[email protected]

07/03/02 - Date of last update to this page.

Split Season

 By Kenneth Matinale

July, 1, 2002

The Major League Baseball (MLB) teams have played about half their games and the Mets may already be out of contention about ten games behind the Braves.  The Montreal Expos, nobly fighting off contraction, are about eight back in second place but with little hope of reward.  The Devil Rays are over twenty games behind the first place Yankees, who cling to a one game lead over the Red Sox.

What if we halted the season, rewarded the top four teams in each league and started over?  Split the season into two 81 game half seasons, each of which would about match the full seasons of the NBA and NHL.  I have a set of rules to make this work but as you read them remember the concept: split season.

The proper way to run any league is to have all the teams play all the competitors an equal number of games and the team with the most wins is the champ.  That would be pure competition over the long season.  That ideal is long gone, replaced by increasingly  convoluted schemes to allow more teams to make the playoffs and even more teams to have a chance.  Also, out of consideration would be awarding a team with a dominant record a bye in the playoffs, i.e., that team would be allowed to skip a round.  The owners of MLB teams would never agree to fewer playoff games or fewer playoff series, especially if the top teams would be held out of action.

My proposal works within these restrictions: the same number of teams will make the playoffs, playing the same number of series.  It also has the advantage of simplifying the process and breathing new life into dyeing teams right in the middle of the season.  Instead of wait ‘till next year, wait ‘till the second half.

Re-organize each league from three divisions, consisting of as few as four teams (AL, West) into two divisions, an east and a west.  The fourteen team American League would have two seven team divisions and the sixteen team National League would have two eight team divisions.  This would be similar to the structure that they had from 1969 through 1993.  One superficial disadvantage is that some teams would finish as low as eighth place, although this would be more than offset by being only twenty games behind rather than 40.  Frankly I think most fans can spot a lousy team whether it’s fourth or eighth.

Play an overwhelmingly unbalanced schedule, i.e., many more games against teams in your division than against non-division teams.  Pick two teams from each division for inclusion in the playoffs: a champion and a wildcard.  In each league, each division champ plays the other division’s wildcard, then goes on to the league championship series (LCS).  Division champs would, of course, have home field advantage in the opening round and a tie breaker, such as head to head competition, would give home field advantage in the LCS if both teams were division winners or if both teams were wildcards, otherwise the lone remaining division champ would have it.

The winner of each half season in each division would get one point and the runner up would get a half point.  After both half seasons have been played, the teams with the most points in each division would be designated champ and wildcard.  Ties for first would be broken by a series of tiebreakers including overall full season record to provide incentive to first half winners to continue playing well.  In case of ties for the wildcard, a one game playoff would settle it at the end of the season.  The All Star game break would be set at the actual mid-point of the season, not somewhat past it as has been the custom.

Here are four scenarios.

Scenario 1:

First Half:

Yanks first – one point

Red Sox second – half point

Second half:

Red Sox first – one point

Orioles second – half point.

Point totals:

Red Sox – 1.5 – division champ

Yanks – 1 - wildcard

Orioles - .5

This shows that winning the first half assures a team of making the playoffs but not the division championship.

___________________________

Scenario 2:

First Half:

Yanks first – one point

Red Sox second – half point

Second half:

Red Sox first – one point

Yanks second – half point.

Point totals:

Yanks – 1.5

Red Sox – 1.5

The tiebreakers would settle which team is division champ but both teams are assured of a playoff spot.

___________________________

Scenario 3:

First Half:

Yanks first – one point

Red Sox second – half point

Second half:

Yanks first – one point

Orioles second – half point.

Point totals:

Yanks – 2 - division champ

Red Sox – half point

Orioles - half point

There’s a tie for the wildcard.  The Red Sox and Orioles would play one game to determine who it is.

___________________________

Scenario 4:

First Half:

Yanks first – one point

Red Sox second – half point

Second half:

Orioles first – one point

Red Sox second – half point.

Point totals:

Yanks – 1

Orioles – 1

Red Sox – 1.

This is the only way there can be a three-way tie.  I propose that preference be given to the two first place teams, that the Red Sox be eliminated and that the tiebreakers decide the division winner between the Yanks and Orioles.

___________________________

The system is both simple and fair.  It preserves the basic structure that has existed for over thirty years, yet introduces a fresh new competitive excitement.  If you quibble over the system, remember, the important thing is the concept of the split season, which should invigorate teams struggling after the first half.

 ---   The End   ---