Expanded playoffs are a go

[The Duke]

No salary cap, a piss poor draft system, steroids, corked bats, pine tar, WS Home Field determined at the All-Star game and we are concerned about the tradition of baseball over the addition of 1 game?

[robert terwilliger]

the salary cap doesn't seem to affect baseball since they've had numerous different teams make the postseason and win the championship in the last 20 years.

steroids/corked bats i couldn't give a **** about. not sure why pine tar is there.

the all-star game deciding home field is stupid.

and yes, adding a one game playoff after 162 games is pretty ridiculous.

[Rafa Nadal]

Originally Posted by robert terwilliger

by allowing a worse team to beat a better team in a one game playoff, yes...it does trivialize the regular season. baseball is completely random. its regular season is broken down into series of games. playing a certain way for six months only to go to a one game playoff is stupid.



they also play half the amount of games as baseball. it's still ridiculous but baseball's regular season is the most difficult in sports. that alone should decide whether a team is a playoff team. not if they can finish in 4th place and luck through a one game playoff.

I agree that 1-game playoffs are stupid. But I still think 2-1-2 should be the format when there's a WC team involved.

As for the comparison between the number of games that NHL/NBA teams play and MLB teams play, it's not really comparable if you're gonna use the same numbers. For example, when you say that NHL/NBA teams play half as many games as baseball teams, it's still the same level. 82 MLB games is not the same as 82 NBA/NHL games. 82 NBA/NHL games are just as hard and grueling as 162 MLB games. Plus, with baseball, your starting pitcher varies everyday.

[Fire Sather]

Originally Posted by The Duke

No salary cap, a piss poor draft system, steroids, corked bats, pine tar, WS Home Field determined at the All-Star game and we are concerned about the tradition of baseball over the addition of 1 game?

There is actually a defacto cap going in come 2016.. the Luxury tax is going way up, and theres no way teams are going to spend above it.. Yankees have already commented and said they won't be.

That said, the number is going to be something like $188 mill.. so thats still pretty absurdly high.

This wildcard thing though, honestly one of the stupidest things I've ever seen in sports. I'm sure that one game will be fun, but being able to make up an 8 game hole in one game? Not so much.

[gmm]

Originally Posted by Fire Sather

... This wildcard thing though, honestly one of the stupidest things I've ever seen in sports. I'm sure that one game will be fun, but being able to make up an 8 game hole in one game? Not so much.

I hate it and I'm not alone. 1/3 of the teams will make the playoffs. Silly. The drama of last year's game 162 would have been gone. Silly. The historic chokes of the Braves and the Red Sox last season would

have been rewarded with a post season berth. Silly. 2012 Only: Lower-seeded teams will host first two games of Division Series. Totally unfair. It's punishing teams like the Phillies for having the best regular season record and earning homefield

advantage. "Say the Diamondbacks, who finish the season with a one-week homestand, wind up as the NL wild card with the best record. If they were to win the wild-card survivor game Friday in Phoenix, it would mean they wouldn't have to travel

anywhere for nearly two weeks. Meanwhile, say the Reds win 103 games and take the No. 1 seed. Their "reward" would be to go almost two weeks without a home game. They'd finish the regular season in Pittsburgh and St. Louis. Then they'd be

forced to open the postseason with two games in Arizona. And we're guessing they wouldn't be real happy about it." Historically the team that wins games 1 and 2 in a 5 game series usually wins the series.

I want to sign up for the next ATD, but can't find the thread. Is chaosrevolver the Commish? Please pm me with any info.

[The Head Crusher]

If it means there is an increased chance of the Jays making the playoffs, even if it is just one game I am all for it, would I like to see the series stretched out to say 3 games so that the winning teams can rest their Ace for the start of the next round sure but I'll take what we can get and hope they work out the problems in the future.

[MJB Devils23*]

I know plenty of people don't like this, but I'm really curious to see how this plays out. I'm excited.