Baseball Dying in Toronto? I've got the Remedy Mr Rios

jalenrose#5 · Post #1 » by **jalenrose#5** » Fri Apr 16, 2010 10:41 pm

Now this has been discussed alot, but I still feel that MLB is doing a huge disservice to itself by allowing teams to spend oodles of money without much of a punishment for going over the cap.

I'm not saying implement a salary cap, but I'm saying you have to give the smaller market teams a chance to make the playoffs.

My Proposal...

-Eliminate Interleague play altogether. That's say 22 games, so were down to 140 games and done the year by Labor Day.

-Allow 8 teams from each Leagues into the playoffs.

-First two rounds are 5 game series, the ALCS/NLCS and WS are 7 game series. This allows for teams to surprise other teams, or teams that are overmatched to be eliminated quickly.

Example..say if the standings looked like this at Labor day

1 NYY
2 LAA
3 CWS
4 BOS
5 DET
6 MIN
7 TB
8 TEX
--
9 TOR
10 SEA
11 OAK
12 KC
13 BAL
14 CLE

Just an example here, but it gives teams such as Tampa, Toronto, Oakland, Kansas City a better chance of being competitive.

Fans show up when the teams are winning, and even when they're winning, like the Jays from years past, they can't get past the powerhouses in the division. This gives these teams a taste of playoff baseball.

The players still get paid what they want, but this move could increase ticket sales, and bring in extra revenue that some teams don't get.

Thoughts on the proposal?

Attonitus · Post #2 » by **Attonitus** » Sat Apr 17, 2010 12:39 am

I like your proposal but it will never happen. It was a huge deal adding the wildcard and you think they are going to double the amount of teams in the playoffs again? It makes sense but I cannot seeing it happening in the Bud Selig era.

Hedo_Turd-oglu · Post #3 » by **Hedo_Turd-oglu** » Sat Apr 17, 2010 1:04 am

MLB also needs to have a balanced schedule again, playing other teams from other divisions for 4 series (2 each at home) instead of 2. The Jays playing the Yanks and Sox 18 times each is a huge disadvantage compared to a team like the Twins playing the Royals 18 times.

FreeAgent · Post #4 » by **FreeAgent** » Sat Apr 17, 2010 3:27 am

They should just expand the playoffs to 6 teams, add 2 WCs.

3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5 in a best of 3.

Then resume the playoffs as they normally would.

This also wouldn't put the rotation out of whack and would give the top 2 teams some well earned rest for a few extra days. Also, the Ace of the staff could play game 1 of the Wild Card and Division Series.

kiz5 · Post #5 » by **kiz5** » Sat Apr 17, 2010 9:51 am

The problem lies in the East. Its quite possible that three of the best 4 teams in baseball are all in this one division, and one is guaranteed not to make the playoffs.

And, while it'd be nice for us not to play the Yanks and Red Sox 36 times, the Jays' revenue wants the 18 home games against those two. Look at the attendance. It speaks for itself.

The only way we get 8 playoff teams is if they shrink the season back down to 154 games, and they won't want that. While it'd add an extra round with a 5-game series, do the math.

8 regular season games x 15 home games = 120 home games.
Approx. 4 playoff games per series x 8 series = 32 home games x 1.5 for far better attendance = 48 or so.

From a financial perspective, it doesn't make sense. While it might make the excitement grow for a lot of teams, I'm not so sure it'd really make that many more people come out to the ballpark.

6 sounds good, but if I'm the top teams, I don't want that rest while another team is hitting their stride in the first round. I'd much rather be playing every day. Baseball is a game where you can get out of whack so quick.

J-Roc · Post #6 » by **J-Roc** » Sat Apr 17, 2010 8:40 pm

The article by the Sun Times guy was crap, but we need to face reality. Baseball will be dead in Toronto within a decade if the system in baseball doesn't change. Toronto doesn't consider itself a small market city. We want to compete with the big boys. In basketball sure we have to deal with certain issues with players not wanting to come here. But the system is fair. In baseball the system sucks.

Solution. Winning solves everything. Expand the playoffs to a full 16 teams. At any given time half the teams in the game feel like they're "winning" and fans can be excited.

northernpuppy · Post #7 » by **northernpuppy** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 5:37 am

J-Roc wrote:The article by the Sun Times guy was crap, but we need to face reality. Baseball will be dead in Toronto within a decade if the system in baseball doesn't change. Toronto doesn't consider itself a small market city. We want to compete with the big boys. In basketball sure we have to deal with certain issues with players not wanting to come here. But the system is fair. In baseball the system sucks.

Solution. Winning solves everything. Expand the playoffs to a full 16 teams. At any given time half the teams in the game feel like they're "winning" and fans can be excited.

16 teams makes no sense guys. Think logistically about this. By time baseball enters the postseason, the weather is already an issue in many places. If we had a best-of-7 format for 16 teams, the WS would be handed out in mid-November at the earliest. On top of that, think about the extra strain on pitching arms that would take.

To those who complain about us not competing, you seriously need to consider how much we spent in the 92 and 93 days. In 1993, we had 4 players in the top 30 in salary that season. Comparatively, the Red Sox had 3 and the Yankees had 2. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/salaries/1993.shtml

So were Yankees and Red Sox fans complaining in the early 90s about having to play the Jays an extreme amount because of division play?

Am I for reducing the number of games against the twin powers? No, and obviously not just for economic reasons. You can't all of a sudden throw up your arms and say, "Well it's their fault we're not churning out a playoff team" or that it's the format's fault. History clearly indicates that if you have good pitching and you spend on hitters (Those 4 Jays were: Joe Carter, Jack Morris, Roberto Alomar and Dave Winfield), you are rewarded.

For the record, as an employee in Stadium Operations at the Rogers Centre, I want to point out that during our heyday, we were owned by Labatt, not a media conglomerate.

J-Roc · Post #8 » by **J-Roc** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 7:18 am

They need to get 16 teams into the playoffs by whatever means necessary. If that means cutting the regular season shorter, then so be it. Enough with the close-minded thinking and sticking to "tradition". Baseball is a business and back in the day there weren't as many things to do with your entertainment dollars. Today there's tons more to do. Which means if you're team is rebuilding, fans take time off. In baseball, so many teams are perennially rebuilding, it's painful to watch.

Randle McMurphy · Post #9 » by **Randle McMurphy** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 7:58 am

J-Roc wrote:They need to get 16 teams into the playoffs by whatever means necessary. If that means cutting the regular season shorter, then so be it. Enough with the close-minded thinking and sticking to "tradition". Baseball is a business and back in the day there weren't as many things to do with your entertainment dollars. Today there's tons more to do. Which means if you're team is rebuilding, fans take time off. In baseball, so many teams are perennially rebuilding, it's painful to watch.

I'm fine with having only elite teams make the playoffs. It makes the season mean a lot more. You truly Over a 162 game season, the best teams tend to rise to the top.