Commish: 10 teams in playoffs for '12

[DGuinta1]

NEW YORK -- Commissioner Bud Selig expects the playoffs to expand from eight teams to 10 for the 2012 season.

Selig went public last fall with his support for expanded playoffs, and the matter is subject to collective bargaining with the players' association.

"I would say we're moving to expanding the playoffs, but there's a myriad of details to work out," Selig said Thursday at his annual meeting with The Associated Press Sports Editors. "Ten is a fair number."

Selig said scheduling is the major issue of discussion, including how many games the new wild-card round will be. The two wild cards in each league would meet, and the winners would advance to the following round against division winners.

"The more we've talked about it, I think we're moving inexorably to that," he said.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6404094

[ImTellinTim]

Re: Commish: 10 teams in playoffs for '12

Don't like it. I think 162 games is enough to determine who deserves to make the playoffs. Having a crapshoot 5-game series between the 4th and 5th best team in each league is asinine IMO.

[DGuinta1]

Re: Commish: 10 teams in playoffs for '12

Don't like it. I think 162 games is enough to determine who deserves to make the playoffs. Having a crapshoot 5-game series between the 4th and 5th best team in each league is asinine IMO.

Agreed! Maybe they should trim the number of reg. games. Yea right!

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Commish: 10 teams in playoffs for '12

Terrible idea. The best part about baseball is the prestige of the playoffs. Only 4 teams from each league make it, and it's a dogfight. You keep adding teams, and yeah, it "keeps more teams and fans interested throughout", but it waters down the playoffs.

We don't want the damn league to turn into the NBA where half the league makes it eventually.

[55]

Re: Commish: 10 teams in playoffs for '12

Yeah, this idea sucks.

MLB and NFL are the only two sports that have a playoff format that doesn't suck.

[adice15]

Re: Commish: 10 teams in playoffs for '12

I don't like it. It'll keep fans interested since their team is playing, but it'll ruin the integrity of the playoffs. In the NBA this year the Pacers made the playoffs with a record less than .500, where as last year the Padres and Red Sox both missed the playoffs with 90 and 89 wins respectively. Having only 4 teams from each league makes it that much harder to get in, and makes it a dogfight for that wildcard spot.

[Sportsforever]

Re: Commish: 10 teams in playoffs for '12

This is nothing but a money grab. You can't tell me that the best team in baseball doesn't reside in the Top 8. If you don't take care of business in 162 games, sorry.

[Bahnzo]

Re: Commish: 10 teams in playoffs for '12

This is a bad idea.....period.

Having a crapshoot 5-game series between the 4th and 5th best team in each league is asinine IMO.

Probably going to be a 3 game series, so even worse.

Agreed! Maybe they should trim the number of reg. games. Yea right!

I've been a proponent of trimming games for a couple years now. Mondays are a game-wide day off each week, then two 3 game series. Would help players and teams with the day of rest each week, and would we really miss games on Mondays?

[SPTO]

Re: Commish: 10 teams in playoffs for '12

The Blue Jays have been a big proponent of this proposal but I for one don't really like it for the reasons stated above. I do think it can be somewhat palatable if they trim the regular season down to something like 152-154 games but even then this still ruins the integrity of the playoffs.

[Kobalt]

Re: Commish: 10 teams in playoffs for '12

Make the two wildcard teams play one game series. It makes winning the division more important and possibly putting the wildcard team at a disadvantage if they have to use their ace to win the wildcard game.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Commish: 10 teams in playoffs for '12

And a 4/5 matchup would hurt the awesomeness of a Wild Card race too.

So....ugh.

[DrJones]

Re: Commish: 10 teams in playoffs for '12

Make the two wildcard teams play one game series. It makes winning the division more important and possibly putting the wildcard team at a disadvantage if they have to use their ace to win the wildcard game.

I feel this way as well. In the current format, there doesn't seem to be any incentive to win your division. The thought of the Yankees or Red Sox being forced to play a winner-take-all game to make the playoffs makes me smile.

I'm only on board with this idea if it's a best-of-one, however. A 3- or 5-game series would be pointless.

[BunnyHardaway]

Re: Commish: 10 teams in playoffs for '12

I don't mind it...I mean, in the other leagues we have:

NBA: 16/30 qualify
NHL: 16/30 qualify
NFL: 12/32 qualify

Still not nearly as bad as the NBA and NHL.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: Commish: 10 teams in playoffs for '12

I feel this way as well. In the current format, there doesn't seem to be any incentive to win your division. The thought of the Yankees or Red Sox being forced to play a winner-take-all game to make the playoffs makes me smile.

I'm only on board with this idea if it's a best-of-one, however. A 3- or 5-game series would be pointless.

I agree with this. If it's a one game series, I'll love the pressure of a lose or go home playoff. If it's more, I'll probably hate it. But last year to watch the Yankees and the Rays basically just stop caring in September was very tough. This will light a fire under these teams, and make the season seem shorter because there will be less throw-away games toward the end of the season. Teams will play the season all the way out to avoid the extra game or series, and I think that can only be good for the sport.

[KSUowls]

Re: Commish: 10 teams in playoffs for '12

Terrible idea. I really believe this would end up hurting the quality of the game.

It's pretty well noted that a team's pitching staff that goes deep into the playoffs right now often faces challenges the following year. Expanding the playoffs would only increase the number of arms that get worn out and would really hinder the quality of the game.

Besides that though, I really don't like big playoff formats. As much as I love the NHL it's pretty sad that more than half the league gets into the playoffs each year. While a 10 team format in the MLB wouldn't be as bad you are still reducing the prestige of the postseason. Those last few weeks of september can be pretty intense if you are a wild card team where every one of those games matters. If you start adding teams to the format then I think some of that intensity is diluted because you have less and less quality teams vying for that final spot.