from Amazon
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Relegation in MLB
Jeff was doing well, and then, blew it right here:
At the end of each year, two (or maybe four) teams are promoted from the Challenger League to take the places of the worst-performing teams in the AL and NL. Thus, not only do the pennant races matter in the Challenger League, but the cellar races matter in the AL and NL.
The current playoff structure could be kept almost intact. Award playoff spots to the winning teams in each division: 2 AL, 2 NL, and 2 CL, then give a wild card to the best remaining team in the AL and NL. Maybe the CL division winners wouldn’t “deserve” a spot, but what the hell. Worst case scenario, it’s a “bye” for the top-seeded team in each league, and it emphasizes the temporary nature of relegation.
They don’t deserve it at all. The top CL teams are equvalent to the bottom AL and bottom NL teams. So, why in the world would the top CL teams be given berths to the World Series?
No, this is what you want: if you want to keep 8 teams in the playoffs, then you have the top 4 in the AL and top 4 in the NL. (Though, I would just go with the top 8 of the 20 teams, since at this point, the distinction between AL and NL will become irrelevant over time.)
Your “second playoffs” would pit the top 4 in the CL league against the bottom 4 in the combined AL+NL. And then… I dunno, I haven’t thought about that right now. And it was on the “second playoffs” that I was hoping to see Jeff’s insight.
Recent comments
Older comments
Page 1 of 344 pages 1 2 3 > Last »Complete Archive – By Category
Complete Archive – By Date