In regards to expanded playoff, Lincecum doesn’t know where Selig’s “head is at”
Not everyone is on board with baseball commissioner Bud Selig’s idea of expanding the current playoff format.
“It doesn’t seem very fair, and personally, I don’t know where his head is at,” said Giants’ ace Tim Lincecum in an interview last week. “Players like it the way it is. It’s dog-eat-dog. People know they need to win 11 games to win the World Series.”
I for one like the idea of an expanding the current playoff pool, although not if it’s going to be a one-game format like some have suggested. Anything can happen in one game and as Lincecum points out, it’s not fair that a team goes through a 162-game jaunt to make the playoffs, only to be knocked out in one game because its pitcher had an off day. That’s not right.
But I can’t be alone in the thinking that adding two more teams (one from each league) to the current playoff pool is a bad thing. It’s good for the game for several reasons, none bigger in that it’ll keep fans interested (and stadiums packed) through August because they know their team has a shot at making the postseason. (This is assuming of course that their team isn’t 15 games out of first place.)
Lincecum isn’t alone in criticizing Selig’s idea, as Yankees’ first baseman Mark Teixeira has sounded off about the news as well.
From the New York Daily News:
“For a team like us, I don’t like it,” Mark Teixeira said. “We battle all year long in a very tough division; if you win the division and have to have five or six days off before the start of the playoffs, or you win the wild card and still have to play another one- or three-game series just to get into the playoffs, it doesn’t make much sense.”
Hey, I get why this would upset the players. They don’t want to have to win more games in order to reach/win the World Series and they don’t want extra days off. They like the current format and want to see it left alone, which I get.
But from a fan’s perspective, if Selig figures out a way to add two more teams and a new five-game series (not just a one-game series), then I’m all for it. Maybe I’m in the minority though.
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have mixed emotions. A one game elimination means you will not see a team coasting to a wild card.They will try and win outright. A 5 game series extends the season which goes into november now plus the other 8 teams have to sit for a week.Baseball always just had the best team goes to the world series. the playoffs changed that a bit when a 2nd place team did not get in even though they had the 2nd best record in the league, hence the wild card. All in all rather see it stay as it is.
I totally agree with Teixeira’s comments. Suppose the “1st place” wild card team finishes say 7-10 games better than the “2nd place” wild card/5th seeded team. How is that fair to the team that fought so hard all season and say won 90+ games to have to face a team that was barely over .500.
These are the last teams in over the last 3 years:
2008: Yankees (89-73)
2009: Rangers (87-75)
2010: Red Sox (89-73)
None of those teams eclipsed the 90 win mark so it seems unfair for a team like the 2010 Yankees who won 95 games and still didn’t get the division to have to play a much weaker opponent just to get ‘into the playoffs’
I like the idea of expanded playoffs, but a 10 team field is certainly not the solution. Plus, extra games means an extended season. No good.
Right now, the current system puts emphasis on winning the division and winning is what it’s all about anyway.
I can’t believe it. Selig has done the impossible – he’s made me agree with Tim Lincecum.
Please listen to the players. It amazes me that it’s the people that don’t play the game that stick their two-cents in, as if they really have a say…
A lot of players are hesitant to speak up, and now you have another: Yankees’ first baseman Mark Teixeira has joined Tim Lincecum in this argument.
Why don’t you just let these guys (who play the games) make the important decisions like this. Personally, I think is a shame that Selig or you want to push something on guys who work their asses off … only for you to come along and attempt to change a game that THEY play; a game where they have to travel via plane to get where they’re going, clean up and prepare for games. What if they don’t get good sleep. Do you consider the players in your analysis because it doesn’t seem to be the case.
As a 57-year old guy who lives in San Francisco, I’m concerned not only about the Giants, but all teams. Why don’t you let the players make these decisions instead of confusing everyone with hype. This is baseball for christs sake and these guys already bust their butts to occupy our time with entertainment, and this idea makes them all concerned.
You know, players have bones, muscles, etc., and may go on to play more seasons. Please let THEM make the decisions like this for them and for us, who enjoy their careers. Thank you.
Bud
You should have left baseball after your first year.
Steve
What’s surprising here is that there is anybody at all who buys into the primary Selig definition that “what’s best for baseball” is identical to “more gate revenue for owners”. Since when is the owners’ profit margin the definition of what’s best for baseball? Selig has been saying that for so many years the media actually seem to believe it, and now a few fans are buying it too. But no, “owners make more money” is NOT “what’s best for the game.” It’s time to stop wrecking the sport; it’s time to dump Selig, and it’s time for sports reporters to get back to simply reporting and stop the rah-rah campaigning for every dippy notion that drips from Bud’s lips.
if you are a yankees fan or Braves fan id be against this rule, but for those of us whos teams make the playoffs every 5-10 or evern longer, a bigger playoff makes baseball worth watching alot longer. I love seeing all the teams having some excitement, and Playoffs always make the game better. I do get the long break problem tho, they should make the top team need 2 of 5 to advance or something like that, but 8 teams out of 30 getting in is not enough.
Every other pro sport has a ton more teams in the playoffs and adding more playoffs just makes it so that the Yankees dont win half of the world series.
Did i mention that I dont like the Yankees..
LET 2 wildcard teams playoff for the 4th ployoff spot, be it 3 or 5 games. I’M sure that Selig could shorten the regular season by about 5 days ( add a few doubleheaders … and/or … reduce the number of games played annualy to 157 to 159 games ) He could shorten the season by 1 week; and permit a fair playoff between 2 wild card teams to happen, fairly. Perhaps SELIG will support a viable idea — change often means bending the rules, IMO. Keep an open mind, Bud – JW
anyone brilliant enough to come up with this expanded playoff idea should have been smart enough to complete that tied All Star game
If Selig is for it, I’m against it whatever it is. He might just be the dumbest person in all of sports, and that is really saying something.
I don’t like it the way it is now!!! I don’t think a second place team should get a chance to win the World Series. The reason they play 162 games is to determine the best in each division and if you are going to start letting teams that didn’t win the division you are going to end up with a World Champ that couldn’t even win their division! How does that make them baseball’s best?????
I love baseball and I would think I would be all for anything that means more games, but there are just way too many flaws for this to work and be successful. Have to admit, I’m with Teixiera and Lincecum on this one. Leave the system as is.
You are not doing what’s best for baseball or the fans by allowing less than the best into the play offs. Just adding a team or two that wasn’t good enough to make it get into the play off allow fans to pay a premium price for a lower quality of baseball. That does not benefit baseball, that doesn’t benefit the players who try their best but may not be as good it puts them more in the spotlight. This hurts everybody except the owner’s bottom lines and as interest in baseball wanes because the quality goes down so does the owners bottom lines.
Bud Selig should have nothing to do with the decision making process for MLB. He should not be in charge at all. He’s an owner! He has no business being in the offices of MLB. Get him out of there and hire someone who has nothing to do with the players OR the owners. Sure, Bud wants more playoff teams. That means more revenue sharing for “HIS” Brewers! It’s time for this nonsense to stop.