Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Before the playoffs, this needs to be stated again

National Hockey League:
-82 regular season games
-4 rounds of playoffs
-each round best of 7
-each round is 8.5% the length of the regular season
-playoffs are 34% the length of the regular season

National Basketball Association:
-82 regular season games
-4 rounds of playoffs
-each round best of 7
-each round is 8.5% the length of the regular season
-playoffs are 34% the length of the regular season

National Football League:
-16 regular season games
-4 rounds of playoffs
-each round is single-elimination (1 game)
-each round is 6.25% of the length of the regular season
-playoffs are 25% the length of the regular season

Major League Baseball:
-162 regular season games
-3 rounds of playoffs
-first round is best of 5
-first round is 3.1% of the length of the regular season
-second and third rounds are best of 7
-second and third rounds are 4.3% the length of the regular season
-playoffs are 11.7% the length of the regular season

One of two things needs to happen: The MLB season needs to get shorter, or teams need to start playing 13 game (8% of regular season) playoff series' if they want an accurate representation of talent as compared to the playoffs in the NHL, NBA, and NFL.

I can't believe how incredibly dumb a 5-game series is.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Totally disagree. Remember that baseball games are played in 3-game sets over weekends. The season lengths are somewhat similar, around 8 months for each league. Having concise series to determine championships is a good thing - I know that, had it not been for the insane number of competitive series in the NHL playoffs last year, I would have tuned out WELL before the Stanley Cup finals. If anything, Baseball just needs to trim the length of the regular season and get rid of rediculous November baseball.

Marcus said...

You can't possibly think that a 5-game series adequately represents the talent that leads a team to the playoffs over a 162 game season.

The terrible playoff structure completely marginalizes teams which play well throughout an entire season (2008 Angels) and benefits teams who play like crap all season but get it together for the equivalent of 12% of the entire season (2006 Cardinals, for example).

It's crap. Either shrink the regular season to <100 games or extend the playoffs, because the current system rewards hot streaks in a game where marathon strength is valued.

Unknown said...

Unless the post-season is obscenely long (see: NHL), any playoff structure will marginalize the regular season. That's why it's important: there's a sense of urgency to not only win, but to win many games in a short period of time, a challenge to anyone. Because the season is a marathon, having a sprint at the finish makes the reward so much more compelling, especially to the ones sinking money into the teams: fans in the stands, and TV networks who need good ratings to sell ads. It's a uniquely American format, and I love it.

Marcus said...

Then why even have the regular season? Why don't we make all sports a round-robin tournament for a title?

Playoffs need to respect the regular season, as they do in every other American pro sports league, or they need to do away with the playoffs or regular season entirely.