I'm glad that a lot of the favorites lost, and only wish that Houston had also been eliminated. The favored teams losing is no reason to change the format.
I don't think the format is great and think it could be improved, but it won't be. Money.
If I was able to change things, then there are a number of things that have been suggested that I would like to see. I understand that almost none of these will ever happen.
1.
Shorten the regular season to 154 games. The regular season should never start in March and should end in late September. Fewer games would improve the product and we'd have fewer games where players need to be rested.
It's also the traditional number--- if it was good enough for Napoleon Lajoie and Mordecai Brown, then by god it's good enough for these soft, lazy, overpaid modern players!
8 really was the perfect number of teams. They'll never go backwards, but the thing to do instead of expanding to 10 teams (I believe Bud's nonsensical quote at the time was that "10 is more fair than 8") would have been to make the LDS best-of-seven, which still gets you more playoff games/revenue, but also makes it more likely that the 1 seed advances.
I agree, I'd prefer 7-game series. Baseball teams are more evenly matched than in other sports, so longer series are better. And if your team sweeps, but their next opponent goes 7, then you get a rest that actually could make a big difference, as your pitchers won't be as worn down. More postseason games is good, especially if you go to a 154-game season.
Thought experiment: let the top 2 teams in each league decide if they want to play in the 3 game opening round. They could choose their opponent or take the lay off. No team would ever, ever choose to play in that series voluntarily, which really undercuts the "its not fair to have a 5 day rest" argument.
Sure, that would be fun if a team ever chose to play in the opening round. If they really want to, why not? None would, so it wouldn't make any difference except to shut up some of the whining-- but that would be an improvement.
It's sort of similar to another change proposed in the past, where the
higher-seeded teams would get to choose which opponent they would play. I love that, I wish that was the rule. It would add controversy, and some teams and fans feeling disrespected, and managers getting trashed for making the wrong decision, with no real downside that I can see. Free storyline for the media to make a big deal over!
To me, this would be way more fun and exciting than having predetermined automatic matchups.
Have a selection show immediately after the end of the last regular season game with reps from each team. The rep from the AL's top wild card round seed (this year it would have been Tampa) would come on TV and announce which of the 3 other teams they want to play (this year it would have been Minnesota, Toronto, or Texas.)
Repeat for the NL.
For the next round, as soon as the last Wild Card game is over, another selection show. Top seeds have to announce who they want to play.
It would be better for baseball if there were other ways to have successful seasons besides just being the 1 of the 30 that wins the postseason — which, as we're discussing here, has become more and more of a tournament independent of the regular season. What seems simplest to me is to just give "the AL pennant" and "the NL pennant" to the team in each league that finishes the regular season with the best record, and have there be big trophies for that...
Yes, yes, yes! Best record in AL over the course of the season is the AL pennant winner. Best record over the course of the season in the NL is the NL pennant winner. Both teams get trophies and banners and number-one seed in the postseason. MLB and the winning teams should celebrate this big accomplishment and encourage fans and the media to as well.
And the team with the best overall record in the majors should get an additional trophy and celebration, and would be the higher seeded team with home field advantage in the world series if both pennant winners make it.
At first, fans and the media would reject and ridicule these pennants and celebrations, but I think if MLB kept pushing and celebrating them, it would eventually catch on.
and maybe some other reward, like automatic entry into the postseason the next year.
No, no, no. Last year was last year. No need for this IMO.
If you want another reward, it could be something like... MLB pays for all the tickets for one home game the following season-- the team declares one home game is Pennant Celebration Day, and all tickets for that game are free to fans, with the lost revenue paid out by MLB. It would "only" be a million or two for each team, but the fans would be the ones who benefit, not the owners. Might make fans care more about winning this.
This idea could be tweaked, but a reward that goes directly to the fans would be ideal and help more fans care about winning the regular season pennant.
we could just start placing more importance on the regular season and enjoy the randomness of the playoffs, whether they include all teams or just the top X number. If you win the 162 game season that's a real accomplishment and if you win the tournament that's a different accomplishment that doesn't mean the best team in the regular season failed or their fans should be very disappointed. You could also get more excitement towards the end of the regular season instead of everyone resting / shutting down guys and getting their rotations set for the playoffs. Maybe you get fewer eyeballs / fans in the first round or two of the playoffs but you would probably make up for it with better attendance in September.
Yes, giving teams more to play for is good. Giving fans more to be excited about is good.
So the changes (that will never happen) that I'd like to see:
154-game regular season
Pennants and celebrations for the teams with the best records over the course of the season
Higher seeded teams could choose to enter the first round of the playoffs if they are dumb enough to
Higher-seeded teams have to choose their opponents
7-game divisional series
I don't want any of these because I'm mad the good teams lost, I want them because I think they would be more fun, and would value baseball's unique, really long regular season more.