Lew Wolff, owner of the Oakland Athletics, has recently suggested making the first round of the MLB playoffs a best-of-one competition.
“I’d make it one-game-and-you’re-out for the first series,” the Oakland Athletics owner said Wednesday. “It would be exciting. It would be great.”
Begun in 1995, the division series has been a best-of-five competition. Some people have advocated it be expanded to best-of-seven, matching the league championship series and the World Series. Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has repeatedly said he favors the current format.
Wolff said he hasn’t brought up his concept with Selig.“No, I’m afraid to do that,” he said.
Under the current format, Game 7 of the World Series wouldn’t be until Nov. 5 next year. Selig said during this year’s World Series that the postseason has too many off days, but shortening it appears to be impossible if Major League Baseball sticks to having the World Series start on a Wednesday, a schedule that began in 2007.
While I don’t think Wolff’s idea is a particularly good one, I am in favor of more owners speaking up about Major League Baseball’s current playoff system. I was probably one of the few people who enjoyed the Phillies/Rays series, for the simple fact that it turned two teams into powerful organizations. Gone are the days when the Red Sox and Yankees were the only teams guaranteed to make the playoffs. A closer look at the NL Central and AL East divisions reveals that teams are becoming more evenly matched. This competitive play can only help the business side of the game, as more fans believe their team has a chance of making the playoffs. However, it’s no secret that this past World Series had low television ratings.
It’s true that the Phillies and Rays don’t have the same national popularity as the Dodgers, Red Sox, and Yankees, and that this deficiency generated fewer viewers. Still, you have to place a considerable amount of blame on Bud Selig and his scheduling of the games. Those games should not have taken place that far into October, sometimes beginning so late in the evening that they extended after midnight. There are ways of remedying this, of course. The season needs to start earlier and/or there should be a few scheduled double-headers for each team during the regular season.
However, Wolff’s suggestion that the first round of the playoffs be a best-of-one competition is impractical. When considering a regular season that lasts 162 games, it would be unfair to have the first place team eliminated by the wild card entry after only one game. Baseball is a game that proves any team can be better than the other on any given day. Only after a series of five or more games can one club emerge as undeniably more dominant. If the first round were to be best-of-one, the remaining two series would have to switch to this format as well. Of course, this would never slide with Selig.
The commissioner is trying, though. The winner of the All-Star Game now determines the home field advantage in the World Series. Regardless, after attempting to keep up with the World Series after that awful rain delay, I’m ready for some changes.
