Major League Baseball is in for some changes this offseason once the owners and players resume their talks to end the lockout. The most tangible things to fans that will likely be addressed are changes to service time and a universal DH.
In case Rob Manfred and Tony Clark are listening, here’s my grand plan for improving the 2022 Major League Baseball season.
Expand the playoffs and reward division winners more
Currently, the MLB playoffs includes five teams from each league. The three division winners get the guarantee of a multi-game playoff season and at least one home game and the two Wild Card teams play one game to continue their season. This is a dramatic improvement over the previous system of four playoff teams, including one Wild Card team, but it still leaves two very good teams with only one game to decide their season.
Expanding the playoffs to seven teams in each league would get more teams involved down the stretch, create an exciting end-of-season tournament, and reward division winners with added rest. In my version of this, the three division winners in each league would be advanced to the LDS and the four Wild Card teams would play a double-elimination tournament for the final spot.
The Wild Card Tournament:
4 Wild Card teams in each league play a double-elimination tournament for the final playoff slot. Days 1-3 are at a neutral site.
Day 1: Team A (best record of Wild Card teams) v. Team D (worst record) and Team B v. Team C. Teams with better records are “home teams”
Day 2: Day 1 winners play against each other and losers play against each other. The team that is 2-0 advances to Day 4. The team that is 0-2 is eliminated
Day 3: The teams that are 1-1 play with the team with the better regular season record serving as “home team,” winner advances.
Day 4: The 2-0 team hosts the 2-1 team at the 2-0 team’s home field, not the neutral site. Winner advances to LDS.
If we apply the above to the 2021 season, the Blue Jays (91-71) and Mariners (90-72) would have joined the Red Sox (92-70) and Yankees (92-70) in the AL while the Reds (83-79) and Phillies (82-80) would have joined the Dodgers (106-56) and Cardinals (90-72). Day 1-3 games could be hosted in places like Houston and Milwaukee that are weather-controlled stadiums in the middle of the country. All in all, this would only add two days to the current playoff schedule.
All those teams are competitive, above .500 teams that could win this tournament. Plus, it would have made the end of the season way more interesting, at least in the NL. The NL Wild Card race was over with a week left in the season. However, in this case, the Reds, Phillies, and Padres would have been battling for the final two spots and doing their best to not have to play the 106-win Dodgers on Day 1.
Another benefit of the Wild Card Tournament would be that it would properly award every division winner, giving them a chance to set their rotation and build health. In any scenario (the division being decided on the final day of the season or even a one-game playoff), the division winner could start their top pitcher in Game 1. Winning the division should matter in such a long season.
Lastly, this would create more playoff appearances for more teams. Seattle fans wouldn’t be on a 20-year drought and Mike Trout would have played in the playoffs five times by now and might have even experienced a playoff game win.