A Proposal to Turn Baseball Upside-Down

It was the writer's birthday yesterday, but instead I plan to give my readers a gift.  I have been comtemplating these concepts in my mind throughout this season because of the Cubs playing so disappointingly so far.  It would be so much better for the game of baseball, I get more excited about it every time I think about it. 

The Basics:
-New playoff system that allows eight teams per league, somewhat similar to the format of the NBA and NHL.  I shall call this series the LQS (NLQS, ALQS for Qualifying Series).
-World Series Home Field Advantage is decided by the league vs. league record of Interleague Play (AL won 134-118 this year) or by the better of the two teams in the World Series record.
-Cut the regular season to 154 games to make room for the first playoff series.

The new playoff system is really what will be different about baseball.  The entire mentality of the game is changed, and now so many more teams have a chance to win.  Teams like the Blue Jays and all of the four competitive teams of NL West would all have a chance to play for the World Series.  Here's why all of this is necessary: Imagine September 1st.  Under the current system eight teams head to the playoffs but really on September 1st only about 12 teams have a chance at the playoffs.  For the remainding 18 teams, it's just a month of wasted baseball that can be used for calling up prospects but the overall feeling is depressing because the team has failed to make the playoffs.  This causes baseball to lose a lot of attention to the NFL, NCAA Football, and the anticipation of the NBA and NHL seasons.  There is very little suspense near the end except for the one-game tiebreakers which have fortunately happened in three straight years but such a pattern is unlikely to continue.  A baseball team has to be so good these days to make the playoffs it is disappointing that you need to basically win 90 games.  For teams like the Rangers, who have won one playoff game in franchise history, there isn't much to play for in September and August when they aren't contending.

With eight teams in the playoffs, obviously any of them could win it all.  Baseball is different in that pure talent on paper doesn't always win games.  Momentum is key heading into the playoffs.  Some baseball traditionalists will say that this layout in unfair to the best teams because with momentum they could easily be upset by a team that just went .500 on the year.  The best team will need to prove their worth in these series.  If the season were to end today, this would be the playoff bracket:

Best of 5 Format (2-2-1)

1 New York Yankees
8 Minnesota Twins

2 Tampa Bay Rays
7 Los Angeles Angels

3 Texas Rangers
6 Detroit Tigers

4 Boston Red Sox
5 Chicago White Sox


1 San Diego Padres
8 Philadelphia Phillies

2 Atlanta Braves
7 Los Angeles Dodgers

3 Cincinnati Reds
6 Colorado Rockies

4 San Francisco Giants
5 St. Louis Cardinals

I can't even say how much fun this would be.  For almost all teams, it would be a race to the finish.  The rookies called up on the 40-man roster would be able to contribute in a way that could put their mediocre team into the playoffs.  This first series is a five game series that is the same format as the current LDS, and let's take the NYY-MIN series as an example.  Games 1, 2, and 5 are at Yankee Stadium and games 3 and 4 are at Target Field.  The winner of that series moves on to the ALDS and the playoffs from there are the same except for the World Series home field advantage rule.  This plan would create extra revenue for all of baseball because more teams are competitive and more markets are invested in building a winner.  A few extra pennies for Major League Baseball could come in handy these days as after setting an all-time attendance record in 2008, attendance has dropped in 2009 and somewhat in 2010 because of the economy.

Reporters, baseball experts, and analysts are becoming increasingly critical of baseball for the 162 game season which has recently forced the World Series to partially move into November when the weather really becomes an issue.  Proposals to shorten the regular season have already been thrown out there, but here it actually makes sense.  That last week of September/first week of October will be the first week where this series is played.  For example, instead of the regular season ending this year on Sunday, October 3rd it would end on Sunday, September 26th.  Game 1 of all series would be on Tuesday, September 28th and Game 2 would be the following night.  Thursday, September 30th is the first off day followed by Games 3 and 4 the next two nights, and then the series takes another day off before the last game Monday, October 4th.  Even if the series went a full five games, it would allow the winning team to have a day off before the LDS and then the playoffs would resume the regular schedule that is used annually.

I also have something that should be changed about the regular season, but I'll save that for another post so keep reading!