In 12 years, the format of Major League Baseball will be completely different. Last week, I went in depth about how the divisions will look with two new teams added to the mix (the Puerto Rico Sapos and the Dominica Tarantulas). With that out of the way, this week will focus on what the Post Season will look like. In 2012, the playoff format changed to allow one more team to make the post season as a wild card, allowing five teams in each league to have a chance for a title. But when the two new expansion teams are added, the format will once again have to change.
The Format:
With 32 total teams in the MLB, the Commissioner’s Office is going to have to reevaluate how the playoffs work. The format that would be most ideal would be to slightly model it after the NFL playoffs. This would require three division leading teams to play a wild card team for one game (Wild Card Round), then move on to the League Division Series, in which two of the winners from the previous team play each other, while another winner plays the best team in the league (this would be a best of three series). After that round would come the League Championship Series, in which the two winners from the LDS would play each other in a best of five series, and the winner would advance to the World Series. Sound confusing? It is…but this format would actually decrease the playoffs by four games, which is ideal for both the players, and would attract people who think that baseball is too long of a sport.
The Predictions
Over the next 12 years, there will be some Cinderella teams making the World Series, and some obvious choices. Listed below are predictions for the next 12 years of the World Series:
2016. Los Angeles Dodgers best Minnesota Twins 4 games to 1
2017. Washington Nationals best Minnesota Twins 4 games to 2
2018. New York Mets best Oakland Athletics 4 games to 0
2019. Houston Astros best New York Mets 4 games to 2
2020. Houston Astros best Pittsburgh Pirates 4 games to 1
2021. Chicago Cubs best Houston Astros 4 games to 2
2022. Minnesota Twins best Seattle Mariners 4 games to 1
2023. Montreal Expos best St. Louis Cardinals 4 games to 0
2024. New York Mets best Cleveland Indians 4 games to 2
2025. St. Louis Cardinals best Montreal Expos 4 games to 3
2026. Houston Astros best Minnesota Twins 4 games to 1
2027. Dominica Tarantulas best St. Louis Cardinals 4 games to 1
What may come most notably from this list is the 2021 World Series, where the Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros. Yes…this will put an end to the Curse of the Billy Goat, and will bring pride back to one of the most beloved franchises in all of American sports. Another notable thing on this list is that the most successful team will be the Astros. With three titles and one World Series loss, the Astros have a bright future ahead of them, and they are only about three years away from becoming a regular contender. By the end of the decade, the Astros will be in full swing, and will become a regular presence in the post season.
By adding two more teams to Major League Baseball, the playoff format is going to need a facelift. New teams will be added to the mix, and the length of the post season will have to be cut down from its current size. This should definitely be something that the Commissioner’s Office keeps in mind over the next few seasons, and it will be interesting to see how it all pans out.
There’s no way on earth that a division winning team plays a single wild card game. That would be awful.
Why not? It should be an easier win for a team that wins a division over a team that wins a wild card (hypothetically of course).
You can easily expend the postseason “options” once you stop treating these players as wusses once it comes to October.
In the regular season, we have no problem making a team play 3 teams over 3 days in 3 different cities. The Mets did just this in June of 2013 when they started in Chicago, traveled to Denver and then back home.
But suddenly in the postseason it’s some sort of crime to not have a travel off day every time you switch cities.
Eliminate the day between the Wild Card game and the division series. Sorry wild card team, win the division if you want to avoid that.
In the DS, CS, and WS, eliminate one travel day. You get the travel day if you go west to east (since you’re already losing time) but you don’t if you go east to west.
Schedule the team that needs to go east to west games earlier in the day so they they get a few more hours for travel.
That’s 4 shorter days for the postseason without affecting any length of series.
Interesting thoughts, but keep in mind that the schedule you propose with eliminating a travel day when traveling east to west would cause many problems. What if a Central tike zone team is playing? What if it’s two teams in the same time zone? Also it would require the MLB to have to make alert decisions based on who wins what series. Interesting concept…but way too complicated to carry out
How is it too complicated? There’s no change to anything except for eliminating a few off days.
Scheduling games during the day is already done subjectively. For the same time zone, just default it to having the travel day on the 2nd city change.
The only slight “problem” would be for the fans who buy tickets the middle games in that it could be a possibility of 2 days – and my response would be to win more games and not be the lower seed so your fans will not have to suffer
Not crazy about 7/16 teams in the playoffs. The only redeeming value with the present 2 WC scheme is the it puts a premium on winning the division, Your 3 WC does just the opposite.
4 Div winners play a round robin over 6 days. Two highest seeds get 2 home games, #3 & #4 get one. One prime-time game a night.
D3@D2; D1@D4; D4@D2; D3@D1; D4&D3; D2@D1
Four possible 6-game outcomes:
A: 3-0, 2-1, 1-2, 0-3
B: 3-0, 1-2*, 1-2*, 1-2*
C: 2-1*, 2-1*, 2-1*, 0-3
D: 2-1, 2-1, 1-2, 1-2
*Tie-breaker rules could be regular season record or playoff run differential or …?
Two advancing from round robin round play 4/7 LCS
1st round: Two WC teams play 1 game.
2nd round: WC winner plays the division winner with the 2nd best record while 4th and 3rd best division winners play. Both 3 game sets.
3rd round: The winners of round 2 play a 3 game set.
4th round: The winner from round 3 plays the team with the best record in the league in a 5 game set.
5th round: World Series, 7 games
Skipping round 1 is incentive for all division winners. It gives incentive to have the 2nd best record since that team would play the WC and have home advantage. Then the incentive for 3rd best record is home advantage.This essentially puts the team with the best record in the league automatically in the LCS.
The only downside I can think of is that the teams with the best record sit idle for about 9 days. Maybe have them each play an exhibition game or two against a national team (japan,cuba?) during this time to keep them fresh.
Dan 4 teams in each division. 16 in the NL. 16 in the AL. You’ll have 4 division winners and take the next 2 teams with the best record. The 2 wildcard teams will play the 2 division winners with the worst records. Best 2 of 3 with the first 2 games being played at the division winners home. Next round (3 of 5) goes by seeding with best record getting home field advantage. Divisional Championship and WS stay the same with 4 out of 7. You cut down or eliminate inter league play. Or rotate divisional play like the NFL does. Reorganize divisions by geography. Cut’s down on travel and increases profits as teams don’t have to travel as often. Can you imagine rivalries in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles? Bragging rights and sellouts for those home games! 18 games played within your division.. 8 games (4 home and away) with the 12 teams in your league.160 games total. If you’re a traditionalist just rotate from the NL or AL 2 games annually to bring your total to 162 games.