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A true World Series: how MLB could implement a Champions League style tournament

By Nathaniel Sunshine

May 19, 2012; Munich, GERMANY; Chelsea players including Raul Meireles (16) and Jose Bosingwa (17) celebrate with the championship trophy after defeating Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League final at Allianz Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mitchell Gunn-USA TODAY Sports
May 19, 2012; Munich, GERMANY; Chelsea players including Raul Meireles (16) and Jose Bosingwa (17) celebrate with the championship trophy after defeating Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League final at Allianz Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mitchell Gunn-USA TODAY Sports /
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I have speculated on ways to change baseball in the past and as I watch the London Series; I am inspired to speculate again. Last time, I looked at integrating Japan’s NPB into MLB. But now, as the Cardinals and Cubs just finished battling in London, I would like to explore a truly international MLB. Or, more precisely, how the MLB should implement a UEFA Champions League-style World Series.

How the UEFA Champions League works

For the people who don’t know (mainly Americans), the UEFA Champions League is one of the premier football (soccer) competitions in the world, pitting the best teams across European Leagues against each other. Unlike the World Cup or the World Baseball Classic, this is based on individual teams competing for the championship..

The UEFA Champions League works by pitting the 32 best teams across the 55 associated leagues against each other. Here, 26 teams automatically qualify based on “League Strength” determined while the remaining 51 teams duke it out in a five-round qualifying bracket for the last six spots. Even if a team does not finish as their national league’s champions, they can still be seeded higher or even gain bye-weeks based on the strength of their league. This is called the league’s “UEFA Coefficient” and helps determine the seeding of various league champions based on other league member performance in the Champions League in the past five seasons.

The 32 teams are divided into eight, four-team “groups” for the first round that perform a round-robin tournament to move on. These groups are determined from a drawing based on the seeding so that each group consists of top-, middle-, and low-seeded teams. From there, a traditional knockout bracket occurs, determining an overall champion.

Wait a minute, doesn’t this already exist?

Baseball fans outside of America may already be acquainted with this idea. The Caribbean and Europe already have championship series just like this. Asia used to have a series like this, but the leagues discontinued it after 2013. These series are on the right path but do not quite reach the goal of a truly “World” Series and they do not quite work like the UEFA Champions League. Let’s look at how that should work.

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