Well, I already presented my thoughts on how to fix the BCS...and college basketball and the NFL are already perfect, so what else needs fixing?
Baseball
There are 30 teams, and 8 make the playoffs. And it's perfect. You don't need another round of playoffs, and the wild-card was a great addition. And I like that the first round is only 5 games. So what should change?
It's not fair to award a playoff spot to the division winners when some divisions have 4 teams, some have 5, and some have 6. The Brewers were moved to the NL to make it easier to schedule interleague play. That's putting finances ahead of fairness. I'd moved the Brewers back to the AL Central. So now there are 6 AL Central teams and 4 in the AL West. I'd move the Royals to the West because they aren't any big Royals rivalries, they are the most western of the Central teams and because they stink.
Basketball
So they have 30 teams, with 5 teams in 6 divisions, but they allow 16 teams into the playoffs. 8 teams seems to work out just fine for baseball, and why does the NBA need to drag the playoffs on for months?
Cut it to 8 teams, and have 3 rounds of best of 7 action that is worth watching. The top teams that would miss the playoffs currently? The Lakers, Rockets, Bulls. Eh.
Hockey
The also have the 30 teams with 5 teams in 6 divisions and 16 teams in the playoffs. So should they do what the NBA does? Well, they have a bigger problem. I think they would benefit from having less teams. Say 24. 6 divisions with 4 teams each and 8 teams going to the playoffs. How do you pick 6 teams to ax?
I know this won't happen, but I'd get rid of the untraditional markets. Here's a starting list:
Florida
Atlanta
Nashville
Columbus
Phoenix
San Jose
Baseball - Take the best four teams from each league, regardless of division. Then you don't have to move anyone.
ReplyDeleteBasketball - I'm fine with your suggestions.
Hockey - You're suggesting removing the teams from all of the new markets. Are you saying the NHL has been doing something wrong the last ten years? One thing that I think everyone would love about contraction is some sort of dispersal draft.
Purists might scoff at not giving a playoff spot to division winners, but I think it's kind of a neat idea. However it's still not fair--easier to be in top 4 in a 14 team league, than top 4 in 16 team league. It's neat but doesn't solve the problem
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