Should MLB expand the playoffs to include more teams ?

Question

I say yes....

Expand it to 6 teams per League.

The 5th & 6th seed play a one game wild card at the 5th seed's home park.
The winner of this matchup plays the 4th seed for 1 game. This winners then plays the 1st seed in a 7 game series while the 2nd & 3rd seed play their 7 game series. The two winner then play for the pennant.

This gives some teams some chance of making it to the World Series. Otherwise, it'll be all Yankees, Red Sox, Oakland, etc for the forseeable future.

This would allow 'pretty good but not good enough' teams to have a reasonable shot (teams like the Cubs or the Giants)

Thoughts ?

Answer 1

Every team has the opportunity to make the playoffs. Expanding it would dilute the playoff experience even further. I'm not sure what point you are trying to make about the Yankees, A's, and Red Sox. The Red Sox aren't going to make the playoffs and the A's are a small market team with a low payroll. Every team has that opportunity.

The playoffs will never be fair until the AL gets rid of the DH any ways. How can you call it fair when a team from the NL with their $500,000 a year bench player has to play against the AL and their multi-million dollar DH in the World Series. And don't say that the NL has an advantage in their own ballparks because their pitchers are better hitters because that's absurd.

Answer 2

I see you don't know how a 6 team playoff works. I'll explain it to you so that we can see why your idea doesn't work.

The First and Second seeds would have a week off time. The 3rd and 6th teams would play each other, and the 4th and 5th teams play each other. The lowest remaining plays the 1st place team (who is now rusty from having been off for a while) and the other team plays the 2nd place team (in the same condition as the first). Then, the winnners play a series and then they go on to the World Series.

Now, do we see the problem with adding another round of playoffs in places like New York and Boston? If you don't, here is what it is. It's cold, and there is a good possibility of snow. Also, they play enough games a year, and we don't want to watch baseball while eating our Thanksgiving turkey.

Answer 3

enhance, no: the expertise pool is already dilluted adequate. examine out Tampa Bay. they are in a position to't compete as that's. in the event that they could do something, shift a set from the NL crucial to the AL. The good judgment of bobbing up it 4 divisions and easily the 4 branch winners is improper besides. The NL West incredibly had a set above .500 final twelve months on an identical time as the NL East had 3 above .500

Answer 4

No, I think with all of the expansion it was good for them to break the leagues into three divisions and have a wild card, but part of what I love about baseball is that there aren't so many teams in the playoffs. Basketball and hockey have a few mediocre teams that make the playoffs each year, which I think defeats the purpose of the playoffs.

Answer 5

Might as well make it a full season playoff like it was before the present playoff system. National League winner vs American League winner, period. 162 games are enough. Now they play 9 months out of the year. March through December.
Get rid of the designated hitter (the most insipid rule in baseball) and raise the mound back to it's regulation height. The hitters have gained too much of an advantage. Ahhhhh....the good ol' days. Duran with the Coke bottle lens in his glasses throwin' 150 MPH, Twin D with his "High Neck In" pitch. Bonds don't have enough armor to withstand the old guys....throw in Bob Gibson, who once followed a driver who cut him off several miles in Omaha where he lives and cleaned his plow. Aahhhh...the good ol' days.

Answer 6

too many 500 teams now. if anything i would keep only the top eight teams dispite the division... it sickens me that the yankees could beat the redsox by ten games and their only advantage is one extra game at their crib.. if the yankees lose the first game then they lost home field advantage.. i would expand the first round to 7 games and give the first place team 5 games at home to the second place teams two. there has to be a advantage to winning the division . and one game extra at home isnt enough of one. also i dont want to see a repeat of the 73 world series where the 82-80 mets took the athletics to the seventh game of the world series. if we expand under the current format it could be quite probrable eventually that we would see a team 5 games under 500 competing in the world series and that would be pathetic and would hurt the game considerably.. home field advantage in base ball is the least advantage in all sports.. georgie porgie i would think that you would like it to expand before your tigers lose a playiff spot to the royals...

Answer 7

No - they're already at a point where at least 1/4 of the teams in the league make it. Expanding the playoffs detracts from the regular season.

Answer 8

The season is way too long and boring. Can one possibly watch 162 games? Personally I only tune in during the playoffs, so make the playoffs several series longer. I like how hockey does it. The playoffs are intense and nonstop for several months.

Answer 9

Not the best idea ever. This would only cause more problems. I like how the AL is right now. There are a lot of good teams that wont make the playoffs, like the red sox, blue jays, angels, and one of tigers, white sox, or twins. That's just how it is.

Answer 10

No, I dont think so. Maybe if baseball was great like it used to be, instead of over payed players then maybe, just maybe they could include more teams.

Just think if you could go back in time, and build your own teams for the playoffs. I mean from baseballs early days to present day players. Man-O-Man, now that would be one heck of a playoff game.