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The fact that the 107-game San Francisco Giants must face the 106-game Los Angeles Dodgers so early in the playoffs does not suit Giants third baseman Evan Longoria.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Longoria expressed a sentiment shared by many observers: MLB should change its post-season format.
“I feel like it can also be like a series or a moment where baseball maybe has to think about restructuring the way the playoffs go,” he said. “106 and 107 wins doesn’t look like a [divisional series] match, you know? Especially because the season is so long that two teams win so many games and one of them has to go home so early.
When asked how Longoria would restructure the playoffs if he had the power, he mentioned increasing the number of playoff teams and reseeding playoff teams based on the records of the regular season.
“I’m always for having more playoff teams. I think that engages more fans,” he said. “I mean, obviously we’ve had these discussions with the league before, and it’s something that I think is potentially still on the table. But it looks like a sort of win-based ranking system, and I know all it takes to realign the divisions. “
In the shortened 2020 season, 16 of the league’s 30 teams have made it through to the playoffs, and it looks likely that the playoffs will extend into next season when the new collective agreement goes into effect.
One apparently popular proposal is to expand the playoff field from 10 teams to 14 teams, with three division winners and four wild card teams in each league. Under this proposal, the team with the best record in each league will get a pass in the first round, and the remaining six teams will face each other in a three-game Wild Card series, with the other two division winners and the best Wild Card. team hosting all three games.
This proposal also allows division winners to pick their Wild Card opponents, which would be a potentially spicy wrinkle to say the least.
Had that postseason format been adopted for the 2021 season, the Giants would have a first-round pass while the Brewers, Braves and Dodgers would all host a three-game Wild Card streak. The Brewers, as the winner of the top-ranked division (besides the Giants), could choose which of the Cardinals, Reds or Phillies they would prefer to face. The Braves would get the second pick, and whichever side not chosen (likely the Cardinals) would face the Dodgers, the better Wild Card team.
However, a proposal like this would always end with the seeded Giants taking on the Dodgers in the NLDS, assuming Los Angeles beats the Cardinals in a three-game series. The only way to stop the Giants and Dodgers from going head to head in the NLDS would be to reseed based on the regular season record, or allow the Giants to pick their opponent after the Wild Cards round.
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