Is the Division Series too short?????

1985 was a big year in baseball. The League championship series changed to a best of 7 series from a best of 5. The impact was immediate as KC came back from a 3-1 games deficit against Toronto to win the ALCS 4 to 3 and than win the World Series. If the series was still a best of 5 Toronto would have made it to the 85 series and KC may have never won a championship at all. Simarily Boston might not have comeback from 3-0 against the Yankees in 2004 if the series was a best of 5? Maybe that would have still effecting the Red Sox today?

This year as teams take 2-0 leads in the divisional series it seems like the series is over or boring? Is a best of 5 too short in baseball? They play 162 regular season games, why do they have to be the one professional sport that keeps a best of 5 when hockey and basketball coverted all they playoff series to a best of 7?

Maybe MLB needs to consider a more entertaining best of 7 in the divisional series?

I think so...

but then, my opinion is currently being colored by events on the field, so I don't really trust my own opinion.

If you make 3 7 game rounds of playoffs then you might have to shorten the regular season. Or else we might have a world series in November.

I like the Best of 5 for the first round. It increases the chance for the upset, which I personally think adds a little more tension to the early round of the postseason.

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Or else we might have a world series in November.

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Is that really a problem? Would it be that bad to have the season start in mid-March?

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Originally Posted by ohms_law

Is that really a problem? Would it be that bad to have the season start in mid-March?

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Oh God yes....Either Boston plays on the road for the first 2 1/2 weeks or they play in the snow.

Well...Spring training would have to start a couple of weeks earlier, or be a couple of weeks shorter. In a lot of places, it's cold in March and November. Winter even.

I love baseball as much as the next guy, but honestly, enough is enough. Having the season stretch out more and more and more isn't really fair to the players.

Really, they don't even have to lengthen the season at all. Hell, they could easily shorten the season... how easy we've forgotten the scheduled double header.
It's a shame too, because looking over the history of scheduled double headers, that introduced a nice dynamic to the game.

Was there a certain time period where the double header really started to vanish?

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Originally Posted by ohms_law

Really, they don't even have to lengthen the season at all. Hell, they could easily shorten the season... how easy we've forgotten the scheduled double header.

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Or they could go back to the 154 game schedule.

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Originally Posted by Arctic Blast

Was there a certain time period where the double header really started to vanish?

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Off the top of my head, it was in the 60's... I'm not really sure of the specifics as to why it died off, but there really isn't a single point in time where they actually said "no more double headers". It just sort of died out gradually.
Of course, now it's in the CBA that there won't be scheduled double headers, so that would have to be overcome first. Still, I'd love to see them come back.

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Originally Posted by BorgHunter

Or they could go back to the 154 game schedule.

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I don't think that a 32 team league would work well with a 154 game schedule, would it? Less games is possible, of course, but... why?

i like the idea of scheduled doubleheaders and a 7 game series in the DS's, but the 5 game series does have some added flair to it by putting pressure on early. i could go either way.

Salaries would have to go up too, right? I mean if my job (not that I have one right now) came and told me that from now on I'd have to work 2 extra days a year, plus double shifts 10 times a year, first thing I'd ask for is a raise.

Same here, really.

I think you are all missing the point. The WC was added 30 yrs ago to allow more teams to try (but in the end to allow owners to make more). It should stay at 5 and shouldnt be touched. If you want purist, ditch the WC and go with division winners only. That would leave the Brewers and Red Sox in the learch.

Actually, that was a more fair system. The League leader had a bye and the lower 2 fought it out. The next 2 earned it by winning the most games. With the wild card this is erased and the best league team still had to duke it out.

What the hell do people want? NBA Top 12 teams are in? If you cant win over 160 games....

uh... the wild card was added as soon as divisional realignment occurred. There's never been a bye in baseball.

Yeah, 1994 was the first year they had the Wild Card.

As for the bye, wrong sport!

My bad. I screwed up. Good link though.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/ws/postseason.shtml

No worries.

I do enjoy Baseball Almanac. Personally, I like the playoffs too. The uncertainty involved is indisputably entertaining, which is why I don't really mind the Wild Card either. As much as those of you who like to make of comparisons to the NBA or NHL playoff system do so, it really doesn't at all come close to that level of "let everyone in". I would, however, support a realignment to a four division structure, thereby eliminating the wild card. Doing that would likely make the unbalanced schedule easier to create, as well.

Has this actually been proposed? I cant see the AL East giving up on teams since they sell out most. Baltimore now calls their stadium Yankees south and who knows with Toronto.

nope

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Originally Posted by ohms_law

I don't think that a 32 team league would work well with a 154 game schedule, would it? Less games is possible, of course, but... why?

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30 teams....

The Wild Card was added 30 years ago? Huh? the league leader had a bye? What are you talking about?

The Wild Card first appeared in MLB in the 1995 postseason. At no point in MLB history has anyone ever had a bye in the postseason.

And the NBA has 16 teams in the playoffs, not 12.

Doing away with these ton of extra off days in the playoffs would shorten it some, as well.

And yes, I know, those are a new thing.