A solution to the wild card issue?

by illlogic83 on Mar 5, 2026 9:49 PM EST

Hey guys,

This is my first post on SBNation. I joined recently and look forward to talking about the Braves here, but the recent announcement of an extra wild card compelled me to share an idea I had to fix some problems with the schedule and playoff format. I would consider myself more of a traditionalist, and would prefer if Interleague play went away, but at this point I have become used to it and I understand that the league seems determined to keep it around. They also seem to prefer teams play more against division rivals to boost attendance and ratings. So with that in mind, I'd like to share my idea for an improved schedule that creates more balance but conforms to some of the desires of the owners.

First, there's the issue of realignment. The Astros are currently set to go to the AL in 2013 but personally I would like to see the league go with something like this:

NL
East: ATL MIA NYM PHI WAS
Central: CHI CIN HOU PIT STL
West: ARI LAD SEA SD SF

AL
East: BAL BOS NYY TAM TOR
Central: CHI CLE DET MIL MIN
West: COL KC LAA OAK TEX

Note: You could keep the Rockies in the NL West and the Mariners in the AL West, but if they were willing to swap places, the AL West would not have to extend from Dallas to Seattle. Adding KC and Colorado to the West would put another team in the Rangers time zone and with Denver only one hour difference between every team, that should alleviate some of the concerns with start times. But no matter what the actual arrangement is, the schedule for a 15-15 league could work like this:

Schedule:
6 home, 6 away vs 4 division opponents = 48
4 home, 4 away vs 10 league opponents = 80
2 home vs. 7 interleague opponents = 14
2 away vs. 7 interleague opponents = 14
1 home, 1 away vs. 1 interleague opponent* = 2
TOTAL = 158 games

Interleague play with this format would see every team play each other, eliminating the discrepancy with some teams playing stronger opponents than others. The 7 opponents could alternate home/road series each year. The * interleague team could be a so-called 'geographic rival' such as SF vs OAK or be determined by some other means. The split series is necessary to even out the number of home and road games per team. And shortening the season by 4 games would make room for the new wild card playoff...

For the first round, the top 3 seeds would go to division winners followed by the 2 wild cards

Wild Card Playoff:
5@4, 5@4, 5@4 (Best of 3)
-This series could theoretically be played in the 3 days directly after the last game of the season leading right into the Division Series, so all 'bye' teams could have time to rest and set their rotation but not so much time off that they get rusty. Teams would be re-seeded by record after initial wild card round.

Division Series:
4@1, 4@1, 4@1, 1@4, 1@4, 4@1, 4@1 (Best of 7)
3@2, 3@2, 2@3, 2@3, 2@3, 3@2, 3@2 (Best of 7)
-Switched to seven game series. Note the 3-2-2 format for the 1 vs 4 matchup. This provides incentives for not only winning the division but for having the best league record, restoring some of the credibility of the regular season results that the expansion of playoffs creates.

Championship Series:
2@1, 2@1, 1@2, 1@2, 1@2, 2@1, 2@1 (Best of 7)
-No change here

World Series:
2@1, 2@1, 1@2, 1@2, 2@1, 1@2, 2@1 (Best of 7)
-Home field advantage in the World Series should be awarded to the team with the better record, and let the All Star game be what it should be, an exhibition.

I would welcome an expansion of interleague play and the playoffs if the league would adopt a format similar to this one. It would solve some of the issues that traditionalists have with the current format while allowing the sport to evolve. What do you think?

This FanPost does not express the views or opinions of Talking Chop.

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Comments

interesting idea

not completely sold on the need for that many teams to switch leagues (and I doubt that teams would agree to that) and most importantly, just hard to see any pro league shortening their regular season, particularly baseball with all its key numbers being made in a 162 game seasons

by LEastCoastBears on Mar 5, 2026 10:13 PM EST reply actions

Couple of thoughts

Clearly you have put a lot of thought/effort into this. Bravo for sharing! I like the regular season schedule you propose, even though I’m against shortening the season, at least it could be balanced. The team realignment I can do without but it’s hard to argue with your reasoning.

The biggest problem I see is that your playoff schedule would have the division winners sitting for a minimum of 6 days and possibly 8 days before playing again. Here’s how I see your schedule, correct me if I am wrong:

- Day 1 - travel day
- Day 2 - Wild Card game 1(home team)
- Day 3 - travel day
- Day 4 - Wild Card game 2(away team)
- Day 5 - travel day
- Day 6 - (if needed) Wild Card game 3(home team)
- Day 7 - travel day

The logistics just simply won’t allow for a game to be played the very day after the regular season ends and I can’t see any MLB franchise agreeing to play a 3 game series without some rest and a home/away/home format. This just simply won’t happen in my view, but I would love to hear your thoughts anyway.

by scstrato on Mar 5, 2026 10:36 PM EST reply actions

Actually

I think he proposed that whoever had the best record of the 2 wild card teams would host the 3 game series, so no travel would be needed. I don’t necessarily agree with that, but if we are to have 2 wild card teams then there has to be at least a 3 game series, not the one game playoff put in place by selig and friends.

by dcbravesfn on Mar 6, 2026 6:24 PM EST up reply actions

Thoughts...

I also doubt that those teams would be willing to switch leagues, and it’s already been decided that the Astros are moving, so my realignment idea is more of wishful thinking than anything. I’m not really in love with any teams moving in particular, just trying to think how teams could be clustered a little closer together while not switching too many teams.

If the league is unwilling to cut 4 games from the season, perhaps those games could be played between each team’s interleague ‘rival’ series that MLB has been trying to push. Would create a little more imbalance, but something I could live with.

My reasoning for the 3-game wildcard series was based on a few things… The team with the better record could host all 3 games, just as they would host a 1-game playoff that’s being proposed. That would eliminate the need for travel days in between games. I did consider how strenuous it would be to end the season, travel, and begin another series right away. But I think arrangements could be made to facilitate this.

Let’s say the last game of the regular season is on a Sunday. Teams in position to play in this series could play their last game during the day. Sunday night they could travel and begin a 3-game set Monday night, then Tuesday night, and a potential game 3 Wednesday during the day. Wednesday night travel, then Thursday night game 1 of the Division Series. Then there should be regular days off sprinkled throughout the playoffs just as there is now, either for travel days or for broadcasting purposes. During the regular season teams can play 12-13 days in a row with travel in between, so I don’t think the schedule would be TOO strenuous, but definitely enough to have teams competing for a division title rather than a wild card berth. So that would give the 3 division winners 3 days off after the regular season before the playoffs. I almost feel like 3 days off is too much, but I would be interested to see if this could be done.

Thanks for the comments!

by illlogic83 on Mar 5, 2026 11:12 PM EST reply actions

I’d like to see the 5 vs 4 playoff be a doubleheader if one team has a big enough lead (the 5 seed would have to sweep)

by Broccoman on Mar 5, 2026 11:55 PM EST reply actions

CNNSI’s writer Tom Verducci speculated yesterday that even more geographical realignment may be coming down the road. I should state that this is only his hunch and he has no evidence for it.

There’s a typo in the Division Series proposal above. There are five 4@1 entries instead of four.

I do not see the wild card playoff being more than 1 game until Selig dies or retires, but I think there’s a chance for the Division Series to move to 7 games. However, baseball is desperately trying to avoid more World Series games in November and that makes it very difficult to expand the playoffs any more without either moving up the start and end of the regular season or cutting back on days off in the playoffs.

by Zontar on Mar 7, 2026 8:43 AM EST reply actions