Major Sports Alignment and Playoff Qualifying

[Jrb1979]

12 hours ago, I am the egg man said:

The NHL has the best post season going, don’t see any reason to mess with it.

FIFY. 

[teef]

1 minute ago, Jrb1979 said:

FIFY. 

settle down.

[I'm Spartacus]

Wouldn't mind some new blood in the NFL divisions. "Rust Belt" division.

Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, (Cincinnati or Jets?).

[BuffaloRebound]

I’ve always hated 4 team divisions.  Creates perverse scenarios where a 7-9 division winner hosted a playoff game against a 12-4 wild card team.  The NFL schedule is un- balanced enough especially with uneven amounts of home and road games now.  Do away with divisions, play everyone in your conference plus 2 NFC teams every year.  Top 8 in each conference make playoffs.  Nobody gets a bye.  

[Virgil]

I'm going to do the most American thing ever.  I'm going to complain without giving a solution.

 

This is what I DON'T WANT in playoffs:

• No more than 20-25% of the total teams make the playoffs
• No re-seeding after each round (If 6 beats 3, then they earned that positioning)
• Division games cannot be played against each other in the first round (Or, all division teams play each other the final three weeks of the season to determine division winner, and only the division winner advances to the playoffs)
• A bye week for all playoff teams (nothing extra for the 1 seed)
• No neutral site games until the Super Bowl
• All plays reviewable by ref in the sky, but does not stop the play

Edited February 8, 2023 by Virgil

[MJS]

13 hours ago, The Wiz said:

Honestly asking, you prefer bad teams to play because they won their division with a losing record over letting a better team in?

This rarely happens. Usually, it is a cluster of average teams who don't make the playoffs, especially with the added wild card slot for both conferences.

[MJS]

56 minutes ago, Jrb1979 said:

FIFY. 

They let HALF of their teams in. It's a cheapened playoffs. And yet the Sabres still can't manage it...

 

I am still against the extra wild card team in the NFL. Making the playoffs should be a big achievement.

[Gugny]

I'm okay with the current NFL setup, but a change/realignment would not break my heart.  The division winner getting an automatic spot in the post-season is one thing I'd consider changing.  It's like conference tournament winners in NCAA basketball making it into March Madness. Why?  Those 16-seeds are largely garbage.

 

I'd love to see something that could calculate up to the minute strength of schedule throughout the season and adjust seedings/rankings accordingly.  

 

MLB ... too many playoff teams.  Too many teams, period, if you ask me.  The structure of the league isn't high on my list of concerns.

 

Rob Manfred turning the game into a little league atmosphere is a bigger problem, but I won't derail the thread ... not to mention, I get so pissed off when I start talking about it that watching 13-seconds would cheer me up.

[ticketssince61]

One thing I would be strongly in favor of is seeding based on record and not automatically giving a division winner a home game

 

it is ridiculous that 9-8 or 8-9 teams play home games against 12-5 teams

 

 

[corta765]

I have been of the belief for the NFL it should go to just 2 division being the East and West. Merge the East and North divisions as the new East and the South & West as the new West for each conference. It would put a premium on winning the division for home field and give wildcard teams a more fair path to the playoffs so an 8-9 team is not hosting a game. Additionally I would do the schedule where you play your division once (7 games) plus one rotating game against one of your three former division foes (1 games), four of the teams in the West (4 games), four of the opposing conferences team so you would play the foursome of the NFC East or South now it just rotates (4 games), and a cross over game with the other conference as is now (1 game).
 

It would balance things far more where you would play 75% of the conference yearly and play everyone a home and away within 3 years vs now where it can be 3-4 years before you host KC for example.

 

 

[May Day 10]

For MLB, I would shake the whole thing up now they have the universal DH.  Put the cross-town and regional rivals in the same Division:  Mets/Yankees, Orioles/Nationals, Cleveland/Cincinnati, Tampa/Marlins, etc...   I don't mind seeing the current # of teams in.  162 games is a long season, and the more teams with meaningful games for the stretch-run, the better.

 

NHL is trashed.  Not sure what they did with the Divisional alignment, names, and playoff format, but woof.  Go immediately to the 3-2-1-0 points system.  Change out of the current Division-heavy playoff system where you only play some divisional opponents 3 times (while playing an irrelevant team in the other conference 2x).  

I think the NHL could do the 8-Division format the NFL has with 2 conferences.  Play each team in your division 8x, other 3 divisions in conference 3x each, and other conference 1x. 

That would be a 76 game schedule which I think is fine.  If they want those 6 extra games, blend them into the rest of the conference or Division on a rotating basis.  They could also choose to play 2 divisions in the other conference in a home/away, flip-flopping every year with the other 2 divisions.

Division winner makes the playoffs, 4 wild-cards in each conference.  Seeded 1-8 in each conference for round 1.  After Round 1, seed the remaining teams 1-8, regardless of conference, and play it out.  That way, any NHL Final is possible.

 

NBA, Im not sure, I dont follow it close enough, but I think they are doing a good job.  That play-in round concept is neat.

 

NFL I am torn.  I like the 4 team Divisions, but Im entirely bored with the Jets, Dolphins, and Patriots.  I was fine with 12 teams making it, although I dont hate the idea of 2 additional teams.  I do dislike the current format of only 1 team getting the top seed as well as the bye.  I honestly would think about giving the choice to the #1 seed:  Bye OR top-seed/home field.  

 

 

 

 

[JohnBonhamRocks]

Copying and pasting a note I made recently when thinking about division realignment:

 

AFCN: CIN, CLE, IND, PIT

 

AFCS: HOU, JAX, MIA, TEN

 

AFCW: DEN, KC, LAC, LV

 

AFCE: BAL, BUF, NE, NYJ

 

NFCN: CHI, DET, GB, MIN

 

NFCS: ATL, DAL, NO, TB

 

NFCW: ARI, LAR, SEA, SF

 

NFCE: CAR, PHI, NYG, WAS

 

Not a ton of changes (AFCW, NFCN, & NFCW unchanged), but I think this more accurately reflects the teams’ locations and overall proximity. 

[K D]

I'm not interested in divisions because then you end up with teams in the playoffs that shouldn't be. I want to see the top 7 teams, not the top 6 and then the AFC south. I say 2 divisions based on geography (east and west) and top 8 teams make it no matter the division and top 2 teams get bye

[Jauronimo]

5 hours ago, MJS said:

They let HALF of their teams in. It's a cheapened playoffs. And yet the Sabres still can't manage it...

 

I am still against the extra wild card team in the NFL. Making the playoffs should be a big achievement.

Its been 16 teams qualifying in the NHL forever and now there are actually 32 franchises.  7 and 8 seeds actually make some noise in the playoffs.  Ask Toronto how those high seeds have worked out.

 

The NBA has 16 teams qualifying and only 30 franchises.  The low seeded teams have no chance.  NBA is the most predictable major sports league.

[LabattBlue]

5 hours ago, I'm Spartacus said:

Wouldn't mind some new blood in the NFL divisions. "Rust Belt" division.

Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, (Cincinnati or Jets?).

The Bills had their chance but Ralph insisted we stay in a division with Miami.  

[BearNorth]

I like only conferences, no divisions. 

 

 

 

 

[MJS]

25 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

Its been 16 teams qualifying in the NHL forever and now there are actually 32 franchises.  7 and 8 seeds actually make some noise in the playoffs.  Ask Toronto how those high seeds have worked out.

 

The NBA has 16 teams qualifying and only 30 franchises.  The low seeded teams have no chance.  NBA is the most predictable major sports league.

Too many teams for me. I don't like that half or more of the league can make the playoffs.

 

I like it when GOOD teams miss the playoffs.

[BullBuchanan]

20 hours ago, The Wiz said:

Honestly asking, you prefer bad teams to play because they won their division with a losing record over letting a better team in?

It happened for the 4th time ever this year. It doesn't need to be a reason to change everything. If the Bucs hadn't made it, the Lions would have gotten in. No one cares, not even Detroit.

[Jauronimo]

43 minutes ago, MJS said:

Too many teams for me. I don't like that half or more of the league can make the playoffs.

 

I like it when GOOD teams miss the playoffs.

I don't know how good teams missing the post season heightens your enjoyment of playoff hockey.  I think intensity and speed of playoff hockey makes it about the best product there is.  Fewer games doesnt sweeten the pot for me.

[The Wiz]

56 minutes ago, BullBuchanan said:

It happened for the 4th time ever this year. It doesn't need to be a reason to change everything. If the Bucs hadn't made it, the Lions would have gotten in. No one cares, not even Detroit.

Ok so would you prefer a 9-8 team playing as the home team vs a 12-5 team?

 

That's really the point I'm trying to make. If you win your division at 9-8, great good for that team for being in a crappy division.  But I can assure you that every other team that has a better record that has to play road games the rest of the way to the super bowl doesn't like it one bit.

 

Division should matter still.  conference record first and then they can use division record as a tie breaker.