Expanding baseball playoffs?

[Swiss]

APNewsBreak: Union would consider bigger playoffs

By RONALD BLUM, AP Sports Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)?Baseball?s playoffs could be expanding in two years.

The new head of the players? union says his members are open to adding more wild-card teams for 2012 and possibly extending the division series to a best-of-seven.

Union head Michael Weiner says it?s also possible players would agree to cutting the regular season from 162 games, but that?s more problematic because it would cost teams revenue.

?There is sentiment among a substantial segment of the players to consider expanding the playoffs,? Weiner said Monday in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of his first World Series since replacing Donald Fehr as union head.

Eight of 30 baseball teams make the playoffs under the format that began in 1995, a year later than intended because of a strike that wiped out the postseason in ?94.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig appears to be increasingly in favor of proposing more playoff teams during collective bargaining with the union next year, which will determine the postseason format for 2012 and beyond.

?We have less teams than any other sport,? he said last month. ?We certainly haven?t abused anything.?

In the NFL, 12 of 32 teams make the playoffs. In the NBA and NHL, 16 of 30 teams advance to the postseason.

The first round series have been best-of-five since they began. It?s possible they could follow the path of the league championship series, which began as best-of-five in 1969, then expanded to best-of-seven in 1985.

?There are some players who have expressed an interest in that, as well,? Weiner said. ?Obviously, you?ve got to look at everything together. But I think we can have a very healthy discussion with the commissioner?s office when bargaining begins about these issues.?

Weiner said the union likely would generate a consensus on its playoff stance during its annual executive board meeting in December. Bargaining is likely to start in the first half of the year on the labor contract to replace the one expiring on Dec. 11, 2011.

Only minor tinkering with the playoffs is possible for next October.

?We?ve been talking about a revised schedule in 2011 that would be a compressed schedule for postseason play,? he said. ?The structure for playoffs in 2011 will be the same as it?s been throughout this contract.?

The regular season expanded from 154 games to 162 in the American League in 1961 and the National League a year later, when each of those circuits went from eight to 10 teams.

?Certainly some of the players have said either we should shorten the regular season because the regular season?s too long, or we should shorten the regular season to accommodate expanded postseason,? Weiner said, adding that would have ?revenue implications for the industry.?

?That is one of the ideas that they are kicking around. But having said that, we understand that a proposal to reduce the length of the regular season will be viewed one way by the owners as opposed to a proposal to expand or modify the structure of the postseason.?

Not all players are in favor of a longer postseason.

?Personally, I like the system the way it is,? San Francisco Giants outfielder Aaron Rowand said as he prepared for Wednesday night?s World Series opener against the Texas Rangers. ?I think just the one wild card team from each league. If you?re in a division where you?ve got a team running away with it, it gives all those other teams hope of something to play for throughout the course of the season.?

Through 1968, there were no divisions and the team with the best regular-season record in each league advanced to the World Series.

Giants reliever Jeremy Affeldt is concerned that adding wild-card teams or increasing the length of the division series would make a long season even longer.

?If they?re going to do that, they need to shorten the season then. That?s a lot of games and that?s a long time. Even in the playoffs now we?re going potentially to Nov. 5,? he said. ?Sometimes they think we?re just robots, but you?ve got to think of potential injuries. On pitchers, that?s a lot of throwing. Position players, some play every game all year. It just takes a toll on the body. If they?re going to do that, they?ve got to think a lot about the ramifications.?

Texas manager Ron Washington thinks adding playoff teams is a good idea.

?It just gives a team an opportunity to get to the playoffs,? he said. ?It doesn?t matter what?s your record once you get to the playoffs. It usually comes down to who?s playing the best baseball at the time.?

However, Rangers outfielder Jeff Francoeur considers himself a traditionalist.

?I don?t like adding another wild card,? he said Tuesday. ?I think that?s what?s so cool, so special about baseball, is that you only have eight teams that go.?

On other topics:

? Weiner said the advanced dates for free agency this offseason were a test for future offseasons. ?Both sides will have a chance to evaluate them and when we begin bargaining, presumably sometime in the early part of 2011, we?ll have a season of that under our belt.?

? While the union chose not to pursue collusion grievances following the past two offseasons, ?Some players obviously continue to be concerned about how the free-agent market has operated. We?re considering additional proposals concerning the free-agent market.?

? Players may propose changes to salary arbitration eligibility, which has been basically unchanged since 1990. ?Obviously players have seen the Super 2 cutoff become?to a certain extent it?s become predictable,? he said. ?Other players say independent of that we think it?s time to revisit the question of salary arbitration eligibility in general.?

? Players hope the September decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the federal government illegally seized the 2003 drug survey test records and samples will be the end of the matter. The government has until December to ask the Supreme Court to review the case. ?Obviously we are pleased with what the court did, and we hope this puts an end to the litigation and that would allow the union and the commissioner?s office to be able to honor the promise that was made to all the players who were tested in 2003,? he said. ?I hope we can look back on 2010 and say that was the year that this litigation ended. Obviously, that remains to be seen.?

AP Baseball Writer Janie McCauley contributed to this report.

[mania]

I really, really hate this idea. Baseball should not be watered down like Basketball or Hockey.

[Gary]

I think maybe expanding to12 instead of 16 would be a smart move. However I agree that adding would water the playoffs down and drag it longer possibly into December

[scooter13]

I really, really hate this idea. Baseball should not be watered down like Basketball or Hockey.

Ditto!

Though this would never happen, I think they need to cut back to 154 games, and add more doubleheaders, so the World Series can be over by mid-October.

[BB61]

I like the way it is now.

The only thing, ONLY thing I could see happening is adding one more wild card and have the two play in a best-of-three for a spot in the LDS, but that would require a lot of logistics.

[BrianVlietDesign]

I'm all for adding two more wild cards to each league. I hate the current structure. With as many teams as there are, why should just the division winners and one other team advance when there is at least two other clubs who could have given them a run for their money? If MLB did it right, we could shorten the season, having it end mid-August with playoffs starting shortly after. The post-season would end on time as usual and we could have logical seedings.

For example, each league would fall under this structure:

WCS (Wild Card Series)

Best of 5

#3 VS. #4 - #3 wins

#5 VS. #6 - #6 wins

DS (Divisional Series)

Best of 7

#1 VS. #6 - #6 wins

#2 VS. #3 - #2 wins

LCS (League Championship Series)

Best of 7

#2 VS. #6 - #6 Wins

Now, in my example, the #6 seed wins the LCS and moves onto the World Series which shows the potential for lower seeds to make the push for a pennant and possibly a world title. Thus, giving the lower seeds a chance to win it all. Call me crazy, but this would be awesome.

[TFoA]

"No sir, I don't like it."

Like Bruschimania said earlier, I don't want this to turn into what the NBA & NHL has where making the playoffs becomes watered-down. There is no doubt in anybody's mind that the 8 teams that make the playoffs are indeed the 8 best teams in baseball & the postseason doesn't drag on & on & on. I mean, the baseball season is already long enough. Don't need it extended by adding more teams. Keep it as is.

[mania]

6 teams per league WILL. NOT. WORK. You can't give a team two-weeks off in the middle of the playoffs, because they will not get back into the groove of playing every day baseball in a short series.

It works in football, because the team's only missing 1 game. Missing 4-7 in the same way (even 3-5) is a MAJOR amount of time off for the team and puts them at a robust disadvantage.

The thing that makes baseball so great is that it is this grueling marathon of a season... it's as much who can survive as who's the most talented (although many times, they're the same team), and then, by the end, it's just those 8 teams standing that get to play for it all.

If given the choice, I'd cut the NBA and NHL down to 8 teams as well. Half the goddamn league in the post-season doesn't make it very magical. Mediocre ass teams playing more games than they need to in order to show you that they're not championship material.

[IceCap]

Yeah, I'll agree with the prevailing sentiment here. It's a bad idea. It seems like a quick-fix to the problem of a lack of parity. "Don't fix the fact that there's no cap, just let some mediocre teams into the post season. That'll make the fans happy."

[epper]

I like the way it is now.

The only thing, ONLY thing I could see happening is adding one more wild card and have the two play in a best-of-three for a spot in the LDS, but that would require a lot of logistics.

I was just about to type the exact same thing.

Add 1 more wildcard per league MAX, and play a best of 3 series, all games in the park of the team with the better record. This not only penalizes the WC team for not wining a division by having them burn their best starters before the LDS, it gives the 3 division winners a slight break to have them get healthy and set their rotations.

Of course if I had my way, I'd scrap divisions all-together and just have the top 4 (or 5) in each league make the playoffs.

[jkrdevil]

I think the idea is to give one more wild card per league so winning the division is more important and you don't have what happened with the Yankees and Rays this year where they basically tried to give the division to each other.

[Viper]

I really, really hate this idea. Baseball should not be watered down like Basketball or Hockey.

Ditto!

Though this would never happen, I think they need to cut back to 154 games, and add more doubleheaders, so the World Series can be over by mid-October.

Wasn't Selig recently talking about moving up the start of the season to mid- or late March so they could expand the Division Series to best-of-seven and have the Series end before Halloween?

That would be one of the precious few thing Selig's regime has done over the years that pleases me as a fan.

[RETROJR79]

I'm all for adding two more wild cards to each league. I hate the current structure. With as many teams as there are, why should just the division winnerws and one other team advance when there is at least two other clubs who could have given them a run for their money? If MLB did it right, we could shorten the season, having it end mid-August with playoffs starting shortly after. The post-season would end on time as usual and we could have logical seedings.

For example, each league would fall under this structure:

WCS (Wild Card Series)

Best of 5

#3 VS. #4 - #3 wins

#5 VS. #6 - #6 wins

DS (Divisional Series)

Best of 7

#1 VS. #6 - #6 wins

#2 VS. #3 - #2 wins

LCS (League Championship Series)

Best of 7

#2 VS. #6 - #6 Wins

Now, in my example, the #6 seed wins the LCS and moves onto the World Series which shows the potential for lower seeds to make the push for a pennant and possibly a world title. Thus, giving the lower seeds a chance to win it all. Call me crazy, but this would be awesome.

Man I was going to say that LOL but yeah they should do that but I would make the Wild Card Series a 3 games series and cut the LDS from 7 to 5.

[Swiss]

Thank you guys, I always like to read a such debate like yours.

[RETROJR79]

If MLB was going to do a 12 teams playoff this is how is going to look...

AL

Wild Card Series (3 games)

6- White Sox vs 3- Rangers

5- Red Sox vs 4- Yankees

Division Series (5 games)

High seed vs 2 Twins

Low seed vs 1 Rays

ALCS 5 games

NL

Wild Card Series (3 games)

6 Cardinals vs 3 Reds

5 Padres vs 4 Braves

Division series (5 games)

High seed vs 2 Giants

Low seed vs 1 Phillies

NLCS 5 games

World Series

7 games and team with best record get home field advantage!

[rams80]

I think the idea is to give one more wild card per league so winning the division is more important and you don't have what happened with the Yankees and Rays this year where they basically tried to give the division to each other.

Agreed. The Wild Card has enabled organizations to build teams that are better suited to compete in the postseason rather than the regular season. I would be perfectly fine with adding an additional handicap or two to the Wild Cards in order to place more emphasis on winning the division.

[The_Admiral]

Add six games to the regular season and get rid of the LDS. Nobody even likes the LDS.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

The MLB season is so long that it's already a de facto playoff. What will one extra postseason series prove that all of those games in September of each season don't?

[infrared41]

This is a horrible idea. What's the point of a 162 game season (or 154 for that matter) if you're going to make it so half the teams make the postseason? You'd end up with teams that won 81 games (or less) getting a shot to go to the World Series.

[infrared41]

The MLB season is so long that it's already a de facto playoff. What will one extra postseason series prove that all of those games in September of each season don't?

Exactly.