MLB

[Simple Torture]

I have begrudgingly come around on the Wild Card play-in because my team won it last year.

That being said, no expanded playoffs, please. And shortest season I would be ok with would be in the 140-150 range.

[numbers]

I would be willing to accept the expanded playoffs if it meant no more CBT or tanking.

[Mickey]

If you take eight teams per league and knock the season down to 120 games, you're looking at a world where in the last month of play everyone outside of like, Baltimore, Arizona, and Pittsburgh could still make the playoffs. 16 different markets now have direct buy-in for the postseason. Baseball has a viewership problem, this would be one way to address it.

[Norah]

I'm not in favor of any scenario where more teams make it than miss it.

[Chris_H_2]

Why won’t the owners allow the trading of draft picks?

[Bammer]

I'm not in favor of any scenario where more teams make it than miss it.

Co-signed

[Simple Torture]

Why won’t the owners allow the trading of draft picks?

I assume it's because the teams that are perennially at the top of the draft board would figure out a way to sell their draft picks.

[Bammer]

Mike Piazza was drafted in Round 62

[Simple Torture]

And that's the rub, too--I wonder if there would even be that much demand for it if it were allowed. Even in a top-heavy draft, you might have 2-3 guys in the top 10 who might make it to the show within 2-3 years. Like a lot of things, I think the difference between baseball's development curve and that of other sports makes it difficult to conceptualize.

[Bammer]

The Mariners drafted some guy I can’t even remember anymore ahead of Tim Lincecum who played his college ball in Seattle.

[Bammer]

If you take eight teams per league and knock the season down to 120 games, you're looking at a world where in the last month of play everyone outside of like, Baltimore, Arizona, and Pittsburgh could still make the playoffs. 16 different markets now have direct buy-in for the postseason. Baseball has a viewership problem, this would be one way to address it.

Not sure if the post-2001 Mariners should be encouraged or offended by this post.

[Simple Torture]

Yeah, another reason I don't want playoffs expanded is so the Mariners don't make it. The streak lives on!

[Bammer]

Our next first round knockout is going to be sooooo sweet!!

[numbers]

The expanded playoffs is almost definitely happening, it’s the biggest bargaining chip the players have in the labor negotiations.

[Mickey]

And again, for a sport with a viewership problem and a popular perception that it's the same big-market teams in the playoffs every year, expanded playoffs solves a problem.

[numbers]

I hate it, I think the MLB playoffs already has too many teams, but if this is what we have to give up to get rid of things like franchises not fielding their best teams so they can screw a top prospect out of 600k or half the league tanking to maximize their profits, then it's worth it to me.

[The Argonaut]

If MLB starts putting ads on uniforms I swear to goodness

[Rob]

Expanded playoffs and a shorter season sound great to me, and I'm a Yanks fan, so no underdog bias here. I get that it's not the most physically demanding sport, but that's a long f'n season. And the playoffs could engage more people and provide some memorable upsets.

[Norah]

I'm skeptical of any baseball fan who says the answer to baseball's problems is less baseball.

[Rob]

I grew up on baseball, man. It's my favorite sport. But it's slower than others, and has had a viewership issue for a long time. And again, it's a really long season. Maybe start mid-April and have the World Series wrapped up by 10/30, including an extra round of playoffs. I dunno.