First Round

[TheLeviathan]

Ok, am I crazy or is the idea of changing the playoff structure to emphasize the value of the regular season totally undermined when you let the lower seeds have homefield the first two games of the first round? It's insane that Oakland is already in do or die mode and haven't even had a home playoff game yet.

 

What on earth were they thinking?

[greengoblinrulz]

agree 100%

they are goin back to old way next year already

[Brock Beauchamp]

I thought the 2-3 format was a mistake when I first read about it and nothing has changed that opinion.

 

2-2-1 is awkward but it's really the only format that makes sense in a five game series.

[TheLeviathan]

I hadn't heard about it, it just dawned on me today that they made a change. It's so stupid given all the hype about why they expanded to a second wild card.

[Fatt Crapps]

Selig and Co. are a bunch of morons.

[Pius Jefferson]

Overreact much. It's a one year format to avoid a second travel day in the LDS. They go back to the 2-2-1 format next season. Also the format doesn't seem to be hurting the Reds and the Nats have already put themselves in a great position to win their series.

[DaveW]

Selig is an idiot, also the WC game should be a 3 game playoff.

 

I understand you don't want to go into November for the playoffs...easy solution: Knock the regular season down to a 158 games. Problem solved.

[glanzer]

I don't see why a 2-2-1 series with the extra travel is such a horrible thing. I have flown on a plane many times before and it really isn't that difficult to sit in a chair for a couple hours. There's no reason why teams can't play on five consecutive days with two flights in between games.

[IdahoPilgrim]

They were thinking they wanted to get the second wild card card in this season rather than waiting for 2013, but since the 2013 schedule had already been set, the choice was between letting the world series go even deeper into November or use this format for one season only.

 

I don't think anybody is thrilled with it, but everybody agreed to it, including the players.

[SpantheMan]

While not ideal, that was the only way to make it work. Blame the calendar.

[DAM DC Twins Fans]

I don't see why a 2-2-1 series with the extra travel is such a horrible thing. I have flown on a plane many times before and it really isn't that difficult to sit in a chair for a couple hours. There's no reason why teams can't play on five consecutive days with two flights in between games.

 

Using this years series as examples--5 games in 5 days works fine for Yanks/Os and maybe Cards/Nats. Not so cool with longer flights for Cincy/Giants and As/Tiggers.

 

Yes Selig is a complete moron--there is no need for second WC anyway. Just to give BoSox a better shot...go with one WC per league and 3 division champs.

[Jim Crikket]

Yeah the 2-3 format is a one-year deal. Not ideal, but whatever. I love that wild card teams are placed at a significant disadvantage to division winning teams. Any team that doesn't like the single game issue can solve that by winning their division. If you don't do that, you're just lucky to even have a chance to play in the postseason. Next season, they'll be able to change back to the preferred 2-2-1 format for the LDS. so just not a big deal. If the A's were going to lose 2 games in Detroit, they were going to have to win all 3 in Oakland anyway... might as well do it 3 straight.

[TheLeviathan]

Yeah the 2-3 format is a one-year deal. Not ideal, but whatever. I love that wild card teams are placed at a significant disadvantage to division winning teams. Any team that doesn't like the single game issue can solve that by winning their division. If you don't do that, you're just lucky to even have a chance to play in the postseason. Next season, they'll be able to change back to the preferred 2-2-1 format for the LDS. so just not a big deal. If the A's were going to lose 2 games in Detroit, they were going to have to win all 3 in Oakland anyway... might as well do it 3 straight.

 

I'm annoyed by this "logic" because I keep hearing people say it and it just doesn't hold up once you go into any depth of thought. Again - the hype about the wildcard is "now it matters to win the division in the regular season!" and then they promptly strip that advantage to give the lower seeds the first home games. If there wasn't an advantage to starting a series at home - you wouldn't do it. But there clearly is and it was clearly earned by the higher seeds. So in the very season in which the league itself is promoting an emphasis on regular season success they strip one perk of that success away?

 

It's stupid. The league controls scheduling, this could have been fixed without this hypocritical result.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Okay, enough calling Selig names. We know many of you don't like him but it's still against the rules.

[Willihammer]

I thought Billy Beane had an interesting take on the new wildcard rules. Of course, he said this in mid-summer, before the As locked up the division outright

 

"I think you're like me in that you subscribe to the idea that there is some randomness to the playoffs," he said. "That randomness is more pronounced the smaller the sample. The beauty for a team with a $55 million payroll playing a $170 million payroll is our risk is a lot less and our reward is a lot greater. A one-game playoff is going to help the weakest team and the lowest payroll."