Thought this was interesting
Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 8:33 am by SJK
Not that we're in the habit of reporting news, but we thought this was interesting. Looks like the players' union is pushing for a Best-of-7 first round playoff series to decrease the amount of off days in between games & rounds, and to also prevent crappy playoff teams from small-sample-sizing the big guns (note Michael Weiner is the new head of the player's union, replacing Donald Fehr):
Among those, Weiner said, is a desire to extend the first round of the playoffs to a best-of-seven format while reducing the number of days off between the end of the regular season and the beginning of the World Series.
"Everybody's in agreement that the postseason schedule needs some adjustment," Weiner said.
Commissioner Bud Selig and owners made adjustments in the postseason schedule three years ago at the request of Fox television.
Additional off days were added, extending the time between the end of the season and the start of the World Series from 20 days in 2006 to 24 this year. Concerned his team had played only eight games in 20 days, Angels manager Mike Scioscia was critical of the format during this year's playoffs, saying it threatened "the integrity" of play.
Some of the time could be filled by making the first round best-of-seven, matching the format used in later rounds. Players want to do that, looking to prevent powerful teams from being as vulnerable to upsets.
Am I missing something with “Players want to do that, looking to prevent powerful teams from being as vulnerable to upsets”? As there’s only a handful of powerful teams, I would have thought most of the middle of the road/lower payroll teams would prefer the 5 game format. Or did they just interview players from the Yankee, Red Sox & Angels?
Part of the reason the best of five works so well is that it presents the better team with a true sense of urgency. Part of the reason the NBA playoffs now truly suck is that the first round is best of 7, ruining the chance of any upset. Some of the great series of all time in the NBA & MLB were due to the best of five format. Would Jeter’s play in game 3 had as much meaning if it wasn’t win or go home? I can still see Dikembe Mutombo holding the ball up as the Nuggets upset Seattle in ’94. Leave the first round the way it is. If the league would start the season on a Thursday as opposed to Sunday/Monday maybe the playoffs wouldn’t drag on as long as they do.
Best of 7 is better because it means more baseball!!!!
Get with it, losers!
“ruining the chance of any upset.”
So you want a worse team to be able to beat a better team? The more the playoffs reflect regular season team strength the better – that’s the whole point, right? That the best team is crowned champion?
The players probably want more money. Looking at it logically, adding 2 more games to the division series adds a minimum of four games, and a maximum of eight games. Those extra gate receipts would make a larger playoff share. Playoff shares are received by all division winners and all clubs that place second in their divisions. Twelve clubs a season get playoff shares, and most of the clubs are in the running.
Notice this only became an issue when the Yankees won this year.The Cardinals won 83 games in 2006,and won the World Series,they weren’t the best team in baseball,just played better in postseason.
Just like now,crying for salary cap.When Boston played the Rockies in 2007,no mention of delay of games,or salary cap.
Great point, haiku. When Boston won the WS, they had the highest payroll of any WS winner up until that point. Where was the outcry?
The main effect (to which the post alludes) this will have is to decrease variance. When you decrease variance you increase the chance that the better team will prevail.
We all want some degree of randomness (chance of upset) in a playoff series, though we surely will have differing opinions on the what the right amount is. But, let’s not make too big a deal of this move. A 60-40 favorite will win a best of five series 68.25% of the time. Lengthening the series to best of seven only boosts that team’s odds of winning to 71%.
As fans of the better team, we should gratefully accept the 3 percentage points of win probablity. But, there’s no need to start sucking each other’s dicks over it either.
don’t like the best of 5 series because i dont feel the team with home field advantage has much of an advantage and doesn’t get rewarded for their hard work in the first round the way they should. also, i just want more playoff games! and it feels like they spend too much time traveling. AND during such a short series, you can run the same pitching out there a ton with all those off days, especially relief pitchers
“don’t like the best of 5 series because i dont feel the team with home field advantage has much of an advantage”
The higher seeded team has the same one game home advantage in both a 5 and a 7 game series. Am I missing something here?
“during such a short series, you can run the same pitching out there a ton with all those off days, especially relief pitchers”
Advantage Yankees!