Steven Urena
By Steven Urena
Playoff Format
Naturally, the sting of being a 100 game winner and playing in a one game elimination hurts. The current playoff format looks great on paper but this season, baseball’s two best teams are in the two worst possible playoff spots. Luckily for the Giants, they can skip this mess and move on to the first round.
The NL Central and NL East get automatic bids to the NLDS and one will advance to the NLCS. The AL West and AL Central will also cruise into the ALDS and one will advance to the ALCS. Meanwhile the Dodgers will have to fight for their lives to get in the playoffs and will be down their best arm when and if they get to the NLDS. I bleed blue but this is a horrible scenario for any 100 game winner. The AL East worked out a little better. The Rays are clear champions of the division but will now face a hot wild card team in the ALDS. Meanwhile, the Astros and White Sox play each other. Both of whom are anything but hot.
Being someone that loves to stir the pot, I’ve proposed a new playoff format. I took a bite out of the NBA’s format and added a few ingredients of my own. Take a look.
The Urena Express playoff format has a West Division and an East Division. Eight teams from each division go into the playoffs. The #1 seed will play the lowest seed, #2 the next lowest seed and so on. The first and second series are best of 5. The pennant winner will be best of 7. The World Series, also best of 7. The #1 and #2 seeds from each division get rewarded. The #7 seed plays the #10 seed and the #8 seed plays the #9 seed in a one game elimination. The winners advance to the first round. The #1 seed will play the lower seed and the #2 seed will play the higher seed from the one game eliminations. Below you can see how it would look this season.
|
MLB WEST DIVISION |
MLB EAST DIVISION |
||
|
1 |
San Francisco Giants |
1 |
Tampa Bay Rays |
|
2 |
Los Angeles Dodgers |
2 |
Chicago White Sox |
|
3 |
Milwaukee Brewers |
3 |
New York Yankees |
|
4 |
Houston Astros |
4 |
Boston Red Sox |
|
5 |
St. Louis Cardinals |
5 |
Toronto Blue Jays |
|
6 |
Seattle Mariners |
6 |
Atlanta Braves |
|
7 |
Oakland A’s |
7 |
Cincinnati Reds |
|
8 |
San Diego Padres |
8 |
Philadelphia Phillies |
|
9 |
Los Angeles Angels |
9 |
Cleveland Indians |
|
10 |
Colorado Rockies |
10 |
New York Mets |
There are several reasons why I like this format. September baseball this season was some of the best baseball I’ve seen. The main reason, clubs are fighting for playoff spots and for favorable seedings. Imagine how many teams are going to fight to the brim for the #10 spot? Imagine how much teams will fight for the luxury of the #1 and #2 seeds? I think this will work. September baseball will be off the hook every year.
There may be folks out there not in favor of 16 teams getting in the playoffs. That’s more than half the clubs in the MLB getting in the dance. I don’t think it’s a big deal. I think it’ll eliminate “super teams.” Most good players on bad teams that want out (Nolan Arenado, Max Scherzer, Mike Trout, etc.) will now get a chance to get in the playoffs. In the playoffs, anything can happen so players may not jump ship so willingly. Who doesn’t like a good Cinderella story every now and then?
The playoffs should reward the higher seeds. We all love Cinderella but, for the most part, you want to see the teams that deserve to be there make it to the dance. The #1 and #2 seeds will be in great spots facing a lower seeded team that is now down an ace.
If lower seeds can grind their way through the ranks and make it to the World Series then they deserve it. They would have to get through three and then a fourth round to win the Fall Classic. Some teams, like the Padres, are so far gone, they could not play dead in a cowboy movie. Other teams, like the Cardinals, are just warming up. It would be fun to see.
The Peanut Gallery
I asked experienced baseball fanatics their opinions on the playoff format. Some liked the format as is, others had a few ideas.
Hardly loyal reader Gonzo suggested MLB rank the teams by their record. In this format the #1 seed, Giants, play the #4 seed, Braves. While the #2 seed, Dodgers, play the #3 seed, Brewers. Not a bad idea. It gets tricky and a bit unfair when a #1 seed has to play the wild card team in the same division. After playing a team 19 times in the regular season, anything can happen. I like the concept here though. Most of my baseball experts did not like the one game elimination. It made for exciting baseball at the end but a one game elimination does not reward a team like the Dodgers or Giants.
Loyal reader BMTEducator liked the 2020 Covid Season format. This format had 8 teams and 3 rounds. The first round was 2 out of 3, followed by 3 out of 5, followed by best of 7 for the Championship Series and the World Series. I liked this format too. My only problem with this format was the first series is a killer. The #8 seed’s only disadvantage is playing the #1 seed. I get it. The #1 seed should be head and shoulders above the lower seeds but in a 2 out of 3, anything can happen.
Sometimes loyal reader JM liked the more recent playoff format. The three division winners and one wild card get in the playoffs. The wild card plays the team with the best record, unless it’s the team in their division. This format was great but I saw two flaws in it. The first was how often hot wild card teams ran the table. Usually the wild card teams got in the playoffs because they were hot and often beat a team that had long ago clinched the division and was now used to cruising. We saw this in 2019 (Nationals), 2014 (Giants), 2011 (Cardinals), 2007 (Rockies, lost WS), 2002 (Angels), 2003 and 2007 (Marlins).
In this format fans will not see crazy September baseball. I remember the wild card providing some entertainment but the division winners were usually locked in way before the season was over.
Read this Wednesday’s column for some playoff predictions!!!!
Contact Steve Urena at:
Email: theurenaexpress@gmail.com
Twitter/IG: @theurenaexpress
