Please don’t read unless you’re a fan of Major League Baseball. It’s a wee bit nerdy otherwise.
What
It’s seems inevitable that Major League Baseball (MLB) is going to be allowing additional teams into the post season. As early as 2012 or shortly thereafter. The most likely scenario is an additional Wild Card team in each league, cumulated in the two Wild Card teams duking it out in the first round and then advancing to a league Final Four with the three divisional winners. The logic is to bring more prestige and importance to winning one’s division, plus the all-important advancement of revenue streams ( popcorn sales, etc). I think this logic is flawed, short-sighted… and racist! Firstly, MLB has always victimized itself on its own traditions and it is laughable that modern fare such as the designated hitter, expanded rosters and divisional realignment has continually entered into the equation on policy change. Seriously, does anybody really have any emotional connection to the twin league, three divisions per league format that MLB currently enjoys?!? It only goes back to 1995 plus it’s completely skewed considering one of the divisions (the NL Central) has six teams and one has only four (the AL West). So racist! So wrong!
Personally, I’d open the flood gates and allow up to eight more teams into the post season, shortening each non-World Series round to Best-of-Fives to combat scheduling and weather concerns, and creating an s-load of important September games in the process. Teams that have clinched berths can jockey for potential byes and home field advantage while small market teams can vie for the last few seeds. It would be very exciting and far, far less racist.
Divisional realignment notwithstanding, here is a taste of what the last two post seasons would look like if MLB adopted post season models comparable to the National Hockey League (two conferences, six divisions, eight play-off teams per conference, no byes) or the National Football League(two conferences, eight divisions, six play-off teams per conference, two byes per conference).
Clearly, this is just scheming to somehow get the Toronto Blue Jays back in the post season. At any cost. I’m Ok with this. After all, the Roger Centre (ne: SkyDome, the World’s Greatest Entertainment Centre) was once “the place to be”.
Components
See the breakdown below, including the hypothetical top three starting pitchers that each team would have fielded for these action-packed Best-of-Fives. Since honestly I don’t feel like trying to realign the divisions, let’s assume status quo on the six divisions for now.
Replacement Parts
The 2010 MLB Season
NHL Post Season Model – American League
Oakland Athletics (8) – Cahill, Gonzalez, Anderson @ Tampa Bay Rays (1) – Price, Garza, Shields
Toronto Blue Jays (7) – Marcum, Romero, Morrow @ Minnesota Twins (2) – Liriano, Pavano, Duensing
Chicago White Sox (6) – Danks, Floyd, Buerhle @ Texas Rangers (3) – Lee, Wilson, Lewis
Boston Red Sox (5) – Lester, Buchholz, Beckett @ New York Yankees (4) – Sabathia, Hughes, Pettitte
NHL Post Season Model – National League
Florida Marlins (8) – Johnson, Sanchez, Nolasco @ Philadelphia Phillies (1) – Halladay, Oswalt, Hamels
Colorado Rockies (7) – Jimenez, Chacin, de la Rosa @ San Francisco Giants (2) – Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez
St Louis Cardinals (6) – Wainwright, Carpenter, Garcia @ Cincinnati Reds (3) – Arroyo, Cueto, Wood
San Diego Padres (5) – Latos, Richard, Garland @ Atlanta Braves (4) – Hudson, Hanson, Lowe
NFL Post Season Model – American League
First round byes: Tampa Bay Rays and Minnesota Twins
Chicago White Sox (6) – Danks, Floyd, Buerhle @ Texas Rangers (3) – Lee, Wilson Lewis
Boston Red Sox (5) – Lester, Buchholz, Beckett @ New York Yankees (4) – Sabathia, Hughes, Burnett
NFL Post Season Model - National League
First round byes: Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants
St Louis Cardinals (6) – Wainwright, Carpenter, Garcia @ Cincinnati Reds (3) – Arroyo, Cueto, Wood
San Diego Padres (5) – Latos, Richard, Garland @Atlanta Braves (4) – Hudson, Hanson, Lowe
The 2009 MLB Season
NHL Post Season Model – American League
Tampa Bay Rays (8) – Shields, Garza, Niemann @ New York Yankees (1) – Sabathia, Burnett, Pettitte
Seattle Mariners (7) – Hernandez, Rowland-Smith, Fister @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2) – Weaver, Lackey, Kazmir
Detroit Tigers (6) – Verlander, Jackson, Porcello @ Minnesota Twins (3) – Baker, Blackburn, Slowey
Texas Rangers (5) – Millwood, Feldman, Hunter @ Boston Red Sox (4) – Beckett, Lester, Buchholz
NHL Post Season Model – National League
Chicago Cubs (8) – Dempster, Lilly, Zambrano @ Los Angeles Dodgers (1) – Wolf, Kershaw, Padilla
Atlanta Braves (7) – Vazquez, Jurrjens, Hanson @ Philadelphia Phillies (2) – Lee, Hamels, Martinez
Florida Marlins (6) – Johnson, Nolasco, Sanchez @ St Louis Cardinals (3) – Carpenter, Wainwright, Pineiro
San Francisco Giants (5) @ Colorado Rockies (4) – Jimenez, de la Rosa, Marquis
NFL Post Season Model – American League
First round byes: New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Detroit Tigers (6) – Verlander, Jackson, Porcello @ Minnesota Twins (3) – Baker, Blackburn, Slowey
Texas Rangers (5) – Millwood, Feldman, Hunter @ Boston Red Sox (4) – Beckett, Lester, Buchholz
NFL Post Season Model- National League
First round byes: Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies
Florida Marlins (6) – Johnson, Nolasco, Sanchez @ St Louis Cardinals (3) – Carpenter, Wainwright, Pineiro
San Francisco Giants (5) @ Colorado Rockies (4) – Jimenez, de la Rosa, Marquis
Note: There is some nice parity here. Only the Philadelphia Phillies would’ve received first round bye in each of the two seasons under the NFL model. And under the NHL model, there’d be a five team different for post season qualifiers between the two seasons. This is solid.
Reset Rating: 10/10
Bud, make this or some semblance of this happen. Stat!
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