Major League Baseball’s latest proposal is to expand the playoff format from five teams to seven teams in each league which would begin no later than the 2022 season.
The plan for the new playoff format would include three divisional winners and four wild card teams. The teams in each league with the best record would receive a bye in the first round while teams with the second and third-best record would choose their opponent from the three wild-card winners.
The last divisional winner with the worst record would then choose an opponent, and the remaining wild-card team with the best record would host the other wild-card team not selected. All of the first-round games would be the best of three series.
To give an example of this new playoff format, I will use the National League from 2019. The Los Angeles Dodgers, out of the three divisional winners, would have received a first-round bye as they had the best record. The second-best record, the Atlanta Braves, who won the NL East division, would choose their first-round opponent first. The third-best record would be the St. Louis Cardinals, who won the NL Central division, would choose their opponent, and the wild card teams would be the Washington Nationals, Milwaukee Brewers, Arizona Diamondbacks, and the New York Mets.
This is just a bad idea, all-around. Why would you confuse the fans with this proposal? It means an extended season with an already 162-game season, and an increase for more player injuries and too much baseball is not a good thing.
About three years ago, I wrote an article stating that the MLB should cut the regular season down by eliminating interleague play and redoing the divisions featuring four divisions, and the winners of the divisions go to the playoffs and no wild card games. If you are interested in reading the article, click here.
Playoff games should be about featuring the best teams of the season, not average teams. A majority of fans are not interested in watching more playoff baseball. More teams in the playoffs will hurt the game. Just look at the NBA and college football right now, below, or even five hundred record teams are getting into the playoffs or bowl games that have no business being in the playoffs.
As I’ve said in the past, “less is more.” MLB would be in a better position if they would consider cutting some regular-season games, and not expanding the playoffs. MLB already has enough problems as it is, and expanding the playoffs should not be one of them.
