Re-writing the Baseball Playoff System

On the cusp of the beginning of the League Championship playoff round, we find ourselves without the two best teams record-wise in the National League and American League playoffs (Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles/Anaheim/West Coast/Sunny Beaches Angels).  So, with the allegedly two best teams eliminated from the playoffs, I could only think of one question…

Why isn’t the first round of baseball a best of Seven Series?

Honestly, it makes sense.  Don’t believe me?  Lets break it down.

1.  In a best of five series, the best team doesn’t always win, therefore the best product isn’t on the field.

In a best of five, you only need three wins.  The perfect example of a “best of five failure”?  My hometown Pittsburgh Pirates.  The Pirates played a three game series against the St. Louis Cardinals September 12th – 14th.  They won all three games.  If the Pirates (67-95) were in the divisional playoffs against the Cards (86-76)…they’d be in the league championship series.  Who’s the better team?  If an event has a 70% chance of occuring, and you only do it twice, you could fail both times…You need more attempts or more trials to actually show the true probablity.  A five game series is no exception.

2. Television Ratings suffer with a five game set.

Baseball ratings are already down this year, losing more than 1 million viewers on average, compared to the 2007 playoffs.  From NYT,

The number of viewers who watched the first five days of baseball’s division series on TBS fell 20.1 percent, to an average of about 4.27 million, down from 5.35 million last year. TBS cited the absence of a New York team in any of the series, the Dodgers’ resounding sweep of the Cubs, and the competition the Dodgers-Cubs game faced when it went up against the vice presidential debate for 90 minutes last Thursday.

Now, I agree, the lack of a New York team does hurt playoff ratings.  If only there was some comparable team that people could watch…maybe a ‘nation’ of sorts…hmm…Oh yes! The Boston Red Sox are in the playoffs!  Now, if I was trying to get the team, who is arguably the most  most popular in baseball, on television, what time would I start the game so that the whole nation could watch it?  How about 10:00 eastern time so that the whole east coast goes to sleep before the game is half over? GENIUS!  How would a longer series help in this instance, you ask?  Well, more games played leads to one of two things, more games in Boston (that would presumably have earlier start times) and potentially more weekend games, which would cause the late starts to not have such a detrimental effect on ratings.  Bud Selig has to already know by now, that you have to put your big draws on in primetime.  The Red Sox coming on at 10:00 eastern time is certainly not the way to go.  Especially with the economic crunch having a significant impact on baseball attendance and revenues.

3. It’s unfair to the players.

If you’re the Cubs, how fair is it to grind out 162 games then run into the Dodgers for a five game series?  Was it fair for everyone who played the Rockies last year?  The five game series seems like it diminishes an already too long regular season.  Instead of trying to win 100 games a season, just win 83, come in on a hot streak, and go to the World Series.  I know, I know, sports isn’t fair, but why add a measure of unfairness that can be easily controlled?

So, what is the likelihood of any re-writing of the baseball playoff system?  Slim to none.  Not in the near future, anyway.  The only way to have a seven game series and not play baseball into early November every year is to shorten the regular season.  And surprisingly enough, 162 regular season games are just not enough for baseball owners…(maybe they love baseball that much!  yeah, probably not.).

Who says baseball is all about the money?

Blog writer slowly raises hand…

New York Times:  Too Many Ball Handlers at NBC (via The Big Lead)

Tags: Baseball, Major League Baseball, MLB, playoffs

Category: Baseball