OT- Baseball 5-game series

[Fjoinkay]

Every team plays Wednesday through Sunday each week. Monday and Tuesday are used to complete rain delays or to make up rainouts and for travel. Teams go on the road for two weeks (two 5-game series) and return home for two weeks. The media can use Monday and Tuesday to review and to prepare for the upcoming series. Every week will have compelling series especially later in the season. Every series will have a winner, and the winner could receive an extra point in the standings. Five games a week will end up being fewer than 162 games with less frequent travel, and the game will benefit. This incorporates some favorable aspects of the NFL season while still playing most of the week. I've never enjoyed the 2-game series, and the 4-game series often end up 2-2. The disjointed nature of the MLB schedule detracts from the value in my humble opinion. This is very, very unlikely to happen, so I gladly eat crow now.

NBA playoffs- As Slick Leonard would say: Boom, Baby!!

 

[upperdeck]

they used longer series back in the day of travel on trains. i have never heard of people complaining about the length of a series detracting from the sport though. where did this come from?

 

[Flacusian]

An interesting proposition which clearly has merit. Baseball however is characterized by many seemingly odd and what would appear to be random characteristics that have become engrained in the tradition of the sport itself. Baseball stadiums are of different sizes, shape, and even different surfaces. The NL and the AL have significant rule differences. The 162 game schedule should provide ample opportunity for teams to establish their hierarchy of which teams are deserving of post season play. The idea of awarding a point for simply winning a series is to establish a nebulous criteria outside of actual wins and losses on the field. A team which wins a series has already been awarded the advantage of showing the win in the standings. To award additional "points" or wins simple on the basis of having won a series is akin to "double dipping". It also begs the question, " Do you award several points for a team which sweeps a 5 game series as opposed to winning the series 3-2 ?"

Perhaps the biggest hurdle of such an idea is the fact that most statistical records for modern day play are based on the 162 game season. The individual records and achievements would no longer have the same basis. Baseball already suffers from some of that since historically there were fewer games in the season. Couple that with the negative impact that the steroid era having skewed the marks for home runs and batting statistics and it would be creating an even more convoluted record book.

Like it or not I think baseball is going to be structured with the same type of schedule well into the future. Baseball with all it's idiosyncrasies is very slow to change and some of the asymmetrical aspects are what make it what it is.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

the 162 game schedule is stupid, It makes no sense to play that many games and then still have 10 teams make the playoffs. You play double the games of nba / nhl..yet you dont eliminate double the teams from the playoffs. The season being that long should make it worth more as it was back in the day.

 

[billsin01]

the 162 game schedule is stupid, It makes no sense to play that many games and then still have 10 teams make the playoffs. You play double the games of nba / nhl..yet you dont eliminate double the teams from the playoffs. The season being that long should make it worth more as it was back in the day.

I like 162 games but don't really care if they want to shorten it. But I'm not sure I understand why baseball should be taking notes on playoff berths or scheduling tips from the NBA. I mean, this is a league that more or less admits that the regular season is a joke with teams tanking for draft picks and players resting for the playoffs, which are the only thing that matters. They also have way too many teams in the playoffs which means they have sub-.500 in the playoffs every year. I mean, that is absurd.

MLB's season might be too long -- whatever I'm completely ambivalent about pace of play and length of season issues -- but I actually really like the playoff structure and the fact that the regular season matters in a big way.

 

[MSOrange]

I'm okay with shortening the season to 154 games since all the season records don't mean as much to me after the steroids era. I wouldn't mind if they decreased by a few the number of games against division opponents. It just seems the Royals are playing the Tigers, Indians, White Sox or Twins every time you turn around here in Kansas City. I get you want to have a true division winner but I wouldn't mind at least seeing the other teams in the AL a little bit more.

 

[CusefanATL]

Every team plays Wednesday through Sunday each week. Monday and Tuesday are used to complete rain delays or to make up rainouts and for travel. Teams go on the road for two weeks (two 5-game series) and return home for two weeks. The media can use Monday and Tuesday to review and to prepare for the upcoming series. Every week will have compelling series especially later in the season. Every series will have a winner, and the winner could receive an extra point in the standings. Five games a week will end up being fewer than 162 games with less frequent travel, and the game will benefit. This incorporates some favorable aspects of the NFL season while still playing most of the week. I've never enjoyed the 2-game series, and the 4-game series often end up 2-2. The disjointed nature of the MLB schedule detracts from the value in my humble opinion. This is very, very unlikely to happen, so I gladly eat crow now.

NBA playoffs- As Slick Leonard would say: Boom, Baby!!

my buddy and have i have been talking about this for years!!! we did it more for the college football like atmosphere it would cause. the game will benefit enormously! imagine how many braves fans would want to go to philly games for a long wknd... how many royals fans would make a wknd in chicago? orioles going to toronto? hotel rooms would benefit. attendance would go up. atmosphere would be 10x better with actual tailgating. guys wknds!

this is by far the best idea to fix baseball.

 

[CusefanATL]

I like 162 games but don't really care if they want to shorten it. But I'm not sure I understand why baseball should be taking notes on playoff berths or scheduling tips from the NBA. I mean, this is a league that more or less admits that the regular season is a joke with teams tanking for draft picks and players resting for the playoffs, which are the only thing that matters. They also have way too many teams in the playoffs which means they have sub-.500 in the playoffs every year. I mean, that is absurd.

MLB's season might be too long -- whatever I'm completely ambivalent about pace of play and length of season issues -- but I actually really like the playoff structure and the fact that the regular season matters in a big way.

have you watched the nba playoffs? imagine the 2003 baseball playoffs and make that every single year in the nba.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

5 games a week would need a 32 week regular season. You'd be playing from early March with the World Series near Thanksgiving.

 

[billsin01]

have you watched the nba playoffs? imagine the 2003 baseball playoffs and make that every single year in the nba.

I'm not sure I understand how it would be like 2003 every year? I love the baseball playoffs already though I'm not opposed to changes. My only point was that I don't understand why more games should equal more playoff teams. I also hate that the NBA regular season is largely one extended scrimmage relative to the playoffs.

 

[CusefanATL]

5 games a week would need a 32 week regular season. You'd be playing from early March with the World Series near Thanksgiving.

go to 140 games and its 28 weeks.

 

[CusefanATL]

I'm not sure I understand how it would be like 2003 every year? I love the baseball playoffs already though I'm not opposed to changes. My only point was that I don't understand why more games should equal more playoff teams. I also hate that the NBA regular season is largely one extended scrimmage relative to the playoffs.

yeah i get your point about the nba reg season.

i guess my only point that the nba post season makes up for the nba regular season. 16 teams in the nba playoffs absolutely works for them. and it would with baseball as well because the talent difference between teams is very small compared to other sports. and any team can win a few games in a row.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

go to 140 games and its 28 weeks.

You think MLB team owners will give up 11 home games a season?

 

[CusefanATL]

You think MLB team owners will give up 11 home games a season?

I bet overall attendance would stay relatively flat.

Its more the TV money that would be the issue.

 

[billsin01]

yeah i get your point about the nba reg season.

i guess my only point that the nba post season makes up for the nba regular season. 16 teams in the nba playoffs absolutely works for them. and it would with baseball as well because the talent difference between teams is very small compared to other sports. and any team can win a few games in a row.

I can see that. I'm against that move in that I like that it's an accomplishment to simply make the playoffs after a long, grueling regular season in baseball. I'm not a huge fan of the second wild card entry but it is cool that winning a division means a lot right now.