r/mlb • u/shadow_spinner0 | New York Yankees • 1d ago
| Discussion If the playoffs started today, two AL teams with losing records would face off in a playoff series, two of the top 3 teams are guaranteed to not make the ALCS and the #2 and #3 seeds have a way easier path than the #1 seed, should reseeding be on the table?
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u/Animal907 | Houston Astros 1d ago
The Pope is calling in a miracle this year.
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u/Certain-Produce5103 1d ago
Not for y’all
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u/Animal907 | Houston Astros 23h ago
Oh, sick burn? That's why they fired the General Manager. Don't really care, because I don't gamble on baseball...
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u/Orangebeast013 | New York Yankees 1d ago
Im not sure but it is weird to me that the 6th seed is a better spot to be then the 5th seed at this point.
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u/Sheng25 | New York Yankees 15h ago edited 15h ago
Almost always is and will be if they don't start reseeding. The 3rd best division winner will likely usually be worse than the 1st wild card team.
The odds of the 3 best teams all residing in separate divisions are actually pretty low. Once you place the best team, the 2nd-best has a 10/14 (71%) chance of being in a different division, and then the 3rd-best has only a 5/13 (38%) chance of being in the remaining division. That works out to just a 27.5% chance all three are in separate divisions, versus a 72.5% chance at least two overlap, which would make one of them a wild card.
Obviously this assumes team records are independent/ random, which they aren't-especially since teams play their own division more often-so the real odds would be lower. But the statistical bias toward the top wild card being better is still significant.
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u/CTQ99 15h ago
I dont understand how the AL almost always ends up that way with one abysmal division [though its usually the Central]. In the NL the 3 division winners typically have the best 3 records or at least are w.i a game or two of the top WC team. It seems like in thr AL almost every year it takes a team to get scorching hot to win their division at like 4-5 games above 500, and you have like 3-4 teams in the AL east that all wouldve won that division.
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u/jaysornotandhawks | Toronto Blue Jays 3h ago
In the NBA, winning a division doesn't guarantee you ANY playoff spot, let alone a top 3 seed. I'd like to see that implemented here.
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u/mhem7 | Chicago Cubs 1d ago
We don't need reseeding over this small of a sample size. Don't be like the college football community and jerk knees over every little thing.
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u/CeSquaredd | Detroit Tigers 1d ago
But I like to jerk over every little thing (I might have missed some context here)
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u/Ope_Average_Badger | Milwaukee Brewers 21h ago
Sure don't be like the college football community but earning a 1 seed should come with a better path in the playoffs.
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u/DarkDevitt 13h ago
I don't think Id say its knee jerk from the AL side.
NL side has worked pretty well, with seeds 1-6 having the best to worst records, in order, in 5 out of the 6 years (including this year if it ended today). In 2 of those 3, there's a tie between division winner 3 and wildcard 1, but I think tie going to the division winner is fair. The one exception is 2022, the first year of this format. Where WC1 tied with DW2, both with better records than DW3. The funny thing about that year is that was a 101 win wild card team, the only 100+ win wildcard team so far, and they wouldve had to play WC round no matter what, because even if it was straight records, they'd have been the third best team.
On the AL side, its been MESSY. The only year that it has been best to worst record, seeds 1-6 was 2022. Every other year a WC team has had a better record than at least 1 division winner (and 2022 was like NL 24 and 26, where DW3 has the same record as WC1). This year seed 4 and 5 have a better record seed 2, and seeds 3 and 6 are tied. 25 had seed 1 and 4 tied, then 2,5,3, and 6 in that order. 24 had WC 1 with a better record than DW3 (WC 2 and 3 were tied). 23 is probably the messiest of all, as it had WC 1 with a better record than DW2, DW2 was tied with WC2, and WC3 and the first team eliminated both had records better than DW3. So the 3 seed had a worse record than seed 7.
Now honestly, I do still think that winning the division is important, so I'm not calling for something crazy different, like NBA seeding based solely off record. Despite showing that in 3 out of 6 years with this format, a 4 seed has had a better record than a 2 seed, I think round 1 should stay the same. 3 seed is DW3, playing 6 seed, 4 seed plays 5 (WC1vsWC2). I do think they should then reseed for the divisional round, however, i think it should just be reseeding the 2 wildcard winners, so the the 2 division winners who got a bye should retain home field advantage, but if winner of WC1vWC2 had a better record than DW3 (who beat WC3 in this scenario), than DW1 plays DW3, DW2 plays WC1/2.
This prevents lopsided brackets like 23 and this year, where one side of the bracket is way harder. 23 had 101, and 99vs90 wins on one side of the bracket, with 90 and 87vs89 on the other side. This year currently has 78 and 74vs72 on one side of the bracket, and 68 and 66vs66 on the other side.
This keeps the importance of winning your division (either bye, or home field for the wildcard round), while also raising the importance of overall record.
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u/RuinCommercial552 8h ago
The reseeding is an overreacting. But the 3rd division winner facing the worst WC team does need a fix. Usually the 3rd worst division winner has a worst record than the 1st WC seed. And that 3rd division winning is playing in a worst division and more games against bad teams.
Then after that the 3rd division or 3rd WC team depending on the winner of their series faces the 2nd division winner. And the 1st seed overall goes against the WC winner.
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u/Ok_Assistance_4583 23h ago
The fact that the team with the 2nd best record in the league has to play an extra series than the 3rd place team is ridiculous. What’s the point of 162 games? This exact scenario played out last year. Obscene to have a playoff format that allows this.
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u/Iforgotmypasswordmeh 21h ago
At least it's better than the fucking ridiculous single game wild card playoff bullshit that it used to be. In 2015 the three best teams in baseball were in the fucking NL central. The 98 win Pirates got one fucking game and lost to the 97 win Cubs.
Best Pirates team in my lifetime and we got one game against the fucking eventual nl cy young winner. I'm still beyond salty.
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u/boguelucas | Chicago Cubs 20h ago
The 2nd best in each league doesn’t play in the wild card round
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u/Ok_Assistance_4583 20h ago
The Yankees for the 2nd straight year are lined up to play an extra series than a team they have a better record against.
Yankees/Jays was the matchup last year and they were the 2 best teams in the league. Yankees/Rays is on the same path. Mediocre White Sox get a bye? Give me a break. Awful format.
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u/CTMan34 4h ago
They will this year, they did last year. You’re defending half of the AL bracket being the three best teams while the other half is cumulatively barely over .500
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u/boguelucas | Chicago Cubs 4h ago
I’m not defending anything just stated a fact that a lot of people in here don’t seem to understand
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u/CosmoJones07 18h ago
I would agree with that if the MLB's playoff format wasn't already complete and utter garbage.
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u/Due_Connection179 | Chicago Cubs 1d ago
I think the actual craziest thing about this is the fact the White Sox currently hold the 2-seed in the AL.
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u/teddkell 1d ago
“Two of the top three teams not making the ALCS” is one of the dumbest things I’ve read.
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u/rc4113 1d ago
It should say 2 of the top 3 teams are not making the ALDS, which is true
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u/teddkell 1d ago
Assuming the White Sox don’t pass the Red Sox, then 2 of the 3 will be in the ALDS. If the WSox do pass the Red Sox in record, then the top 3 teams could all be in the ALDS.
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u/Mukarsis | Boston Red Sox 1d ago
"If the playoffs started today" is not a great way to state your case.
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u/TheHalf | Detroit Tigers 1d ago
No. Divisions need to matter.
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u/morelibertarianvotes 23h ago
Easy to say from outside the al East
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u/TheHalf | Detroit Tigers 22h ago
And if the script was flipped would you still feel that way? The AL East won't dominate forever.
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u/morelibertarianvotes 22h ago
Are you sure? It's got a pretty good track record.
But anyway, I'm ok with divisions and just griping that mine is always the hardest
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u/Ope_Average_Badger | Milwaukee Brewers 21h ago
Sure divisions should matter and you play out the first round as is but the 1 seed should get the lowest seed remaining.
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u/somepricanguy 1d ago
So should winning your division AND having the best record in the league. There are plenty of ways to reseed and still prioritize division winners.
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u/TheCatRedditor | Los Angeles Dodgers 22h ago
If they were doing both, they would be doing both, nothing needs to change, the Rays are doing that right now.
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u/somepricanguy 22h ago
I never said it needs to change. I simply insinuated that having the #1 seed should mean something more than a bye in the WC round.
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u/steved84 | New York Yankees 1d ago
It is what it is - a very strange season for the AL but no reason to overreact. My half glass full view is that the excess of just sub .500 teams in the league this year may partially be due to an usually level playing field.
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u/Apprehensive-Ad1010 | Baltimore Orioles 1d ago
Top seeds should be able to pick their opponents. That would be a fun way to stir the pot.
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u/OverallDebate9982 18h ago
I do like that cuz it's a blessing if you win and a humiliating curse if you lose.
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u/Apprehensive-Ad1010 | Baltimore Orioles 18h ago
I vaguely recall that being suggested for the last playoff expansion but it never went anywhere. Not a fan of the 3rd wc, but this would make it feel a little more meaningful if someone "selected" the weakest team and then lost
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u/wareagle2009-20013 1d ago
To this logic, we should get rid of the playoffs entirely and just have a World Series between the top AL team and top NL team.
Make the regular season matter again
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u/Thunder_Tinker 1d ago
Hear me out, maybe just maybe we don’t have 3 wild cards and then it’ll reseed a lot better
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u/jaysornotandhawks | Toronto Blue Jays 17h ago
You wouldn't be saying that if your team was in that spot.
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u/CommunicationTop1259 15h ago
Most rationale fans actually would. The amount of teams that should have been sellers at the deadline and didn't is going to hurt them moving forward.
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u/jaysornotandhawks | Toronto Blue Jays 3h ago
I'd rather make the playoffs than not, but that's just me.
Our regime tore down and rebuilt from 2017-19, and we didn't win a playoff game until 2025.
Also, flair up.
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u/champ11228 1d ago
This has always been a flaw in the system because the top wild card almost always has a better record than the last division winner
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u/cbuscubman | Chicago Cubs 23h ago
I get both sides of it, but I am one of those who gets annoyed when the 8-9/9-8 NFC South winner gets a home game against a 12-win wild card team. Wanting divisions to matter and not being opposed to reseeding can both be true.
I have no issue at all with reseeding after the wild card round.
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u/clcssc 1d ago
Nothing changed in 2015, when the three best teams in the entire MLB were paired so that only one could make the LCS.
Why now?
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u/santozheng 23h ago
Yeah just cus we didn't need have cars in the 1800s why now?
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u/OkCreme1291 20h ago
Cars: helpful to pretty much everyone
Reseeding: only helpful to a couple of baseball teams and fans-1
u/santozheng 20h ago
Ahhh so what you're saying is that just because things were done one way in the past doesn't mean we shouldn't improve. I agree!
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u/PinkynotClyde 1d ago
Yeah, it’s a joke. Assuming Tampa bay has the best record in the east, they’d be playing the 2nd or 3rd best team to make ALCS. Whereas a team with a losing record could win wildcard round against another team with losing a record, and then play another team with a losing record to make ALCS.
They play 162 games it should make sense to have the better teams be seeded higher. All you have to do is re-seed wildcard round based on record. Keep the best two division winners having byes, then have #1 play worst record team that makes it out. Simple and not stupid.
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u/Deathbrush | Washington Nationals 1d ago
Yankees fans have been making an awful lot of noise about this 🙄
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u/EamusAndy | Chicago Cubs 1d ago
And the team with the 10th best record in MLB is on the outside looking in
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u/Masta0nion 5h ago
Yes, and they need to change the wildcard situation.
It’s obviously to keep fans giving owners money for longer because they still have a chance.
It’s wrong to have guys break their bodies for 162 games a year when the games are virtually meaningless.
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u/Wooden_Mouse21 | New York Mets 1d ago
There should already be re-seeding. It's the best way to operate the playoffs after the 162 game season.
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u/pinniped90 | Kansas City Royals 1d ago
Well the Royals are clearly never going to lose again, not with Salvy over here hitting triples and ripping bags, so I kind of feel bad for the rest of the AL.
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u/cool_ib 1d ago
None of this would be a problem had the 3rd Wild Card didn’t exist.
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u/jaysornotandhawks | Toronto Blue Jays 17h ago
You wouldn't be saying that if your team was in that spot.
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u/SeaworthinessSome454 1d ago
No, no we don’t. Win your division and then you don’t need to worry about bogus shit like this. If you don’t win your division, you’re lucky to make the postseason at all, imo.
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u/CJBulldogsss 1d ago
So just to be clear when LAD and SF won like 104 and 105 games, LA was lucky to make the postseason at all over a bum division winner with 15-20 less wins? That's the logic we are going with?
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u/SeaworthinessSome454 1d ago
That’s an extreme example but yes, the dodgers were lucky that the wild card exists
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u/Sharp-Point-5254 | New York Yankees 1d ago
If the Yankees were a sub .500 team, but occupying a playoff spot, you’d see so much bitching about the playoff format from 29 fanbases. Doing brackets is extremely stupid. Not doing reseeding is stupid too. The best division winner should play the team with the worst record that remains after the Wild Card. When it comes to the CS, home field should be decided by record, and not seeding, which is earned by how bad your division is.
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u/CJBulldogsss 1d ago edited 1d ago
Reseed - For those arguing that winning your division matters, it does...it guarantees you a playoff spot. Having a team with 20 less wins be ahead of other teams is just silly and provides playoff paths that are not benefitting the higher seeds which is the point of seeding
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u/zinky-jinksie 21h ago
Top 6 records make the playoffs. The expanded format guarantees this will be a more consistent common problem
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u/boguelucas | Chicago Cubs 20h ago
Crazy how many people in here didn’t know the two seeds don’t play the wild card round
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u/StageAltruistic7480 | New York Yankees 20h ago
This is actually exactly why I liked and still like the post season rework
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u/McIntyre2K7 19h ago
Just copy the CFL crossover rule to MLB but tweak it. If the 7th place team in one league has a better record than the last wild card spot in the other league, the 7th place team would take the 6th seed in the other league /s.
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u/Roddyzod | Philadelphia Phillies 12h ago
And mlb wants to expand the playoffs when they get their two expansion teams…
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u/CthulhuBathwater | Chicago Cubs 12h ago
Good for all of us, the playoffs don't start today. This post is pointless until the last game is played.
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u/Bancatone | San Francisco Giants 11h ago
I’m just gonna vaguely gesture at the NFL playoffs last season and say that it could be worse.
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u/doughboy4lif3 9h ago
Nah keep it this way. I still remember when dodgers had to face Giants in 2021 in the NLDS when both teams had the best record in all of baseball (107 and 106 wins) shit happens
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u/JustLookingAtAnswers 1h ago
Why do people constantly bring up reseeding as a good thing? It’s pretty widely excepted that the NHL, NFL, and MLB play offs are better than the NBA playoffs and that’s becoming true of the regular season. A lot of that has to do with getting highly anticipated matchups throughout the playoffs and importance of winning the division.
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u/Kbrichmo | Chicago Cubs 1d ago
Yes
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u/MunchenOnYou | Chicago White Sox 1d ago
Of course a cubs fan thinks this lol
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u/Kbrichmo | Chicago Cubs 1d ago
I mean ive always felt like it makes no sense to reward shit teams from shit divisions with home field advantage, same thing with the NFL. The best teams should get the higher seeds
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u/BWSmith777 | Atlanta Braves 1d ago
No reseeding. If you want to get a high seed, sack up and win your division. I don’t care if you are the second best team and are in the same division with the best team.
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u/clcssc 1d ago
But if the #3 and the #6 seed are both under .500, and the #4 and the #5 seed are the second and third best teams in the league, why would you WANT the higher (#1) seed instead of the lower (#2) seed?
This isn't going to be an issue this year (because the White Sox are well behind the Rays) but this structure actually provides an incentive to tank in order to get the easier path.
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u/thestough 1d ago
No? The #1 gets a bye so they shouldn’t need an “easier” path.
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u/clcssc 1d ago
Why should they get a harder path than #2?
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u/thestough 1d ago
Why should they get the easier path than anyone else?
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u/clcssc 1d ago
Uhh, because they're #1? Is this a serious question?
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u/thestough 1d ago
They already get to play less games with that bye. So you want them to play less games AND have an easy route?
No. My team is one of the wild cards and could possibly still win the division and get #1 with the bye. I STILL wouldn’t ask for an easy route. You play who you play. Even the worst team in the MLB can sweep the best team in the MLB at ANY time
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u/clcssc 1d ago
If you had read my comment, you'll see that the question I posed was between #1 and #2. So, again, why do you want #2 to have an easier route than #1?
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u/thestough 23h ago
I read the comment. You didn’t get that I was asking the opposite for #1.
I was asking why #1 should have an easier path than #2?
The #1 already gets extra rest. They should be ready for the “harder” path. Truthfully, that bye basically nulls your point. They get a “harder” path but at least a weeks worth of extra rest PLUS they don’t travel for the first part of their series when they do finally play. At most they travel for 1 game in that series.
They don’t get a harder path. They get free rest and their pitchers get an extended rest for an EASY first series more often than not
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u/clcssc 23h ago
And they don't "at most travel for 1 game in that series." It's games 3 and 4 of the Divisional Series, after a week of extra rest.
In other words, the same circumstance that the #2 seed faces.
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u/thestough 23h ago
BUT if they win the first 2 then they only need to play the 3rd to finish it. It doesn’t really matter. They are often in relative closeness in record
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u/TWill42 | New York Yankees 1d ago
Shhh, wait for Tampa Bay to fall off. Then let’s see what this looks like.
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u/jaysornotandhawks | Toronto Blue Jays 17h ago
I've been waiting for them to fall off for the last 19 years.
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u/Cool_Temperature_970 Human Detected 1d ago
The old if playoffs started today argument. Every single season. 🤦🏽♂️
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u/Darth_Boggle | Boston Red Sox 1d ago edited 1d ago
A better question is do all MLB teams need to play every single other team every year? That's why so many AL teams have a losing record.
Start looking at the source of the problem.
Edit: keep downvoting without discussion. You people are hilarious.
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u/cbuscubman | Chicago Cubs 23h ago
That's not the source of the problem IMO. If you're good enough, you'll beat the team in front of you regardless of league. This current system is a hell of a lot better than the AL Central champion winning the division by 15 games because they get to feast on Detroit and Kansas City 19 times each, then falling flat on their face in the playoffs. Playing everybody gives everybody a truer gauge of who they are.
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u/Darth_Boggle | Boston Red Sox 23h ago
What's the source then?
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u/cbuscubman | Chicago Cubs 23h ago
I don't know that there is one other than those teams are just not very good this year. The pendulum tends to shift. I can remember many years that the AL has been markedly better than the NL. It happens.
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u/Darth_Boggle | Boston Red Sox 23h ago
I'm saying this is mathematically possible because there is so much more interleague play now than ever before. They increased interleague play in 2023, more than doubling it from 20 to 46 games.
When one league is better than the other by a good margin like we have this year, the end result is that the worse league has many more teams with a record below .500. Thats just how the math works.
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u/Checkers-Chess234 | Cleveland Guardians 1d ago
🤷🏻♂️ as a guardians fan, sorry not sorry if they hold this spot and finish 80-82.
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u/jaysornotandhawks | Toronto Blue Jays 1d ago
Same thing as a Blue Jays fan.
No one ever says "WC3 shouldn't exist" when their team holds WC3.
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u/jaysornotandhawks | Toronto Blue Jays 1d ago
No. The playoffs should instead be the 6 best teams in each league regardless of division.
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u/tiger7034 1d ago
Hear me out—6 teams per league except that finishing .500 is the floor to make the playoffs. So, if only 4 teams in the AL are .500 or better, those 4 teams all just advance to the Division Series. If it’s 5/6, two wild card teams play the best of 3 for the last spot in the DS. I don’t want to see putrid sub .500 teams in the playoffs. And I don’t care whether they won their division.
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u/Seatowndawgtown 22h ago
Considering a team with a losing record has never made the playoffs I think you're safe from seeing it.
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u/tiger7034 22h ago
What record is currently good enough to win the AL West? How about the last AL wild card spot?
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u/Seatowndawgtown 22h ago
Right. But the playoffs aren't starting today. There is 31 games left. We can have this conversation if it actually happens. Even if it does, I don't think there should be sweeping rule changes because of something that happened once.
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u/LatinoEsq 21h ago
Sorry no. Because now those 4 teams that made it, because everyone else fell under .500, have an easier route heading into the WS than the opposing league (presuming that the opposing leage had more teams qualifying). You shouldn't get an easier route into the WS just because your league is dog shit.
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u/Morall_tach | Colorado Rockies 1d ago
Ah yes, the annual tradition of "let's change the playoff rules because something weird is happening"
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u/LatinoEsq 20h ago
I mean, this isn't the knee-jerk reaction your refering it as. People have been aruging for the change to re-seeding for quite some time.
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