Actually, MacDaddy, the 2-3-2 helps the team with home field advantage because it is not often that a team wins three straight home games in the middle. It all but assures the team with home field of winning at least once on the road. There have been very few sweeps by the team with the 3 straight home games.
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MLB Playoff Re-format
- Thread starter Jeff_Rake
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Deeper_Background
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Best of 7 first round series is a good idea. But they would still be pushing into November 1 on the schedule
Del_B_Vista
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If you don't want to play into November, schedule some freakin' doubleheaders.
buckweaver
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spnited said:
The obvious home-sweepers are the 1987 Cards and 1991 Braves (still my all-time favorite team), who both lost to that damn domed team from the hinterlands. Those are the only series where the home team has won every game.
The '96 Yankees pulled off the extremely rare feat of winning three straight on the road, with a little help from a hanging slider by Mark Wohlers.
Are there any other series (LCS or WS) when the three middle games were swept, one way or the other? I can't think of any.
i can understand the logic behind an 11-game world series but obviously it only works on paper. winning six out of 11 more closely approximates what a team has to do to win the division during the regular season.
but having said that, it's all a matter of perspective because winning in the regular season and winning in the postseason are different animals.
while baseball should be changed to eliminate some of the imbalances of the schedule, the bottom line is that winning in the regular season takes different qualities than winning in the postseason. just ask the yankees -- over a 162-game schedule, there is no way the 2006 team doesn't come out on top. but look at it this way: they would probably also come out on top if you subtract a couple of their all-stars and imagine say an extra $20 million a year being spent on whatever goes into a successful minor league system (not just scouts, but latin american academies, bribing the right venezuelan 'bird dogs,' nutritionists and trainers for minor leaguers, better facilities in the minors, etc.). that way the yankees have three competent middle relievers and a homegrown starter and suddenly they can win in the postseason, too.
but having said that, it's all a matter of perspective because winning in the regular season and winning in the postseason are different animals.
while baseball should be changed to eliminate some of the imbalances of the schedule, the bottom line is that winning in the regular season takes different qualities than winning in the postseason. just ask the yankees -- over a 162-game schedule, there is no way the 2006 team doesn't come out on top. but look at it this way: they would probably also come out on top if you subtract a couple of their all-stars and imagine say an extra $20 million a year being spent on whatever goes into a successful minor league system (not just scouts, but latin american academies, bribing the right venezuelan 'bird dogs,' nutritionists and trainers for minor leaguers, better facilities in the minors, etc.). that way the yankees have three competent middle relievers and a homegrown starter and suddenly they can win in the postseason, too.
Claws for Concern
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For what it's worth:
MLB -- 150 games regular season (cut spring training down to two, three weeks tops). No full-bore interleague play (except one four-game series with your closest rival in the opposite league and both teams host two games).
Playoffs: Keep it as is (three division winners, wild card from each league)
NFL -- 16 game regular season (knock preseason down to two games each)
Playoffs: Keep as it is right now.
NBA -- Since I don't care about the NBA, make it like the WNBA -- Short series, move on.
NHL -- regular season # of games remains same.
Great playoffs always because, like last year, the No. 1 seed (Red Wings) fell to a No. 8 team (Oilers). I'd make it 5-game first AND second round series. Conference finals and Cup finals are 7-gamers.
MLB -- 150 games regular season (cut spring training down to two, three weeks tops). No full-bore interleague play (except one four-game series with your closest rival in the opposite league and both teams host two games).
Playoffs: Keep it as is (three division winners, wild card from each league)
NFL -- 16 game regular season (knock preseason down to two games each)
Playoffs: Keep as it is right now.
NBA -- Since I don't care about the NBA, make it like the WNBA -- Short series, move on.
NHL -- regular season # of games remains same.
Great playoffs always because, like last year, the No. 1 seed (Red Wings) fell to a No. 8 team (Oilers). I'd make it 5-game first AND second round series. Conference finals and Cup finals are 7-gamers.
The best way to save the postseason and to make the regular season relevant again is to kill of the wild card. Three teams get in and the team in each league gets a first round bye. Second and third teams play best of five to meet the team with the best record in a best of seven. We would actually get to see real penant races again, because teams could not just coast knowing they had clinched a playoff spot, and the best team would be battling to get the bye. I basically stole the idea from Bob Costas but it makes sense to me.
A
Angola!
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buckweaver said:
The 2001 Yankees pulled off the home sweep with a little help from BK Kim and Bob Brenly.
buckweaver
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That's right -- the 2001 WS was a 2-3-2 sweep, too. Good catch, Angola.
For some reason, I only think of the Twins when I think of the home-field in the playoffs. Guess it was ingrained in me so much as a kid (fork you, Gene Larkin.)
For some reason, I only think of the Twins when I think of the home-field in the playoffs. Guess it was ingrained in me so much as a kid (fork you, Gene Larkin.)
buckweaver
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Columbo said:
heck, the '05 White Sox and the '06 Cardinals are prime examples of teams that sucked in September and turned it on in the playoffs. Granted, those were due to semi-collapses, but there are plenty of wining teams that have coasted through September and had no "disadvantage" in the postseason. (Ex. -- The 1998 Yankees went 16-11 in the final month. And the 2006 Tigers weren't "playing for their lives" this September; they wrapped up a playoff berth with a week or two to spare.)
But while it doesn't "prove" anything, you're right in that the wild cards have played exceptionally well in the last few years.
tyler durden 71351
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heck, I'm old school. I wish they went back to no divisions, just the American League and the National League. You have the best record in the league, you play the team in the other league in a seven game World Series. You talk about some hellacious pennant races in August and September. Screw the wild cards and screw interleague play.
