Hank Steinbrenner Whining Again!

[DrungoHazewood]

Winning a playoff series isn't random chance. You've still gotta play the games. Obviously the underdog has a much greater chance in a short series than over the long haul, but thats what makes the playoffs important. The great teams have to be able to get the job done when it matters most.

You must hate the NCAA tournament.

It's a lot of fun, and it makes a lot of people rich, but it's not a particularly good way to tell us which college basketball team is best.

[Migrant Redbird]

You can call it elitist if you want, but most people don't think critically about the structures and organization of sports leagues.

Unless they're discussing it in forums like this which you read, you don't really know just how critically fans think about the structures and organization of sports leagues.

English Premier League: 20 teams

Bundesliga: 18 teams

Serie A: 20 teams

La Liga: 20 teams

Ligue 1: 20 teams

You left out the Dutch Eredivise, but it's 20 teams also. The top Belgian league has 18 teams; Denmark's SAS Ligaen only has 12 teams though; and the Austrian Bundesliga currently has only 10 teams in its top division.

Knew I ought to actually research the soccer leagues, especially since it's a sport to which I pay practically no attention.

MLB: 30 teams

NFL: 32 teams

NBA: 30 teams

NHL: 30 teams

So my point remains valid, even though it's diluted by my erroneous assumptions about the sizes of European soccer leagues.

[davearm]

You can call it elitist if you want, but most people don't think critically about the structures and organization of sports leagues. They like the fact they have a team to root for, but even here the concept of a league structure without playoffs or with some other, substantially different setup gets more rolling eyes and chuckles than anything else. No matter its merit.

Of course there are also people who are fully capable of thinking critically about the structures and organization of sports leagues, and find very little merit in your plan.

In a year where a team runs away with the regular season, you'd be left playing out a week or more worth of games that don't matter to *anyone*. Literally nobody would have any reason to continue playing. Virtually the polar opposite of the arrangement in place now.

For me to say that the sort of setup you're advocating kinda blows doesn't automatically make me closed-minded, nor does it make me resistant to change. I've considered it, and found it to be lacking, just like lots of the other folks you're shortchanging here have.

[DrungoHazewood]

In a year where a team runs away with the regular season, you'd be left playing out a week or more worth of games that don't matter to *anyone*. Literally nobody would have any reason to continue playing. Virtually the polar opposite of the arrangement in place now.

That would happen almost never. Look at the last decade. For convenience I'll assume that everyone's record represents their performance in a one-division, one-league setup.

Here's how the races would have finished:

2008: Three teams separated by two games

2007: Three teams separated by two games

2006: Four teams separated by three games

2005: One game difference between #1 and #2

2004: Four games, between a 105-win team and a 101-win team

2003: Three teams with 100 or 101 wins

2002: Two teams with 103 wins, one with 101

2001: Seattle runs away and hides with a record 116 wins

2000: Five teams with between 94 and 97 wins

1999: Three games between a 103 and a 100 win team

1998: Yanks run away with 114 wins

The only times you've had a situation like you fear are in the rather unique cases of teams having the 1st and 3rd-most wins in the 130+ year history of major league baseball. Most years you'd have a muti-team battle for the championship down to the last few games.

For me to say that the sort of setup you're advocating kinda blows doesn't automatically make me closed-minded, nor does it make me resistant to change. I've considered it, and found it to be lacking, just like lots of the other folks you're shortchanging here have.

I realize that this is largely an argument about preferences. I know that there are plenty of people who've thought this through and think I'm a nut.

But, still, I think most casual fans (who outnumber us die hards at least 10:1) just don't care about league, playoff and schedule structures, just like they don't care if Nick Markakis or Vlad is their right fielder just so long as their team wins. There are other leagues and other sports that do almost exactly what I'm advocating, and they're wildly successful. One system or the other isn't right or wrong, it's just a choice.

[wildcard]

Sounds like a guy who is tired of hearing that he was wrong for letting Torres go.