Will the owners decide to lengthen LDS?
ByWhile we were busy following the hot stove this week, baseball owners met down in Arizona to discuss, as Bud Selig put it, “everything, from A to Z.” Afterward he seemed optimistic, perhaps even excited, but he would not go into the specifics of the meeting — nor would he give a solid reason for maintaining secrecy. It kinda sounds like Bohemian Grove. He did say, though, that the group discussed a wide range of topics, and that at least one will go into effect before the season starts.
Despite the silence from involved parties, we can be pretty sure of one discussion topic: postseason off-days. Selig had already said he’ll do something about it before this October, and surely he’ll involve the owners in the process. This might not be the change they implement before the season, since they have some time to work out the details, but it’s certainly one of the aspects I want to see changed in 2010. Players and fans alike want to see fewer off-days, and I see little reason to not make this a high priority.
How can MLB cut the off-days and maintain a sane postseason schedule? While there are a few options, I agree with Hal Bodley of MLB.com: lengthen the division series. All parties win that way. The players play more often. The fans watch more baseball. The owners make more money. There are a few kinks to work out, of course, but the owners can make this work.
The biggest snag in this plan, as is always the case with the playoffs, is the necessity to schedule each series for the maximum games. There doesn’t appear to be an easy solution for teams who sweep; they’ll have to wait out the schedule in any case. What MLB can eliminate, however, are the days off during series, and perhaps those between the three playoff rounds. Here’s how such a schedule would break down.
A seven-game series, on a 2-3-2 format, takes ten days. That includes two off-days for travel, plus a day off between rounds. It sounds reasonable, a 30-day playoff schedule that includes three seven-game series. If MLB can start the playoffs on October 5 this year, which I presume they will, that means the World Series ends, at the latest, on November 5, which it did this year. At least in the first year of implementation, that sounds reasonable enough.
In future years, in order to avoid November baseball, the schedule will need altering. MLB might have to start the season on April 1 instead of April 4 in order to finish the regular season by the end of September — something they used to always do, it seemed. If the playoffs start by October 2, that means a 30-day playoff schedule keeps it completely within the month. Just one issues here goes unaddressed.
Because of the TV revenue it generates in the postseason, MLB likes to stagger the schedule, ensuring at least one game per day. If one series starts later than the others, that messes up the compact 30-day playoff schedule. It will mean at least two days between the end of one series and the beginning of the next, since one series will finish before the other. All of the sudden, we’re back to November baseball. This is probably the No. 1 reason why MLB will not expand the LDS right now.
Yet there’s a solution to this as well. Again, the players have expressed their desire to play more often in the playoffs. Would they be amenable to eliminating one of the travel days? That would reduce a seven-game series to nine days maximum. This would allow MLB to stagger the schedule, still staying within the 10-day guideline that would ensure no November baseball. Even after eliminating one travel day, the players would still see more off-days than in the regular season, so perhaps they’d agree.
This is clearly a complex issue, so perhaps it will take more time to work out. It should be a goal of both players and owners. Michael Weiner, executive director of MLBPA, doesn’t see it happening this year. “I expect it’ll have to be dealt with in collective bargaining, so we would have to wait until after the 2011 season,” he said.
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The Mason Williams Watch
While we were busy following the hot stove this week, baseball owners met down in Arizona to discuss, as Bud Selig put it, “everything, from A to Z.” Afterward he seemed optimistic, perhaps even excited, but he would not go into the specifics of the meeting — nor would he give a solid reason for maintaining secrecy.
Bud Selig: Agenda Item #1 for today – how to kill Jose Canseco. The floor is open for suggestions. Remember, people: conventional weapons don’t work against Canseco’s chemically altered bone structure and internal organs. We’ve tried that already. I need NEW ideas. Yes, John.
John Henry: What about shooting him with bullets?
Bud Selig: (facepalm)
… aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, SCENE!
Why kill Canseco, it was the best thing to ever happen for Selig. It gave him a reason to implement testing. And, he’s been right on most of what he said, so…
He knows too much. And he won’t keep his mouth shut.
Clearly the solution is this, MLB pays Curt Schilling out to talk to Canseco. Schilling will talks about whatever wants for days on end excessively badgering Canseco. Jose finally snaps and commits suicide. It was Canseco own choice so the MLB can’t be blamed, while ridding their problem, plus Schilling gets paid to do what he loves.
Thomas, you’re my new Deputy Commissioner of Major League Baseball.
What does Selig care about Canseco? Baseball loves the fact that they are talked about even if it involves negative press esp during the NFL playoffs. If people really cared about steroids they wouldnt go or watch games or buy jerseys etc. Revenues have risen every yr. It gives Bud a chance to tout his drug policy and give interviews. Kill him?? Canseco was a godsend for him. He prob pays his mortgage.
Any thought of rewarding the #1 seed/not giving the wild card team the same advantage? Something like a 3-2-2 for the first round?
Have the #1 seed get all the games at home in the first round.
You just blew my mind.
It would eliminate travel days.
Better yet:
Have every single playoff game of every single series (LDSs, LCSs, WS) all played at Omaha’s Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium.
That’s not gonna be fair when the might metropolis of Omaha gets their own team. The “Steaks” would dominate the post-season.
Fun Fact: The Omaha arena football team was named “The Omaha Beef”.
I like that, and I think the teams ought to be ranked based on w/l rather than whether they won their division or not.
Example:
NYY 100-62
BOS 98-64
MIN 90-72
SEA 92-70
I think the matchups should be NY vs. Min (with the proposed 3-2-2 format) and Bos vs. Sea (with BOS getting the home field advantage).
having one one travel day isn’t a bad idea, but like this year in the alcs (and nlcs for that matter), that would require the teams flying cross country and playing the next night, which then even try to avoid during the season.
So then when do you use the travel day? After Game 2 or after Game 5?
Sure they try to avoid it, but it still happens. Also, the concern in the regular season of West to East travel isn’t an issue because the games are scheduled for a national audience, so the games will always be 24hrs apart.
The other big issue is weather. Most cities are more likely to get rain (and snow) in October than throughout the summer. What happens when a DS or LCS has a couple of days of rain. The tightly scheduled playoffs gets thrown into chaos.
Yet there’s a solution to this as well. Again, the players have expressed their desire to play more often in the playoffs. Would they be amenable to eliminating one of the travel days?
I’m going to say no, because a Yankees/Angels series would suck for the players if they did. Doesn’t the CBA require off days between games on opposite coasts, at least for one of the directions?
I think the TV stations would want the schedule fixed at 5-2 or 2-5, whereas at best the players would agree to decide which day gets removed based on the travel schedule.
Any panel that has Torre in it probably isn’t very good. The guy sleeps during most games.
First, I like a 3-2-2 series as opposed to a 2-3-2 wince it truely gives home field advantage to the team that is ranked higher. with a 2-3-2 if you lose one at home, your HFA is gone. You may never get back there.
While I haven’t htought about this in depth, and I’m sure there are all sorts of reasons it can’t work (probably TV being the number 1 reason), could they possibly start the second round when the 2 teams are done with their 1st round series? Sure this could mean a long layoff if one league finishes with 2 rounds of sweeps and the other league’s games go 7 games, but might that be something to look at?
First, I like a 3-2-2 series as opposed to a 2-3-2 wince it truely gives home field advantage to the team that is ranked higher. with a 2-3-2 if you lose one at home, your HFA is gone. You may never get back there.
In both a 2-3-2 or a 3-2-2 setup, if you lose one game at home, your HFA is gone and you may never get back there. I think you actually want a 2-2-1-1-1. That gives you Game 5 at home, which is the critical game in your scenario.
With a 3-2-2, you’d still have HFA, if you lost only one game at home. For example, if you lose game 1, you can win games 2 and 3 at home. Thus when you go on the road you would have a 2-1 advantage. Then even if you lose both games on the road, you’d come back home, down 3-2, but with a chance to win the series. (Obviously if you lost 2 of the first 3 at home, you can lose on the road, but in that case playing at home didn’t help much)
However, the problem with a 3-2-2 is that the top rated team gets 5 games at home to only two on the road. This, puts the lower rated team at a huge disadvantage, which is especially unfair in the WS (since it is decided by the AS game).
I agree, the 2-2-1-1-1 is probably the best series layout, but would take a long time assuming you gave the teams travel days.
I think the 3-2-2 format only works for the Division Series where the #1 seed plays the team with the worst record.
They also need to get rid of the rule that states that the WC team can’t play its division winner in the first round.
Another hypothetical example:
NYY 105 wins
Bos 88 wins
Min 98 wins
Sea 99 wins
The Yanks should get the opportunity to beat up on the vastly inferior Sox in the first round, as opposed to being forced to play the excellent Twins team. The Yanks-Sox series should be 3-2-2, and the Sea-Min series should be 2-3-2.
Just play seven games, back to back to back to back to back to back to back (if need be). These games will be played in a parking lot somewhere in Newark, NJ.
I agree, the 2-2-1-1-1 is probably the best series layout, but would take a long time assuming you gave the teams travel days.
Yes, but this will never happen, as it would take too long due to travel days.
A 3-2-2 doesn’t work unless at all because the lesser seed is only getting 2 hone games. Am I missing something here?
I really hate the idea of lengthening the division series — the postseason is enough of a grind as it is.
Making the lds a 7 gamer is a no brainer. besides being fair it is also extra tv games and gate revenue.
Let’s eliminate the whole regular season and play a huge elimination tournament–when you hit 81 losses, you go home. That way, we can send the crappy teams home in July and watch the good teams battle it out.
Hal Bodley is Bud Selig. Every word he says is calculated to enhance Selig’s persona. Bodley might as well be a nom de plume of Selig-there is no separation. I notice another article by Bodley beseeching, Owners must convince Selig to lengthen LDS! This is to make you think the owners have any say in the matter, which they don’t. And that panting baseball fans will devote time and space discussing the issue. Like it’s debatable. Bodley was on his last day at work in Philadelphia a few years ago and the phone rang. It was Selig offering him a job at MLB.com. Bodley was a Selig shill to begin with, otherwise he wouldn’t have been hired at MLB.com. You don’t mention the most important point in considering more LDS games. The 162 game season must be shortened. The season is too long as it is. Forget scientific recalculations of post season schedules. It’s too much on players as it is. Selig gives you more LDS, plus Japan World Series, plus World Baseball Classic, plus hoped for Olympics participation, on and on. Before 1995, players had it easy compared to today. They had only one or two post season series to worry about (with the exception of 1981). The drain caused on players involved in all 3 levels is never discussed, poof, it doesn’t exist. Instead, everyone carries water for slave owner, Selig, who has a long and well documented history of complete disregard for both players and fans. It would be nice if that weren’t so, if he really was the aw shucks guy he presents himself to be. Not the case. Someone has to speak up about the additional drain put on players every year, decided in the lush private planes of Selig and baseball executives. I understand certain things will be collectively bargained, but Selig holds all the cards in setting up the scenario and is intensely invested in keeping it that way. Even in a legal monopoly.