Shi Davidi with some interesting tidbits

[satyr9]

Well I'm not for 16 teams, but two more doesn't mean you'll need 80 to make it. Right now the Jays need 95 wins to have a shot at the playoffs in any year and 90 win seasons basically leave them out of the hunt by the beginning of August. 2 more spots means 90 win seasons guarantee you're in a race, although hopefully not guaranteed a spot. Hopefully, you don't see too many sub 90 win teams make it (we already get the chumps of the West getting in often with 86-88 wins on their down years), but at least 90 win Jays teams would be in the thick of a race 'cause there'd always be one spot beyond the Sox and Yanks still available to them. Look at TB this year, they're 4th overall in the AL, 1 game back of 3rd and their season's over, no playoffs. No chance they make up 5-6 games on the Yanks/Sox (okay, maybe a non-life-threatening bus crash or something could do it).

That and way too many teams are out of the playoff hunt every year with like 100 games to go. This isn't just about the AL East, there are simply too many ways for a couple elite teams to make the season irrelevant for 3-4 other teams before we even hit the J months, which isn't good for anyone. I like having competitive playoff games from the beginning, but you have to balance that with an actual race for 25+ teams through the ASG at least. Granted, for that to happen there probably needs to be some other competitive balance measures, but 5 playoff teams a league makes the other changes potentially less drastic and easier to accomplish IMO.

I remember reading something yesterday about how competitive it is this year and I almost gagged on my drink. There are two legit races to get into the playoffs: the wild and whacky NL central and the TEX/LAA race. I know I should count the DET/CLE one and maybe even SF/ARI, but I don't (their fans will enjoy it for the meantime, but if I tried to bet on DET or SF today I wonder if Vegas would even give me 1:1). So 5 teams of 30 are going to have drama (if you're really generous you can take that to 10) and we're not even 2/3rds done and this is a competitive year. That's not good for anybody.

EDIT: Also, my personal preference with 1 more team each league is the best team gets a bye, not that the bottom two get a play-in series. Make the ASG winner the homefield for a 1-game playoff between the two best teams during the 5-game series in the first round between teams 2-5 and the winner between the 1's wins homefield advantage for their league in the WS.

[Zuul]

One more playoff team in the AL would make a world of difference in the next few years. It means the Jays would need to beat only one of the Rays, Yanks or Sox in any given year to have a real good shot of making the playoffs. If you don't beat the second place team in the Central and West you don't deserve it.