona won just 84 games last year
I actually genuinely love your new playoff format idea
All division winners get bye to DS. #6 vs #5 in first wild card game. Next day, winner of that vs #4 in second wild card game. Winner of that game plays #1 in DS.
Better chance of the MLB going bankrupt than doing this. Less $$$ means no way!!!!
Interesting idea. Only problem is there's often a division winner that is clearly not as good as the other two. I'd change it to top 2 div winners and the top WC in each league get a bye into the 2nd rd, while the 3rd div winner gets your #4 spot. I still prefer Jimmy's idea however.
@@kq76i’d change that slightly. i’d say once you take the 3 division winners and 3 wild card winners, sort them by record regardless of divison. then no matter what the best teams are getting the advantage they probably deserve
@@joshjensen6509 Since MLB doesn't truly play a balanced schedule (they claim they do, but they really don't), I don't think we should put too much into team records. I'd be more okay with basing it off pythagorean records, but I suspect most would balk at that. The value people put into winning divisions, even if there's a clearly inferior division, is just too ingrained to do anything different.
And I'm not saying I don't also put value in division winners, I do, I've just seen far too many people argue only division winners should make the postseason regardless of whether or not there was a clearly better second place team to think we'd ever seed based solely on records of any kind. Just look at any discussion where someone advocates for a 32 team, 8 division, 4 teams a division MLB. It'd be insane for the 162-game season MLB, yet the NFL is so popular some people think MLB should do it too.
No, I think we're close to an ideal MLB postseason format, we're just not quite there yet. A best-of-seven second round is key IMO however. Pair it with Jimmy's idea for the first round and I think we'd have the winning formula.
The downside is it could just be an unforgiving logistical nightmare unless all the games were played at a designated neutral field which would take away from the atmosphere.
The three NL wild card teams were NYM, ATL, and SD. Granted this wouldn’t have been the order the exact order this year but this what could potentially happen: NYM fly to SD for a one game WC and win, have to fly to ATL for another one game WC and win. Have to fly to LA to face the #1 seed. 3 cross country flights in as many days.
DS should be 7 games no reason not to be when u play a 162 game regular season
i've been saying this since 1995
Then MLB better start the regular season earlier.
Nah that’s too many games. 5 game division series increases the urgency and makes the nlcs and WS feel more special.
@ibraheemrao8434 Or just shorten the season instead. 162 is a slog to get through, even for the most die-hard of die-hards. It really becomes a drag once you get to September and there's all these meaningless games being played between garbage teams that have been out of it since the all-star break if not earlier.
There's literally no reason for baseball to start as early as it does to begin with. Late March & early April, where some years it's likely to still be cold in the northern cities and not all of those parks are domes. You ask me the regular season would be better off starting in mid-April or even May. Just do away with 10-15 games from that 162.
@@41Brother2 you know the mlbpa is t gonna allow that less $$$$ plus in every sports they're are trams that have been out of it half the season.
It's hilarious how we're inundated with calls for a playoff format overhaul when teams that "sneak into the playoffs" i.e. a wild card team beat a division winner/team with the best regular season record, but when the favorites win all you hear are crickets
Baseball fans in a nutshell 🤷🏻♂️
I think there should be no divisions. Best team in regular season is crowned league champion at the end of the season and playoffs remain the same as they are now. Bracket is decided by seed number
I am old school. I don't like all of the expanded playoffs. But with that said I think the only real solution here is to have MLB expand by 2 more teams to a total of 32 - 16 in each league. If they do that then the playoffs are pretty simple. Create 4 divisions of 4 teams in each league. All division winners make the playoffs. No wild cards. Then you have best of 5 LDS, best of 7 LCS and best of 7 World Series. Also maybe reduce the regular season to 154 games which creates more time for the playoffs and lets you not have to schedule so many day games.
If you don't like only the 4 division winners going to the playoffs because potentially you could have a team with 100+ wins finish 2nd in a division and not make the playoffs.....then do something more radical - eliminate divisions. Just put all 15 or 16 teams in each league in 1 big division. Play out the schedule and then the top 4 teams from each league make the playoffs and then you guarantee you have the 8 best teams in the playoffs. Divisions seem like an artifact left over from when teams traveled by train and it made more sense to group them geographically.
I like this, i've always given a casual thought as a casual fan to how the MLB playoffs should be formatted ... i am a big proponent of reducing to season to 154 games ( i highly doubt it would happen) i think it would actually be good for the sport, because then you could expand the playoffs, there probably should be radical. realignment, you might as well eliminate the American and National league, but people like the tradition too much, however, I think it would make more sense for geographical and schedule reasons plus you could make a balanced schedule... I really like the idea you posted, and I see you have put some thought into it
I don't know how expansion could work. Personally, I think there should be retraction 😏, but we are not ready for that discussion 🤣 .... if all American sports had, a promotion, slash relegation system like i don't know the rest of the world, I would really like that
Nah, that makes it way too likely for the second best team to make the playoffs. The 4th seed might have like the 6th or 7th best record. If you want to do 4 teams it should just be 3 division champs and a wild card.
Please talk about the terrible new ads on the players helmets an shirts. 5 years we’re NASCAR. This is unacceptable, without a hard rule, no ads on unis, they will not stop.
Why would there be a hard rule? So they can get less revenue?
What I hate the most about it is the trickle effect. This year the sponsor is a reputable company that makes a worthwhile product - which, I suspect, is the point; if they'd started with some sportsbook the legions would have risen in Gaul. But what's to stop them from plastering uniforms with gambling ads next year now that the precedent has been set? It's to the point now that fans recovering from gambling addiction have been either tempted too far or driven out of the fandom. Will the deluge continue until the only people who can tolerate watching are the industry's current victims?
Its pure greed. Players making ridiculous money. Decent seats for a family of 4 are becoming unaffordable for many teams. Breaking up games to multiple streaming services so you have to pay for all of them to follow your team. Its getting easier and easier to give up on baseball.
Totally agree. I hate seeing ads on the uniforms it's totally Bush League.
Money talks bro
Here’s an idea: The #3 seed plays the number #4 seed in one game and also the #5 and the #6 seed plays each other. The LOSER of the first game plays the WINNER of the second game for the final spot. The winner of the first game gets the #3 seed, just like the nba play-in tournament for the 7-10 seeds. That way we have can drama and prime time games. Also, to compensate for the revenue lost from fewer wild card games, we can make the division series 7 games.
Of all the changes MLB made, my FAVORITE was getting rid of the 1 game wild card
I despise the 1 game wild card because that's not baseball. Every series is just that: a series. All year. So why kick off the height of competition, the playoffs, going against the format teams play and practice all season long?
It felt like a dice roll every time, a fluke, and fans of the participating teams always left the 1-game wild card round wondering what would've happened if it was a series.
This year's wild card round was fantastic and having a chance for each day 1 losing team to play again ADDED to the drama in my opinion.
It's called the "WILD CARD" for a reason, bub
@@tombo6245 exactly lol
I mean, he says in the video every wild card series has been decided by the winner of game 1. So that defeats the purpose of “what if it was a series” since the data shows it has not mattered.
I mean I wouldn't go to say that wasn't baseball. Was fun to see an all or nothing game to kick the playoffs off.
Agreed. The 1 game format was dumb as all hell. 1 game playoff rounds are better left for the NFL. Made no sense to have a 1 game format that led to get to a best of 5 division series and then later the best of 7 LCS and World Series.
I personally like the way the current format. The start times annoy some people, but I like day game playoff baseball. Reminds me of older eras.
I get all the complaints about the alleged disadvantages to the division winners, but I'm not a huge fan of one and dones if avoidable.
Jomboy’s playoff format take just tells you he’s worried about his yanks lmao
As of right now, with the Mets and SD up 2-1 and the Tigers leading game 3 2-0, there is a very real chance every single division winner is out in the divisional series. That is a huge problem. If the regular season means so little now, there's no point in 162 games.
No team win 100 games this year. Now that my Braves had to settle on a wild card spot I had a reason to keep watching the regular season.
But yeah, 20 less games and don't start when snow is still falling in different ball parks
Jimmy get back on talkin baseball during playoffs. We miss all the boys together
Love the elimination wild card concept you came up with. Genius actually
Here is a format idea:
Wild Card Ladder- 5 vs 6 in one game playoff then winner goes to one game playoff against 4 seed,
After this completes, DS starts with 1 seed playing against winner of the ladder and 2 seed plays the 3,
Playoffs continue as normal.
Another addition of spice, the 1 seed can choose who they want to play in the Division series. Could be a good story line addition.
Wild Card Round: Four teams total with the highest seed playing at home and you have one game elimination games, that's two games total and then you start the divisional round. OR The two top Wild Card teams are automatically slotted and you start the Divisional Series. Both versions help you sell tickets, get eyeballs on TV and get the casual fan watching
Your playoff idea was exactly what I suggested to my mom the other day! In a way, we are rewarding teams that get hot at the end of the season over the teams that gutted out an entire season of a strong performance to win a division. In the case of Detroit this year, they'd've deserved it since they swept Houston. But why are we treating San Diego (who lost to Los Angeles in the division during the regular season) an even-up chance? I know Los Angeles gets an extra home game, but it just seems like we're rewarding Wild Card teams too much as is.
Toooo many off days in DS
There should only be a travel day between Gm 2 and 3, and 4 and 5. No, one DS gets an off-day between Gm 1 and 2, the other one stays as normal
Two other postseason changes that I think would be positives: 1. Allow the #1 seed in each league to choose whether to have a day off between games 1&2 in the ALDS. 2. Reseed after the wild-card round. The best team should play the worst team remaining.
Great video! loved to see you go thru the stats and edit the overlay video. Well done very competent.
the 10-team playoff was goated, it was the perfect format, no playoff w 12 teams is ever gonna be better than that
This used to be the old football playoff format, I like it. The NFL should go back to it. A 1 and 2 seed gets a bye.
Start times are INSANE. 2:08 on a weekday is ridiculous. I love day games during the regular season, but now is not the time for them. Sun should be down for all of them.
Why? That’s just not always workable when you’re talking about air times these games are all televised. They have to work out those times to especially when most of the playoffs are on one network or stream being TBS mainly sometimes they’re on other broadcast but that’s not every game. Hence the start times idk how the sun makes it not a playoff game
I like that weighted Bo3 idea.
Here's my playoff format: cut the last two weeks of the season and have divisional gauntlets with Bo3s of 4 vs 5, winner vs 3, winner vs 2, winner vs 1. The gauntlet champions win their division, and the non division winner with the best record before the gauntlet is the wild card.
Once MLB expands to 32 teams I believe they will expand playoffs to include 16 teams just like every major US sport. 1 seed plays 8 seed in each league. Best of 5 series. This would only increase the playoffs by 3 to 4 days.
The season is too long as it is. Baseball in March and November is frankly ridiculous.
@@TSD4027 simple solution. You subtract 2 games from the regular season. 160 season instead of 162
It's bad enough 40% of the teams make the playoffs. 50% would be worse.
Might as well play a one month warmup season for seeding the start a tournament for every team.
@@ComradeArthurWhen the NHL expanded to 21 teams in 1979 the playoffs went from 12 to 16 teams, so 50% making is not that bad, which is what the NHL is currently at with 32 teams.
@@AJ13688 I think the NHL system is bad so I don't want to copy it. Postseason should be limited to *good* teams, not teams a little bit above average.
Big fan of your playoff format idea!
Love the wild-card series idea... basically like the end of a true double-elimination tournament where you have the team that hasn't lost yet taking on the last remaining team from the losers bracket.
That idea of having the top seed only have to win one game would have the added benefit of making the difference between 4 and 5 seed be tremendous, which would increase the tension of the wildcard race. Really like that idea.
As a adult child at home during the day I'm loving the day baseball playoff haha
2:26 Jimmy is being really kind to the Baltimore fans and crowd. I was in the third deck for the game he mentioned, and I feel like a big part of the low attendance was how bad the team was down the stretch, and especially getting shutout in a 1-0 loss the day before. Playing at 4:00 on a Wednesday didn't help anything, but if they won the day before, I think the ballpark would've been just about full.
Old School is best.
No divisions. 15-team Leagues.
Only playoff is:
AL League Champion plays
NL league Champion in
a 7-game World Series.
Finito. That’s it.
Playoff times are the worst! Today's game in LA is at 5 PM. Try getting anywhere in LA at 5 PM! You have to leave wherever you are at like 3 PM to get to the stadium in time to get to your seat by first pitch. The WORST!
You go back to 4 teams per league, if you really want to have the one game wild card game then that's fine as well. They also need to shorten playoff series time wise so teams don't skate on two or three starters. My problem with the playoffs is the fact too many teams get in and it doesn't reflect the same style of baseball as in the regular season.
My dad and i were kicking around the idea of a double elimination tourey at a neutral site like omaha or williamsport, or at a rotating site where u pair up AL and NL locations. Like dodgers and angels, or mets and yankees are the easiest ones. Make them geographically similar so people could go to both. You bring a 4th wild card in and only allow the winner of the tourney into the post season. It allows for planning of trips and availablity of fans. Makis it an interesting destination thing for fans. 1 plays 4, 2 plays 3, losers play and winners play. Winner of the loser game plays the loser of the winner. The winner of the winner gets a bye. Then winner of that game plays the winner of the winner game. But they have to win twice. It would take 5 days, same amount as the current lay off. Games through the losers bracket, three games through the winners bracket
Literally, longest sip of water possible.
As a Mets fan, the biggest difference for Edwin Diaz is not his Slider. It's that his Fastball accuracy is almost gone. He has thrown so many non competitive Fastballs that the slider is easier to sit on.
1000% live the postseason suggestions. Would be awesome. I'm normally watching it on my phone so the day games do suck for people who work.
The wild card round idea (win 1 if top seed, 2 if lower seed) is what the NBA does for it's play-in tournament.
Playoffs fix: Peel off 1 team from each division and expand by 2 more teams. You then have 8 divisions with 4 teams each, top 2 from each division advance and then you go 8 team bracket, no breaks, 5 game series for everything except championship and world series.
Baseball got a couple things right in recent years. The pitch clock is the biggest plus MLB implemented. The ‘anti-shift rules’ is also a great rule. The playoff system is spot on. The three game Wild Card is a win. All home games to the high seed team….spot on baby!
There is no need for a playoff just do it like football in Europe premiere league, la liga. Make the regular 162 games count season count instead of calling regular season useless.
That’s what I was thinking. Make the regular season the World Series. Just play every team 6 times (3 home, 3 away). So every team theoretically has the same schedule.
Team with the best record wins the league. If there’s a tie then you can go to run differential.
What’s the point of 162 games if all that gets erased ?
@@marcusstrinidad to see who gets a bye and home field advantage like almost all American sports that’s are leagues here. NFL, NBA, and NHL all do this idk why we want to watch a regular season team go to the WS it’s shown that a lot of teams who are good regular season performers aren’t making it their in the playoff format idk if I wanna see that in the WS cause they play well without that pressure of October ball
Your playoff idea is the best version of 3 wildcards I've heard. Another early playoff vierwership problem is the season ending on Sunday every year is rough when starting the playoffs Thurs/Fri night would be best, but the MLB can't change that from a last home game ticket selling perspective.
they ended on wednesday until about 10 years or so ago. Playoffs were Fri/Sat start. 2022 ended on Wed bc lockout season
My thought is a majority of owners see a greater likelihood of being a WC consistently than a division winner. So they do not have the incentive to help division winners with the format. The top 10 payrolls might want the advantage they obtained over season to carry more weight in playoffs, buy say top 10 spending franchises, that is still the minority.
Also the extra wildcard games just give them more money what it's all about to most of them
The format before the latest expansion was the best----three division winners, two wild cards who face-off in a winner-take-all to be the final team for the divisional round. If MLB still insists on keeping it the way it is, then at the very least the 1 and 2 seeds should be given at least 4 home games guaranteed in the best-of-five divisional round
I immediately love that playoff idea. Very, very good. Best one I've heard.
I love that idea with the 1st game being an elimination game. Maybe schedule the end of the season where 1 league (either AL/NL) finishes 162 on one day and the other the next. That way their playoff schedules will be more aligned and more primetime games, rather than day games.
Yes! I love the playoff idea. It feels like it fixes all the issues and makes "barely getting in with the WC" a disadvantage no matter who you are.
You’re not gonna mention the Tigers with the 2nd most help from the umps @29:20. Show some horrible calls against the Astros.
the playoff thing only works if the away team get home advantage for one of the games
Playoffs in baseball are different from the other big leagues because of the ratio between regular season games and postseason games. It will always look unfair when a 80-wins team eliminates a 100-wins team, but the alternative is to get rid of playoffs altogether.
The previous 1 game wildcard format didn't have that playoff vibe. It reminded more of the old tiebreakers for division wins. Even the current format has the issue of not granting a home game to all teams.
With teams getting byes to LDS, I personally think only teams that get there should be considered as making the postseason. It's like in the Champions League, the big teams enter straight in the league phase, others play preliminary rounds, but you don't count those as the real competition.
I REALLY LIKE THE WILDCARD IDEA - Makes the season matter. The only potential modification is based on season win totals. For example, if both teams have season win totals that are separated by more than 3 or 4 games, then your idea is super. However, if it is 3 or less, then perhaps a 3 game series. I like any idea that puts more weight on the season win totals. The best teams deserve the rewards, the weaker teams need to earn their advancement, not just get hot at the end of the season/post-season.
3 divison leaders make the postseason…the three wildcards play round robin, only one team advances… 7 game series from there
Agreed with wild card round. Still gets viewership, stadiums get butts in seats for high stakes game, doesn’t drag it on, plenty of money to be made…. Let’s make it happen.
I like the advantaged Wildcard idea. We use to do that in Quiz Bowl tournaments. Higher seed: home field, and you only have to win once. That is much more of an incentive to be the higher seed.
What you recommended is the KBO style for Wildcard playoffs. I love it. I just wish the MLB has a better reward for the team that won the most games all year. The best teams for both leagues should get automatic byes to the Championship Series. Makes the regular season more important and the best team acts like a final boss before the World Series. It'd be much more entertaining.
The biggest issue with the format is the start times. I am going to the Tigers vs Guardians game today which is at 3:08pm and I have to leave work 5 hours early just to get a parking spot. First home playoff game in 10 years and it’s in the middle of the work day. I am lucky enough to have a job that lets me go but most people especially in this city don’t have that luxury.
Yes life sucks 🤷🏻♂️ it can’t be all fair sadly these games are still sold out so clearly it’s not stopping a lot of people to show up to these games. I’ve yet to have gone to an nba playoffs and it’s not cause of start time it’s price. But that’s life no use sitting and complaining about something that won’t change
I love your idea for the first round, Jimmy! I'm going to help spread it. KUTGW.
It makes sense that the wildcard team is more likely to advance to the CS because there is a selection process in the wildcard games that means that the better team is most likely to come out of that round. Meaning that the division winner is going to have to play a proven series winner rather than just a random wildcard team.
They’ll never decrease the number of games played because that means a decrease in revenue. With that in mind, I think this is the best case scenario:
8 teams in each league get in - 3 division winners and 5 wild cards. No byes. 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, and 4 vs 5.
First round is best of 5, except the higher seed starts with a 1-0 series lead and all games are played at the higher seed ballpark. Games take place on 4 consecutive days to give baseball a March Madness feel of being on all day and night.
Then the DS, CS, and WS rounds remain the same.
8 teams in each league is a lot, but it eliminates the factor of teams getting rusty from having a bye. You also get a significant advantage for winning your division or being the top wild card:
In all best-of-5 MLB postseason series, the team that wins Game 1 has gone on to take the series 109 of 152 times (72%). So starting your first round series already up 1-0 is very significant.
So you basically want it to be the nba playoffs/ also sorry giving teams a win already as an advantage is fucking a horrible idea that’s just literally stupid to give a team a win as an advantage that’s borderline unfair and not a series
Whatever Jomboy wants, jomboy gets
Really enjoyed watching you bust out the clip work on Diaz
The format is fine. It's the scheduling that sucks. MLB has to give up on this whole 1 game on at a time thing on weekdays.
Solution: Always schedule the Wildcard Round on the weekend. Stagger the games for game 1 and 2 on Saturday and Sunday. Then for whatever game 3s happen schedule them evenly between 6PM to 9PM EST starts depending on where they are played. (Or better yet start 2 series at night on Friday, and end the other 2 series at night on Monday)
I like your wild card format idea, but personally I like adapting what the Korean league does (so I was told).
End season on a Friday.
Wild card weekend with doubleheader Sunday IF needed.
Start Divison Series Tuesday.
Cuts down on the lengthy byes substantially to 3 days, makes the wild card a tougher challenge with no off day before and only 1 after.
Current format totally hurts the momentum of the top teams, the best teams, and that sucks!
I love that wild card idea. How ever, 1 game all around is best. It’s the friggin WILD CARD we’re talkin about. 1 game to set the tone, cmon!!!!
I have another idea for the Wild Card: make it two legs, similar to how a lot of soccer tournaments work. The winner is the team with the highest combined runs scored through 18 innings played over 2 days.
Agree with the playoff format you provided. Reminds me of the play in for the nba.
I agree on the wild card teams needing to win an additional game. The only advantage a division winner has in the wild card round is home field but to your point they aren't even prime time so these home crowds aren't as electric or full as they should be. You don't know what day you're playing ahead of time or what time the game is in order to take off of work. No more M-F playoff day games!!!
I have an idea that I've put a fair bit of thought into. Current system doesn't reward top teams enough for the long season. Too volatile and tv start times are a joke. Any team can get hot for a 3 or 5-game stretch. Baseball is best over the long haul. My idea is for a 15-game mini season in each league among the 6 qualifying teams. #1 seed hosts 3-game series against the other 5. #6 is on the road for all games, and so on. All games could be played in the evening on the current TV networks or partnered with local broadcasters. Top team goes to World Series. Tiebreaker would be head-to-head in the postseason series. We would finish the mini season by Oct 22 and play the World Series completely in October!
Originally thinking the issue with the Wild Card Series winners have too much of an advantage in the next round, I thought that maybe having a 2-day series where Games 1 and 2 are a double-header on day 1 and Game 3 is on day 2. But now I realize that idea is worse for both TV and attendance so I do like this idea better. It still solves some of the timing problems by getting to the DS quicker but it also does a fabulous job of making every game an elimination game. You could theoretically do an NBA-style play-in tournament but that would require more travel and, possibly, more days before the DS.
Your idea is excellent for the Wild Card games. It'll add the fervor of the NFL playoffs or March Madness. Great great idea!
Too many back catchers are pulling the mitt into the strike zone after a ball. It used to be the catcher would move his mitt just a little bit towards the strike zone on a 2 strike pitch but now catches just pull dead center to the strike on EVERY pitch.
Absolutely agree: all games are elimination games! at least in the wild card round.
Call me crazy but i likes the way they did it with two divisions, east vs west. Take the top team from each division and who ever wins best of 5 heads to the WS.
If you want to take the top 3 from each side, then reduce the season to 145, like pre 1961. Switch divisions for the match ups, 1 v 3, 2 v 2. Start the playoffs with everyone getting 2 days rest.
The length of the post season causes a lot of old records getting broken just from teams making the post season for 10 years straight like the braves, dodgers, yankees.
This is the NBA's Play In Tournament format. I'm not mad at it. At least under this format, you can schedule the games to be in Prime Time. As a Tigers fan, cutting out of work to watch a 230pm game in Houston on TV was one part anti-climactic and another part weird, despite not seeing my Tigers in the playoffs for a decade.
For me, the biggest irritant is that they have gaps between Game 1 and Game 2. Happened in the Yankees/Royals series and as a Yankees fan, I hate giving the Royals extra rest when there should be some sort of punishment if youre a lower seed. I think the Wild Card series lets lower seeded teams get hot, roll into the ALDS, and then whip on the higher seed teams cause of momentum. Idk. Im kind of arguing my point with my own point but I think you get what I mean lol
I say all 3 division winners get a bye, not just the top 2. Now take the 3 wild card teams and rank them in a stepladder. Bottom 2 play 1 game at the 2 seed's location. Winner plays at the top seed's location 1 game. Winner moves onto divisional round.
I think the biggest problem with MLB playoff expansion is there really is a limited amount of time to get the games in so these early afternoon games are a result of trying to cram too much in before it gets too cold.
I think they need to cut the season down if they're going to do this. Regular season ends the first week of September and then they can do these games at a more reasonable pace.
It was cool watching how you analyzed that Diaz piece
LDS Series have had the dumb start times too. The Braves had been getting stuck with 1 pm Tuesday/Wednesday games even in the 90s
Jimmy for president. MLB needs to change the wild card to that format ASAP
One thing that definitely needs to change is the top seed plays the lowest seed from the wild card
That pitch to Colt Keith is one of the cleanest frames I’ve seen
Since 2019 I’ve wanted to do wildcard weekend. 4 wild card teams fight for the one spot in the DS. 3 game tourney with single game elimination at a neutral site.
I think the bye week and the improper seeding in the divisional round are the bigger problems with the format than the wildcard series. Which is why we see division winners not having success in the new postseason format
Fully agree! The teams that won the most need some reward and advantage
That’s what the NBA does with play in games and it’s what I’ve been saying for years. I agree 1000%
I think the real problem is how quickly they're playing after the regular season. It's ridiculous they play all year and then we rush to start the playoffs. If you want entertainment, then give time in between regular season and playoffs so each team can play their best players. That's what the playoffs should be about anyways.
It really isn't fair to teams that have to reschedule games due to inclement weather and play double headers the day before the playoffs.
And yes, having a playoff game at 3:00 p.m. on a Tuesday is insane.
Jimmy you just broke me and then brought me to the next level of understanding at seeing Diaz slider is just a darting changeup
The reason more wild card teams make championship series is because some division are just so bad that the winner ends up being worse than a wild card team. At least I think they finally fixed the schedule so you are not getting an easier schedule with inflated win percentage because you played the white Sox 18 times a year while the rest of the league played them 4 to 6 times.
I would love to see a 2 Game Aggregate scoring system like Champions League Soccer. Both games are played till a team wins like usual, but the total score over the 2 legs determines the winner. Only way the 2nd game sucks is if you have a blowout game 1. But even then if Team A loses game 1 by seven, there is always a shot that the come back and win a game by 8. Then that turns into the most dramatic comeback in play off history. It also keeps a blowout game in play, cuz if you can plate 3 runs (while losing 6-3) then in game two if you win 5-1 you win the whole thing.
I watched my Phils plate meaningless runs, that don’t have to be meaningless
This sounds pretty similar to what the NBA does right now with the Play-in Tournament. I like it.
There's ZERO reason to have a postseason game starting in the afternoon. I'm in Houston, & both of the Astros-Tigers games started at 1:30PM...I was offered a pair of tickets to both by a vendor, & no one in my company could take them because the games were so early.
They were both done before any of us were off of work. My SVP is a hardcore Astros fan, who goes to all their playoff games, & he couldn't go to either due to work.
That's plain stupid by the MLB. It doesn't matter if it's one game or 3, or the 5- or 7-game series later on. Weekday playoff games should never be during the day.
Bring back the 2020 playoff format. The wild card round is round one, no byes.