Playoff Expansion: Does Baseball Need One?

There has been some argument the past couple of years whether baseball should expand their playoff format.

The argument being that very few teams are in the playoffs and often times half the teams are out by the All-Star break, meaning that half the fans have little to no interest in baseball any longer.

So would it help if baseball decided to expand the playoffs from 8 teams to let’s say 12 or possibly 16? Well, how about we lay out a format for two potential different playoff systems.

First we will start with the idea of a 16-team playoff which is far simpler to format. It would be the top 8 teams in each league pitting the number one seed versus the number eight, number two versus number seven, number three versus number six and finally number four versus five.

Now in all likelihood you would have to cut the first round or two to three game series and possibly even consider making the National and American League Championship series five games.

So what are the positives to this happening? Well obviously we get more teams into the playoffs, in fact over half the teams would get in and thus it could draw even more interest among fans throughout the year knowing that they would still have a chance to make it to the postseason and thus a chance to get the ultimate prize, the World Series.

It could be extremely exciting as well, knowing that baseball can be sometimes unpredictable, we could see some teams come out of nowhere with no budget and capture the World Series crown.

However, the negative effect would be that the regular season would have very little significance to it. Winning the division would not mean as much and would create a slight disadvantage to those who have worked hard to be at the top of their divisions and leagues.

Now one may think that you could simply just reduce the season to around 100 games or so and start the playoffs earlier. Yet again another dilemma would present itself if you cut the season, the records.

There would be little to no chance that we would see another 60 home run season, far fewer 100 RBI years, no more 20 game winners, and certainly there would be no chance for people to reach 300 wins in a career or to break the home run record.

As cool as it would be to see a long 16-team playoff, it is probably unrealistic and not worth demolishing potential records that could be set and ruining the meaning of the regular season.

So we move to option number two, a 12-team playoff. This format gets complicated, but it’s quite the intriguing theory that could really put up a realistic and good battle with the current playoff format.

In the 12, there are multiple options in which we could set this up. The first would be to give the top two teams in both the National and American League a bye for the first round.

Now if MLB were to do this they would have to make the first round, which would pit the third seed versus the sixth seed and the fourth versus the fifth seed, a very short series and likely a one game series.

Now obviously it would be nice to give a break to the top teams in league, but to only have a one game playoff when the season and baseball is based on series, mainly three game series, would be unfair and illogical to do.

And if you were to expand it to a three game playoff for the first round, you would give an unfair advantage possibly for the top two seeds who may have too much of a break and get out of hot streak they may be on or it could vastly effect their teams, especially the hitters.

However, I have another solution that may work slightly better and give everyone a fair advantage.

Now we would go with the same format as the previous one matching the three seed with the six seed and the four versus the five, but we include a series pitting the one and two seeds versus each other.

Each series would be a three game series and Major League could put home field advantage and even the top seed on the line for the series of the top two seeds.

Thus, the top teams would ultimately have a choice whether to go for the top spot, rest players, or even keep players hot by continually playing instead of taking a week off.

The first round would also be short series, three games, which it would not take long for the top seeds to be playing meaningful baseball.

Also, the top seeds would be at a huge advantage because they can determine their rotations and be able to match up better and be well rested if need be against the lower seeds.

Thus, this would all keep a major emphasis on the regular season, while at the same time allowing a couple more teams in and gaining more interest in fan support.

Now in all likelihood I would still prefer the original eight team playoff format, but I think there is a case to be made for adding more teams into the playoffs.

In the end, however, I think the only other reasonable option is a 12-team playoff and that may be a tad too complicated to formulate.

It’s an interesting argument that I will let you the viewers sound off on. Which format is most beneficial for baseball?

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