Baseball needs to make a change somewhere
Hell hath no fury like a scorned Red Sox fan apparently. Over 40 notes later, one would think that Popeye Chicken would finally mean it when he says he has nothing more to say on the issue. I however am just getting warmed up. This issue really isn’t anything new for me, I’ve been calling for a Salary Cap in baseball for quite some time now. The day the Yankees traded for A-Rod, I called for a cap because that day the Yankee payroll bumped over 200 million dollars. That day four years ago, I screamed from the roof tops that the league had to finally step in and do something, but they won’t. They don’t care enough to do anything. The supposed luxary tax that’s supposed to curb spending is being pocketed by small market owners and not being put back into the game. Since everyone is profiting from the current system, no one is going to vote against it. So harp as I may, this is the main reason why it will be near impossible to get one… forget the fact that the Player’s Union would step in on this too.
But something does need to change, because the status quo is unacceptable. Right now teams are making the playoffs not based on fair play… and that has fans in certain divisions fuming. How do you think teams for 7 markets that scored better records but didn’t make the playoffs feel when the barely .500 St.Louis Cardinals won the World Series? This reeks big time and because of it Baseball may have to bite the bullet and change the playoff format. This was suggested during the fury of notes over the last entry, and would be welcome as this would be the only other way Baseball could be able to create an equal playing field without inposing a cap. Right now teams are spending almost two hundred million on payroll just to make the playoffs, make it easier for teams to maket he playoffs and you elminate that advantage.
For example, if Major League Baseball had used the NHL/NBA Conference format for their playoffs last season, this is how the first round of the playoffs would have looked like:
AMERICAN LEAGUE 2007:
1. Boston (96-66) vs. 8. Minnesota Twins (79-83)
2. Cleveland (96-66) vs. 7. Toronto Blue Jays (83-79)
3. Los Angeles (94-68) vs. 6. Seattle Mariners (88-74)
4. New York Yankees (94-68) vs. 5. Detriot Tigers (88-74)
NATIONAL LEAGUE 2007:
1. Arizona (90-72) vs. 8. Milwaukee (83-79)
2. Philadelphia (89-73) vs. 7. Atlanta (84-78)
3. Chicago (85-77) vs. 6. New York (88-74)
4. Colorado (89-73) vs. 5. San Diego (89-73)
I don’t know about you, but there are some pretty sweet match ups in these brackets. There are some division rivals squaring off and even a return matchup between the Yanks and the Tigers from the year before. If baseball had this playoff system, the Mets wouldn’t have had the heart breaking fall from grace they had this year and still would have made the postseaon, but would have lost their chance to face the lowest seed in the brakets and home field advantage. Milwaukee would have been rewarded for a great breakout season instead of watching the high spending Cubs pass them at the last second…
More teams in the playoffs mean more playoff money and more profits for much more owners. The lowest teams still would have gotten to pocket their luxary tax money, but watch teams that were less than ten games ahead of them make the cut and take a shot at a ring. More teams would be in the playoff hunt and not written out in July or August, meaning more tickets would be sold for these teams late in the season as people would root for their teams if they still had a realistic shot at the post season.
Now… the biggest complaint I hear about expanding the playoffs is that teams with sub-par records would get in when the don’t deserve to. But if you look up at that chart, you’ll see only one team (Minnesota) is under .500 out of sixteen, and the NL which is considered to be the weaker league has none with sub par records. But to keep working to prove this isn’t the case… let’s go back to the 2006 season and see how that would have broken down with the NHL/NBA playoff format:
AMERICAN LEAGUE 2006:
1. New York (97-65) vs. 8. Boston (86-76)
2. Minnesota (96-66) vs. 7. Toronto (87-75)
3. Oakland (93-69) vs. 6. Los Angeles (89-73)
4. Detriot (95-67) vs. 5. Chicago (90-72)
NATIONAL LEAGUE 2006:
1. New York (97-65) vs. 8. Atlanta (79-83)
2. Los Angeles (88-74) vs. 7. Cincinnati (80-82)
3. St. Louis (83-78) vs. 6. Houston (82-80)
4. San Diego (88-74) vs. 5. Philadelphia (85-77)
This is very interesting. In the National League, there are three teams with sub 500 records, but just barely. In the American league, not only are there ZERO teams with sub 500 records, the 8 AL teams have a better record that the team that won the NL Central. I also happen to think that the records of the NL teams are lower cause of interleague play and the AL handing them their arses that year as well.
The 2006 matches are actually pretty sweet as well, as four of the eight matchups in the first round are between division rivals and would have made for some stellar baseball. If that isn’t enough, let’s even look at the 2005 season to see how that would have turned out:
AMERICAN LEAGUE 2005:
1. Chicago (99-63) vs. 8. Toronto (80-82)
2. New York (95-67) vs. 7. Minnesota (83-79)
3. Los Angeles (95-67) vs. 6. Oakland (88-74)
4. Boston (95-67) vs. 5. Cleveland (93-69)
NATIONAL LEAGUE 2005:
1. St. Louis (100-62) vs. 8. Milwaukee (81-81)
2. Atlanta (90-72) vs. 7. New York (83-79)
3. San Diego (82-80) vs. 6. Florida (83-79)
4. Houston (89-73) vs. 5. Philadelphia (88-74)
With that format, there are no teams in the NL are under 500. One at the brink, but not under. And again look at these matchups: St. Louis vs. Milwaukee, LA vs. Oakland, great stuff that would create fuel already hot rivalries.
So when you add up all the teams that would have made the playoffs under this format for the 2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons… only 5 teams out of a possible 48 have sub 500 records. That’s not as bad as I thought it would be. But there would be a problem to keep the world series from ending in December. Here are the suggestions that could make this playoff format end before November:
1) Shorten the season and start the playoffs in September.
I actually think this is a bad idea and is one reason why I would be against expanding the playoffs. Last thing I want to do is shorten the season and pretty much lock Barry Bonds as the all time homerun king, but shortening the season would guarentee many season records would stay put and be hard if not impossible to break…
2) Shorten the games played in each playoff round:
This is not a bad idea, cause it would force coaches to work harder and plan further ahead when trying to fight to stay alive.
Round #1: Best of 3
Round #2: Best of 5
League Championships: Best of 5
World Series: Best of 7
Four playoff rounds and with little time between rounds would actually make pitcher attrition and bullpen management a challenge. But since there are people who are against the best of 5 format, I doubt this would work either… but I would be in favor of doing this rather than shortening the season.
Like I said at the beginning of the article… something needs to change. It seems like Major League Baseball is unwilling to do something about it and likely never will until the Yankee and Red Sox payroll exceeds something obscene like four hundred million and keep winning division after division after divison at the expense of Tampa Bay, Baltimore and Toronto who have the unfortunate pleasure of being in their division.
So in conclusion, this recap is what I think are baseball’s only options to promote fair play in the league:
1) Imposse a hard salary cap at $100 Million.
2) Raise the Luxary tax from a 20% fine over the $120 Million threshold to a 50% fine on every dollar over the threshold and a 100% fine on every dollar spent over $50 Million above the threshold. Also pass a rule saying all money collected from the tax has to be spent on player payroll, not pocketed.
3) Expand the playoff system to the NHL/NBA conference format as seen above.
While I don’t see any of these happening anytime soon, I guess it’s just the same fucked up status quo for the time being. But I wanted to get that off my chest cause I wanted to at least offer a solution instead of just whining about the issue all the time.
Peter
Seeing teams make the playoffs who couldn’t manage to win half their games is just about the last thing I ever want to see in baseball. This is one of the worst things about the NBA. I’m not saying the current system is ideal, but this would be a disaster.
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ComeOnDieYoung: But like I said in the entry, only 5 of 48 teams in the last three years isn’t that bad. One a year isn’t that bad either, and I would rather have that than have teams with better records miss the playoffs to watch a worse team win the series who didn’t deserve to be there in the first place. Right now the status quo in Baseball is worse than hockey and basketball. In baseball teams with the 12th highest record makes the playoffs merely cause they’re in a weak division, where in the NBA at last every game counts and many teams get a shot at the playoffs. Which sounds more fair to you??
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My biggest issue with baseball at the moment is actually the ridiculous unbalanced interleague play. I’m not entirely oppposed to interleague play itself.. though I do think it’d be easiest to scrap it. But if they are going to do it they ought to rotate the matchups.
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Well, it’s sort of apples and oranges though. Outside of the handful of interleague games AL and NL teams don’t have any common opponents, so saying one has a better record than the other isn’t especially meaningful. The other thing is while the NL Central is currently in a downward trend, it won’t last forever. I haven’t gone back and checked, but I think it’s pretty rare..
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for a team with a blatantly worse record to make it. I do seem to remember this happening in football sometime recently, with some AFC teams missing the playoffs while winning 10 games and NFC teams making it with 8 wins. Honestly I don’t think this sort of thing happens often enough to warrant changing it. Teams know going into the season that if they win their division..
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they make the playoffs. And even if they don’t they still can fall back on the wildcard. If 16 teams made the playoffs what would be the point of even having a 5 man rotation? The regular season would be pointless, teams would be built entirely for the short series and all that would matter would be having 2 or 3 frontline starters.
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Even now, we see too many teams benching their regulars down the stretch because they have the division or whatever locked up already. You seem to hink it would add drama, I say it would take it away. Just as an example from this year, how dramatic would the mets/phillies last few days have been if both teams knew they were in the playoffs no matter what?
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The rockies incredible run to end the season would have meant nothing if they knew they were in already, along with san diego and 3 or 4 other mediocre teams.
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Comeondieyoung: If the regular season was still 150-162 games long, the five man rotation would still be needed or all your pitchers would be on the DL when the playoffs started. Shorter playoff rounds would prevent teams from using good pitchers more than once in the same round, that would force them to have more than 2-3 good starters. Also, I would rather see six teams fight for the last two playoff spots rather than see two teams fight for one division… the first would make for better baseball. But if you have a better idea than a cap and extended playoffs, I’m all ears!
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“Also, I would rather see six teams fight for the last two playoff spots rather than see two teams fight for one division.” This is where we differ. I’d rather see two good teams battle for one spot than 6 crappy teams battle for two. 😛
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As i’ve said, a cap would be fine. I see no need for realignment or expanding the playoffs though. I don’t see a problem with how things are now.
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I don’t see a problem with how things are now. The fans in Balitmore, Toronto and Tampa Bay have a big problem with the status quo. Teams with the better records deserve to make the playoffs and that isn’t happening in baseball because of the divison system. That is a problem, and I’m tired of the overspending of the Yankees and the Red Sox fixing the AL East every year… That is a problem, and why baseball needs to try to use one of the three suggestions made in this entry.
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My point on the 5 man rotation wasn’t that you wouldn’t need 5 starters for the regular season, it is that it wouldn’t matter how crappy your 4 and 5 were as long as your first 3 were good. If you knew going into the eason you only needed to be around .500 to make the playoffs it would eliminate the need for depth and a balanced roster.
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A salary cap, like the one you suggest, would level the playing field. If after the field is levelled, a team still can’t manage to win their division or their league wildcard they don’t deserve to make the playoffs. I get why you want the salary cap, but i’m still stuck on why the division alignment is a problem. St. Louis doesn’t play any of the same teams toronto does. Comparing their..
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records is not meaningful in any way. We clearly disagree, i’m off to bed.
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I don’t understand baseball, but my girlfriend is a big big fan (Yankees). To me it’s an unmanly game, which too closely resembles a game we have her in the UK called “rounders”, which is played solely at all-girls private schools. Then again, your football isn’t much better as they feel the need to wear suits of armour just to play a little sport.
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Interesting points. I’m just jazzed my Dodgers finally have a good manager. We’ve been horrible since we lost good ‘ol Tommy. I agree with the salary cap, for sure. I’m SO SICK of the Yankees and Red Sox always clinching. I also see your point about the alignment of the divisions. It never made much sense to me, considering a team with an inferior record could make it if they were in a
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subpar division. Seems a little ridiculous. Still love the game though 🙂 xoxoxo
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One thing to think about might be going back to 2 divisions in each league, not 3… although right now, that would put NY, Boston, Detroit, and Cleveland in the same division. That’s a stacked division there… I agree with CODY’s point about the pitching rotations though.
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It’s funny… this is the EXACT idea for the playoffs that I left in one of my notes. I of the supporting the ‘quo’ brigade. I think I put four teams instead of eight, but same idea.
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I’m going to hope you’re back in being an adult mode and leave this note. I think it’s interesting to compare this to what MLS is doing. MLS has 8 teams out of 13 make the playoffs. The two lowest seeds (Chicago and Kansas City) beat the two highest seeds. A lot of people, especially NEUTRAL observers, want the number of teams to make the playoffs REDUCED because they think it makes the regular
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season worthless to have a system where the two best teams are eliminated in the first round by the 7th and 8th best teams (out of 13). MLS has no big spending teams because of strict financial controls, but Houston makes the playoffs every year, as does Dallas, New York, DC and New England. Hopefully you can see beyond your little narrow box and respond with something other than “Wah wah wah
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you’re a blind Red Sox fan even though I’m blindly ignoring 80 percent of what you say.”
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Personally, I’ve on record many times as preferring the European soccer setup. There are no playoffs. No conferences. Every team plays everyone else twice. Whoever has the best record is champion. The regular season actually means something. A late equalizer in Game 1 can cost you the title. Every game matters. No backing into the playoffs. You can’t be .500 or less and be champions.
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To me, the best team should be given the honor champions. That’s determined over 38 games (in soccer) or 162 (in baseball). Not over a few playoff games. That would’ve prevented the Sox from winning their ’04 championship (and possibly this year) and given the Yanks some more titles. But it’s the most fair system, IMO. I think the old baseball system where the two league champs faced off was good.
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I would be happy to impose the salary cap you genuflect to in order for a system with FEWER teams in the playoffs. Going to the no divisions thing is fine with me to. I just hate how the regular season has become completely devalued in MLS, NBA and the NHL (I don’t even watch hockey anymore until the Stanley Cup). I want the regular season to have more value. That’s more important to me than
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spending or whatever else gets you in a tizzy. That’s how I feel about all sports, not just baseball. But my system might not help your Jays every year so I’m sure you’ll maturely dismiss it out of hand as being from a “blind Red Sox fan,” a “coward” and a “retard.”
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I agree with popeye. When the regular season is worth less, it makes the playoffs meaningless. That’s the nice thing about the EPL… Arsenal’s undefeated season a few years ago actually meant something. I hate this playoff mentality where it doesn’t matter how you do in the season, as long as you make the playoffs in the end.
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My boyfriend is a Red Sox fan. He’s a great guy until he talks about baseball and then he’s a dick.
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I’m gonna stay out of the argument here, but I liked it better when only four teams (or even two!) went to the playoffs. It makes the season mean something.
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Popeye: I would be all for a no playoff system, but only with the addtion of a hard salary cap. If MLB didn’t have a cap with the system you suggest, the Yanks would just buy more championships, which soccer/football fans already accuse Chelsea of trying to do… One thing I am sure we can agree on is no matter what system is chosen, there’s always someone who isn’t going to like it.I don’t want to see the Jays win, but I want something to root for in September, not root against. I want half the league to still be in it with only a few weeks left. With the current system over half the league is sometimes written out before the trade deadline… Like I said before, the reason why I don’t whine about the Leaf’s current woes is because their suffering is a result of something that is fair for everyone else. The Leafs will eventually bounce back, but the cap makes the game better for everyone else… not just Leaf, Wings, Rangers and Avalanche fans. I made three suggestions to the problem and you attacked only one. How selective and immature of you.
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