There should only be 6 playoff teams

[Yardball85]

On 9/13/2021 at 5:33 PM, Frobby said:

Yup.  When I was first a fan, there were two ten-team leagues and the winner of each league played in the WS, period.   Even when they went to having two six-team divisions, there were years like 1980 where the Orioles won 100 games but didn’t make the playoffs because the Yankees won 103. 

I kind of like the play-in game because it penalizes the team that didn’t win its division.   When there was only one wild card that team essentially stood on equal footing with the three division winners.   Now they risk being one and done, so there’s a huge incentive to win the division rather than being a wild card.  
 

Good post.  Summarizes my thoughts as well. 

[EddeeEddee]

The season is too long as it is, especially for shorter attention spanned younger viewers, so thankfully it's hard to imagine the league expanding the playoffs.  

Also, I don't know if anyone has done a study, but I'm wondering if such a long baseball season and longer playoffs is contributing to more injuries.  But more games means more money, doesn't it?  Considering the TV audience for the playoffs gets smaller and smaller I think the league should consider going back to a 4 team post season -- which they'll never do.  But even the postseason games just don't feel as meaningful as they used to.  

[Big Al]

The more they expand the playoffs, the more they devalue the regular season.  This will never happen, but I wish they'd do away with divisions, interleague play and go back to a balanced schedule.  Three teams from each league would make the playoffs.  First place would get a bye.  Second place would host third place in a best of three series.  

[DrungoHazewood]

On 9/18/2021 at 4:59 PM, Big Al said:

The more they expand the playoffs, the more they devalue the regular season.  This will never happen, but I wish they'd do away with divisions, interleague play and go back to a balanced schedule.  Three teams from each league would make the playoffs.  First place would get a bye.  Second place would host third place in a best of three series.  

Why don't they eliminate divisions, eliminate leagues, have full revenue sharing, and have one 32-team table?  Balanced schedule, whomever wins the most games is the Major League Champion, and everyone on the Champs' roster gets a $5M bonus whether you make Machado money or league minimum. 

Then they have this big 16-team playoff tournament for the World Series trophy.