Fixing the MLB Post Season Schedule

[thomamon]

Yay, it looks like Bud Selig is finally taking his head out of his ass for a moment and fixing what I found to be a major flaw in the post season schedule. They will be removing the off days in the middle of a series come next season that are not travel days.

So many reasons why I think this is good for baseball, about time he does something right.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by thomamon

Yay, it looks like Bud Selig is finally taking his head out of his ass for a moment and fixing what I found to be a major flaw in the post season schedule. They will be removing the off days in the middle of a series come next season that are not travel days.

Unless they are changing the start date for the World Series, all that'll mean is a bigger gap of off days between the end of the LCS and the beginning of the WS. The MLB news article which mentions possible changes to the post-season schedule states that the starting date for the WS isn't going to change. MLB would have to trim seven days from the post-season schedule to the WS starts a week earlier.

The whole reason those four extra off days were added to the post-season schedule in 2007 was to push the starting date of the WS from Saturday to Wednesday. The TV networks no longer wanted the WS starting on a Saturday.

[Eric]

I like the idea of removing the off-days. It'll reward teams with a deeper starting rotation. The idea of only needing a three man rotation in the World Series never made sense given that a decent 5-man rotation was needed for success during the regular season.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Eric

I like the idea of removing the off-days.

It remains to be seen exactly what will be done, but unless six or seven days are trimmed, all that's going to happen is that the off days will be moved from during the LCS and added to the break after it. So in the end the post-season will still take as long.

[thomamon]

Originally Posted by Eric

I like the idea of removing the off-days. It'll reward teams with a deeper starting rotation. The idea of only needing a three man rotation in the World Series never made sense given that a decent 5-man rotation was needed for success during the regular season.

I half agree with you and I half don't.

The reason I agree was because the Yankees were easily able to get through the ALDS and ALCS without even thinking about using a 4th SP. That gives total advantage to a team who has a good 1-2-3 because they can use them on full rest. Only CC Sabathia had to go on short rest during the first two rounds and he only had to do that once. It was a no brainer for the Yankees, the thought of a 4th starter never really was even considered the way the post season schedule was set up. You are easily able to hide weakness at the back end of your rotation. Not fair at all to a team that has a better overall rotation.

The reason I disagree is because once you get to the World Series, if you decide to go with 3 man rotation, you know the risks and your doing it at your own choice. So that makes you think and that is entirely up to you on whether you want to go with a 3 or 4 man rotation, knowing the pros and cons.

Removing the days off, will definitely help you be rewarded for having more depth. I like it.