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Time To Fix Major League Baseball Playoffs

Henry DeVries
Former Contributor
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
Attracting high-paying clients by marketing with a book and a speech.
This article is more than 5 years old.

Dear Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred:

The time has come to fix the Major League Baseball playoffs, and by that I mean fix Major League Baseball. October is a baseball fan’s favorite time of the year, but let’s admit it: attendance is down, the season is too long, and not enough teams make the playoffs.

Here is my marketing advice to fix major league baseball: expand from 30 to 32 teams, create eight divisions of four teams each, cut the regular season down to 154 games, have the top eight teams from both leagues make the playoffs, have three rounds of playoffs for each league, and keep the World Series the way it is.

What qualifies me to make such a recommendation, you might ask. I covered major league baseball games for three years for the Associated Press, I was a marketing consultant to the San Diego Padres for three years, I have watched games at 42 MLB ballparks, I am an adjunct professor of marketing at a major university who has written 10 books on marketing, and I have been a season ticket holder for two major league teams. Three of my adult children have grown to be serious baseball fans. Some people say they bleed for baseball, I breed for baseball.

Now none of the ideas are the product of original thinking. These ideas come from brainstorming with fellow fans:

  1. Expand from 30 to 32 teams. Time for balance in baseball. Please create two leagues of 16 teams. As any baseball geek can see it will make the math of scheduling better. I recommend adding franchises in Las Vegas and New Orleans, because they are fun towns to visit. If the owners would prefer Portland and Charlotte, so be it.
  2. Create eight divisions of four teams each. My plan requires moving the Colorado Rockies to the American League and Tampa Bay Rays to the National League. There is a precedent with the Houston Astros and Milwaukee Brewers league shifts. The divisions should be aligned geographically to reduce travel costs for the team and strain on the players. I do not recommend putting teams in the same metro area in the same league (No Mets and Yankees in same division, no Cubs and White Sox in each division, but they will get to play each other every year, as detailed in item #3). Here are my proposed alignments:
  • National League East: New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals
  • National League Central: Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds
  • National League South:  Atlanta Braves, Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, New Orleans
  • National League West: LA Dodgers, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks
  • American League East: Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles
  • American League Central: Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins
  • American League South: Houston Astros, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals, Colorado Rockies
  • American League West: LA Angels, Oakland A’s, Seattle Mariners, Las Vegas
  1. Cut the regular schedule down to 154 games. If it was good enough for Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson, it is good enough for today’s players. Seriously, we need to reduce the regular schedule because we are adding to the postseason. The players should not have to put more wear and tear on their bodies and we do not want the season to expand into late November. Here is what I propose as to who plays who: each team plays six games with division foes (36 games), six games with the other 12 teams in the league (72 games), three games with the 16 teams in the other league (48 games). The interleague series would alternate home and away each year (for example, the LA Dodgers would play the Yankees one year in New York, and the next year the Yankees play the Dodgers in LA)
  2. Have the top eight teams in each league make the playoffs. The four division winners and the four teams with best records make the playoffs. Use the seeding method for the rounds (so the #1 seed plays the #8 seed). This will create a great deal of September playoff race excitement. Use a series of tie-breaking methods to determine the eight teams, not one-game playoffs.
  3. Have three rounds of playoffs for each league. This year the Brewers or the Cubs could play a maximum of 183 games. If each playoff round was best of seven series, the maximum number of games would be 182 (154 + 28). If you want to reduce the first round to best of five, that reduces the maximum number of games to 180.

Now the naysayers will say this too radical, baseball is a game of traditions and should stay the way it is. That would be a serious marketing miscalculation. Survey the fans who buy the tickets and generate the TV ratings, and I think you will find this is a change that would be welcomed with open wallets. (I will ask my fellow fans attending the Dodgers-Braves NLDS.)

There you have it. From a marketing standpoint I think this will add more excitement to baseball. You’re welcome, Mr. Commissioner. Good luck convincing the owners.

Henry DeVries
Henry DeVries