MLB Off-Topic

[TripleCrown9]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Turns out Omar Vizquel is an even bigger piece of **** than we originally thought.

[Jr.]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Turns out Omar Vizquel is an even bigger piece of **** than we originally thought.

Saw the new allegations today. Absolutely disgusting. There's a special place in Hell reserved for him

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[Speedy]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

There goes any shot for his HOF candidacy.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Mike Trout turns 30 today.

For some reason it feels like he's only in his mid or late 20s for the most. 30 sounds old for him.

Doesn't help that we've been robbed of two full years of him.

Sickening and infuriating, actually.

[Majingir]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I know expanded playoffs has been a controversial topic amongst baseball fans/purists, but I continue to say that this will only be good for the league.

https://twitter.com/BRWalkoff/status/1424866446937530383?s=20

7 might be a bit too much, I think 6 is probably best, and then go to 7 or 8 whenever they expand to 32 teams.

This season, we're guaranteed one of Padres,Dodgers,Giants eliminated from the playoffs after ONE game.

7 teams like I said is too much, but 6 teams would mean as of current projections, the Yankees and Reds would also be making it, both teams currently projected for 87 and 89 wins respectively.

It's only August and half the league are 5+ games out of the playoffs. If we had 6 teams making it, that would mean 2 extra teams could at least be in striking distance of a WC spot (in a way 4, because the losers of the NL East right now aren't even close to a WC spot, but 6 teams would have them under 4 games back

[KSUowls]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I do agree that it's ridiculous that 1 of them will be eliminated after 1 game, but I also think that the 1 game wild card is the single worst thing baseball has done (I say as someone who hates universal DH, 7 inning games, runner on 2nd in extras) because baseball is a marathon sport and the sudden death wild card is goes directly against that.

Padres, giants and dodgers get 6 months and 162 games to separate themselves from each other. Giving them a pass might make for an exciting extra week of October baseball, but it diminishes the value of games played over the proceeding 6 months which I don't think is a positive for the sport at all. Games in April and June matter because there are a finite number of spots open for postseason play, and at least in the current system they matter because no one wants to be in that wild card game.

We are already at a point where 1/3 of the league is in the "postseason". Add even just 1 more in each league and you're telling all teams on April 1 that no matter what happens over the next 6 months, 40% of you will be in the playoffs which is more than even the NFL has where their teams have 90% fewer games to separate themselves. It does put it closer to the NBA, but we regularly see how little NBA players think of the regular season so I wouldn't exactly call that a positive (not to mention regular season viewership).

This season is heading towards being an outlier. Adding a 6th team means that you are adding a team in the mid 80s most seasons vs the rest of your playoff teams that are usually mid 90s. It seems odd to expand the field just to be more inclusive of mediocrity or to legislate towards the exception rather than the general trend.

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[Majingir]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I do agree that it's ridiculous that 1 of them will be eliminated after 1 game, but I also think that the 1 game wild card is the single worst thing baseball has done (I say as someone who hates universal DH, 7 inning games, runner on 2nd in extras) because baseball is a marathon sport and the sudden death wild card is goes directly against that.

Padres, giants and dodgers get 6 months and 162 games to separate themselves from each other. Giving them a pass might make for an exciting extra week of October baseball, but it diminishes the value of games played over the proceeding 6 months which I don't think is a positive for the sport at all. Games in April and June matter because there are a finite number of spots open for postseason play, and at least in the current system they matter because no one wants to be in that wild card game.

We are already at a point where 1/3 of the league is in the "postseason". Add even just 1 more in each league and you're telling all teams on April 1 that no matter what happens over the next 6 months, 40% of you will be in the playoffs which is more than even the NFL has where their teams have 90% fewer games to separate themselves. It does put it closer to the NBA, but we regularly see how little NBA players think of the regular season so I wouldn't exactly call that a positive (not to mention regular season viewership).

This season is heading towards being an outlier. Adding a 6th team means that you are adding a team in the mid 80s most seasons vs the rest of your playoff teams that are usually mid 90s. It seems odd to expand the field just to be more inclusive of mediocrity or to legislate towards the exception rather than the general trend.

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I did a calculation in the offseason.I'll have to go back and check.


Edit-Found the post.

Average wins per seed since 2012 2nd WC rule:



1 seed:

AL-100 wins

NL-100 wins



2nd best division winner:

AL-98 wins

NL-95 wins



3 seed: (worst division winner)

AL-92 wins

NL-91 wins



4 seed: (best non division winner)

AL-92 wins

NL-93 wins



5 seed:

AL-91 wins

NL-90 wins



6 seed:

AL-88 wins

NL-86 wins



Looking at the numbers, even 7 looks like it'll be too low a win count (still above .500, but just barely). But 6 seed vs 5 seed doesn't seem as bad. Only 4 wins in the AL separates the average 3 and 6 seed. Only 5 wins between the worst division winner in the NL and the 6 seed.

[reyes the roof]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Even if they reduced the season back to 154 games, playing 154 games just to let nearly half the league in seems crazy

[KSUowls]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I did a calculation in the offseason, I think it was something like the average 6th place team actually had 89 wins. 7th team I think was mid 80s. I'll have to go back and check.

It's possible that I mistyped an input, but from 2012-2019 I have this for the 6th team for win totals.

NL - 85.5
AL - 87.75
MLB - 86.63

Even if you exclude the lowest outlier for each league over those 8 years then you're only adding half a win to each of those totals.

Also when you think about the number of games back these teams are, specifically from the 1st Wild Card Team (ie: 4th place team) its on average:

NL - 5.38
AL - 4.25
MLB - 4.81

Which just kind of illustrates that that the teams in the current playoff field are going through their seasons at very different success rates than what a proposed 6th team would.


Edit - I wanted to break it out 1 more way. In one of the more obvious statements, basically half of the league plays over .500 ball every year (give or take a couple teams depending on the year). At 6 team playoffs for each league then 75% of all teams with a winning record are in the playoffs.

[reyes the roof]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Expanded playoffs aren’t going to solve the SF/LA//SD problem unless you only look at records for seeding. Whether it’s 5,6, or 7 teams right now the Dodgers will face the Padres n the first round

[dubcity]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

When it comes to this stuff, I think "there are too many good teams in this division/conference/region, so therefore we need to change the playoff system" is never the right answer.

[LowerWolf]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

This has nothing to do with the playoff discussion, but I was thinking about the MLB schedule the other day and came up with this.

• 126-game schedule
• All series are three games
• Four series (two home, two road) against each divisional opponent (48 games)
• Two series (one home, one road) against each intraleague opponent (60 games)
• One series with each team from an interleague division on a rotating basis (15 games)
• One series with an interleague rival each season (3 games)

In years where the interleague rival is part of the rotation, you'd play that team twice (so when the AL East plays the NL East, the Yankees and Mets would play two series instead of one)

With three-game series, each team has one off day each week - either a Monday or a Thursday. I'm assuming the logistics would work, but didn't really delve that deep into it.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

When it comes to this stuff, I think "there are too many good teams in this division/conference/region, so therefore we need to change the playoff system" is never the right answer.

Agreed

In baseball you get 162 games to win your division and play over half your games against divisional opponents. If you can’t win then tough.

I’ll be glad when they finally expand to 32 teams with 8 - 4 team divisions. Hopefully then each division winner will make the playoffs and no one else.




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[reyes the roof]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Man that is going to be a geographical nightmare if they go to 8 - 4 team divisions, although I’m sure it won’t be that much tougher than going from 4 to 6

[LowerWolf]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I’ll be glad when they finally expand to 32 teams with 8 - 4 team divisions. Hopefully then each division winner will make the playoffs and no one else.

As much as I would love this, I can’t see them reducing the number of playoff teams.