I really hate these 1 game playoffs and I think they are a joke but I have to admit I'm fired up for today

[CHOPTALK]

This almost feels like the super bowl of baseball today.

Yes i fundamentally hate this format.

You had 2 teams that fought for 162 games this year let it all come down to one game last night and Houston got through.

That playoff game was about the equivalent of .6% of the regular season .

Honestly with that format literally the worst team in all of baseball could beat the best team in all of baseball at least 25% of the time.

Its so inefficient.



But with all that being said I am fired up about tonight to see who wins the lottery which is basically exactly what this is.


Even a 7 game series for baseball is inefficient.
Thats why baseball more then any other sport has more surprise world champions them any league.

Now they compound the inefficiency of 7 games series by having a 1 game series?


What a joke.

But when all is said and done tonight is still must see tv

 

[Willie99]

baseball is more concerned about the end of season excitement the 2nd wildcard generates

and they can't expand the playoffs, they go too late into fall already for northern communities

one and done sucks, but their hands are tied otherwise they'd expand the playoffs even more (add 3 more teams and make it a 5 game series for the first round)

 

[vitterd]

I think making regular season 152 games and have wildcard series be 3 game series would work.

 

[mibokhee]

Here's probrem with above solutions .. Owners don't want to lose money and traditionalists will never have it with records ... How can anyone not be excited about a one game wildcard ??? Bud selig took a rot of crap but he instituted and expanded the prayoffs and it was an ingenious move .. Ok me understand the one game is too crazy but ... But ... Years ago , there were only 2 teams that made it in each reague ... What is so so so great about this current format is the division winner truly gets rewarded .. And that's how it should be .. A reward to win the division .. And if u don't win division , you should thank your rucky stars that a 1 game prayoff system is available .. Go cry to someone else .. This is great !!!... I remember in. The rate late 1970's in the al east .. You had teams winning like 95 -100 games not getting in .. The great red sox , Yankees , Milwaukee , Baltimore , n even Detroit were always in the hunt and only the division winner would get in ... We chinnee have a saying " chunka chinka hon baseball"... " there is no Crying in baseball !"

 

[Vlad the Impaler]

I like the format but make it like the NFL and "re-seed" if you want to call it that. To me, it isn't a playoff, but is a play in game. The Yankees didn't make the playoffs in my mind. It is kinda like the NCAA tournament. The 16 seed team that loses on Tuesday and Wednesday in Dayton didn't really make the tournament.

 

[slapshot]

they could play the WC 3 games heck they wait till Thur/Fri anyway hno:

Hockey starts tonight so could care more about Baseball won't see any of the games :toast:

 

[5teamparlay]

Love it.

Until 1994 one division winner that's it sorry you lose.
Back in the day before 1969 there was one league winner, and they played the WS.


no matter how good the 2nd place team was.



This is better than the past.... get over it.

 

[MantisToboggan]

It's insane that either the Cubs or Pirates go home after 1 game despite having better records than the Mets and Dodgers.

 

[terps1313]

All sports are so obsessed with division winners and I still have no idea why.

 

[MantisToboggan]

All sports are so obsessed with division winners and I still have no idea why.

I'm with you. Same absurdity in the NFL when you had a 7-9 Seattle hosting an 11 win Saints team in 2010 and 8-7-1 GB hosting 12-4 San Francisco in 2013.

 

[CHOPTALK]

Love it.

Until 1994 one division winner that's it sorry you lose.
Back in the day before 1969 there was one league winner, and they played the WS.


no matter how good the 2nd place team was.



This is better than the past.... get over it.

you can say what you want about back in the day but I promise you crowning the champion was much more efficient back then.

Basically they split MLB im half.

Each league played 154 games.

At the end of the season the best team from each league played each other in the WS.

Doing it that way removed all kinds of short term variance that we deal with today.


Doing it the way that they did it back then basically assured that one of the 2 best teams in baseball was going to win the WS every single year.


The Yankees in the 20's and 60's would have never won the same amount of WS back then if you had divisions and wild cards back then.

So you can say that format sucked all you want but the bottom line is it was much more efficient in getting the World Series title to the best team.


Now is that the most important thing?
Thats a subject for a different thread

 

[Acebb]

It's insane that either the Cubs or Pirates go home after 1 game despite having better records than the Mets and Dodgers.

Yeah, and try thinking of that as a Pirates fan. This team is only the 6th in club history, going back to 1900, to have 98 wins or more. The 1909 team is the last to have more wins.

My stomach is already in knots.

Also, last night's ball & strike calls were horrendous. I can't believe that MLB enables such subjectivity when the game means so much. If tonight's umpiring is as bad leading to a Pirates loss, I won't sleep until Saturday.

 

[CHOPTALK]

I think these 1 game playoffs have just made true ace starters the most important position in baseball .

Teams will want that true #1 guy like never before in case they get stuck playing this 1 game playoff.

Thats what the Yankees lacked last night .


I think Pittsburgh has the better starting staff 1 to 5 but none of that matters today.

 

[MantisToboggan]

Yeah, and try thinking of that as a Pirates fan. This team is only the 6th in club history, going back to 1900, to have 98 wins or more. The 1909 team is the last to have more wins.

My stomach is already in knots.

Also, last night's ball & strike calls were horrendous. I can't believe that MLB enables such subjectivity when the game means so much. If tonight's umpiring is as bad leading to a Pirates loss, I won't sleep until Saturday.

It's silly. Basically punishing a near 100 win team for playing in the same division as St Louis. Best of luck tonight. Hope whoever wins the game tonight wins it all.

 

[Vlad the Impaler]

It should give the better team a slight advantage. Home field means nothing in baseball. But if you burn your #1 ace, that is a disadvantage. Like the college world series with double elimination. Now Ariotta or whoever can only throw once next series instead of game 1 and potentially game 5.

 

[MantisToboggan]

I think these 1 game playoffs have just made true ace starters the most important position in baseball .

Teams will want that true #1 guy like never before in case they get stuck playing this 1 game playoff.

Thats what the Yankees lacked last night .


I think Pittsburgh has the better starting staff 1 to 5 but none of that matters today.

This brings up another negative of the "play-in" wild card game. Your ace isn't available until game 3 of the divisional series.

 

[Acebb]

Since 1903 MLB home teams have won 53% of the games played.

But,

 

[doubledeuce22]

I think making regular season 152 games and have wildcard series be 3 game series would work.

This.

 

[Salsantorre]

This.[/QUOTEI

I will go further and say baseball would be a lot better if they played only 100 games. Don't give me crap about the importance of records in baseball. The quality of the product is more important.

 

[RenoChazz]

The other leagues are slowly catching up to the NHL when it comes to the best playoff format. NHL has been best of seven 16 teams from the get go. NBA has caught up, NFL and MLB almost there.