After a highly unique MLB playoff ranking, the Rays, Yankees and Red Sox will represent the No. 1, No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in the American League despite owning the top three records in the league by a fair margin. The tough road to the World Series for these three teams has amplified calls for MLB to change to a playoff reseeding format.
One of those voices calling for the MLB to follow in the footsteps of the NFL is insider and FOX sideline reporter Ken Rosenthal, who appeared on the Foul Territory show ahead of the wild card round between the Yankees and Red Sox.
“The network’s interest aligns with MLB,” Rosenthal said. “You want the most eyeballs, and ideally you want the Yankees and Red Sox playing in later rounds, possibly the Braves and Phillies as well.”
Rosenthal acknowledged that sometimes the pecking order of the MLB playoffs just works out and the teams are ranked chronologically, and sometimes it doesn’t. But Rosenthal is one of many people calling for a change in baseball.
How Would MLB Playoff Reseeding Look?
The most likely reseeding scenario for MLB, which could appear as a change in this offseason’s collective bargaining agreement, is that the Wild Card would remain the same, with the #5 team playing the #4 team and the #6 team playing the #3 team, but the Division Series to involve a shift where the lowest of the advancing teams plays the #1 seed and the higher team to play the #2 seed.
As a result, under such a change, if the #6 Chicago White Sox advance, they’d draw the #1 Tampa Bay Rays as opposed to the winner of the Yankees/Red Sox series, and same would go with the #6 Philadelphia Phillies and the #1 Milwaukee Brewers.
Why Would This Change Be Good?
The calls for this sort of change came after a highly unusual American League playoff bracket emerged, where it was actually preferable for a team to tank for the #6 seed, and get a mediocre division winner out of the AL West in the Wild Card, and an AL Central division winner who would have not made the playoffs in the National League.
With the sheer density of talent in the American League East – the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays and Orioles all in the playoffs or clustered around the playoff picture – and the lack of strong options in the AL West this year, fans of teams like the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays alike have a fair reason to be peeved at the system for different reasons.
Reseeding after the wild card would give the Rays – a team that winds up on top – a rightfully “easier” path to an American League Pennant, and fail to give the #6 seed an easy way out. In a postseason that lacks the same length of each series as the NBA or NHL, and one that rewards getting hot at the right time similar to the NFL, it might be a good idea for the MLB to switch to a playoff system that promotes a greater competitive balance.
Ken Rosenthal Says MLB Should Reseed Playoffs After Wild Card Round