Sports question (Best-of-7 series)

[Hatman 🍁]

Option 2 is the only fair way. Otherwise the lesser team gets a home ice/field/court advantage if the series only goes five games.

[Hatman 🍁]

None of the above. Prefer no series. Just play the game and win or lose.

It takes a very myopic worldview to not realize that that's a terrible idea for a great many sports.

Correct. The more games there are, the more likely the true better team will emerge as the series winner.

[Hatman 🍁]

None of the above. Prefer no series. Just play the game and win or lose.

It takes a very myopic worldview to not realize that that's a terrible idea for a great many sports.

Correct. The more games there are, the more likely the true better team will emerge as the series winner.

In that case (and I agree), scrap the play-offs entirely. Surely the regular season provides the best opportunity to determine which club is best, considering how many games are played?

While it is perhaps the best way to determine a champion, you have to understand that sport is done for the entertainment. And not having a playoff is not entertaining. Plus, having a playoff means more money, and more incentive for successful teams. Plus, it gives weaker teams an insensitive towards the end of the season whereas they would ordinarily be playing "nothing games"- which a vast majority of games would be.  In short, playoffs are entertaining to the public. It gives teams a chance to "win" the championship in one final game.

[Hatman 🍁]

None of the above. Prefer no series. Just play the game and win or lose.

It takes a very myopic worldview to not realize that that's a terrible idea for a great many sports.

Correct. The more games there are, the more likely the true better team will emerge as the series winner.

In that case (and I agree), scrap the play-offs entirely. Surely the regular season provides the best opportunity to determine which club is best, considering how many games are played?

I'm not opposed to this, actually. I do wish baseball would get rid of the playoffs and just have the top team from each league play in the World Series, but money forfends.

Amen, and this is why I hate Bud Selig. We should have less, not more, playoff teams. If it weren't for his move to an 8-team tournament in the first place, we wouldn't complain about baseball going into November. His current move to a 10-team postseason is only done for the attention ("now, even a third place team can win it all", as if that is a good thing!) and money.

Or, better yet, go old-fashioned. Scrap interleague play, send the best team from each league into a single-round playoff (the World Series), and give home field to the team with the better regular season.

What

One of the reasons baseball is horrible is that few teams make the playoffs. As a Blue Jays fan, I'm sick of having decent teams continue to fail to make the playoffs because A) they're in a tough division and B) it's too hard to make the playoffs. It's one of the reasons baseball has become totally ignored in Canada.

It should be automatic in any sport for 2/3 of the teams to make the playoffs. Having grand playoffs tournaments is what separates us from the Europeans!

[Hatman 🍁]

If baseball had 8 teams from each league make the playoffs (like the NBA or NHL), then the Blue Jays would have made the playoffs (since the strike) in 1998 (6th), 1999 (6th), 2000 (7th), 2001 (8th), 2002 (8th), 2003 (T6th), 2005 (8th), 2006 (7th), 2007 (7th), 2008 (6th), 2010 (7th), and 2011 (7th).

They would be a consistent playoff team, only missing it in 2004 and 2009 since 1998.

[Hatman 🍁]

It must really anger you that an 8th place team is about to win the Stanley Cup.

[Hatman 🍁]

hockey is a joke now anyway with the accrual of points for a skills competition and for losing hockey games.  there is no stratification in the standings at all and most of it has little or nothing to do with actual proficiency at hockey.

Personally, I like the lack of stratification in the standings. I think part of that has to do with the salary cap.  I think that since now we are seeing 8th place teams make it to the finals, it's time to increase the amount of playoff teams to 20. Back during the original six era, 4 out of 6 teams made the playoffs (2/3), so why not 20/30.

But yeah, hockey has been a joke ever since Bettman became commissioner. Things are starting to get better now, though.

[Hatman 🍁]

Well, I dont mind so much that points are awarded for OTL and SOL's, but the real problem is that some games are worth more points than others, which is a huge flaw in the system. Maybe games should be worth 3 points instead, with OTW/SOW's being worth 2 points.

[Hatman 🍁]

hockey also needs to switch back to white jerseys at home.  the Lockout broke the sport.

Why? I think Toronto was the only team with a white third jersey.