2 minutes ago, Tony said:

Agree.  They don’t have to change things to make the sport unrecognizable, but I can’t deal with the “WE JUST WANT BASEBALL BACK!” Crowd then when changes come with it, the same crowd says “BUT THATS NOT THE BASEBALL I WANTED! I’M DONE!” 
 

The sport isn’t in a good place right now, and that was before COVID. If they are smart, they’ll use this time to get a little crazy, try some things and see if a few things stick.

NFL  is in a good place right now. Maybe we need to add more player contact in MLB. Open season on catchers blocking the plate again. 

1 minute ago, Squirmin' for Yermin said:

I don't believe it would at all.  rebuilding teams want to save money too.  A way to get them to stop tanking is to force them to spend money... ie, cap floor

Teams rebuild to take advantages in the draft with higher picks and larger pools of money to spend both in the draft and internatioanlly.  Take that away and there is no incentive to rebuild.  

Just now, ptatc said:

Because they dont want the high spending teams go have limits. Teams like the pirates and royals will stay at the minimum and the Dodgers, Yankees and red Sox will have limitations. The union only cares about the average salary increasing not individual teams.

Well they already agreed to the luxury tax as a de facto cap. There's no way in hell that the owners are giving that up, so might as well go to a cap and floor system. 

1 minute ago, Harold's Leg Lift said:

Teams rebuild to take advantages in the draft with higher picks and larger pools of money to spend both in the draft and internatioanlly.  Take that away and there is no incentive to rebuild.  

Right. equally lottery the picks and International pool money, then it's all based on how good your front office is and nothing more. 

You could also make it so you can't be in the top 5 in both lotteries. 

Edited June 17, 20205 yr by Jack Parkman

1. Expand Playoffs

2. Salary cap FLOOR of 100 million (having a floor will also increase FA activity quicker because teams know they have to spend money, think NFL)

3. Universal DH

4. More interstate/city rivalry games

3. Reduced parking costs

4. Shitty Miller Lite NOT being $9

5. Ticket prices can't increase more than 10% year-year

 

YERMIN FOR COMMISIONER!

Edited June 17, 20205 yr by Squirmin' for Yermin

19 minutes ago, Squirmin' for Yermin said:

burned them.

If the owners agreed to this deal 5 weeks ago, it would have needed to be more than 60 games. The owners waited things out until it only made sense to play less than 65 games. Then, they came in at the end looking like heroes for making "concessions". 

36 minutes ago, iWiN4PreP said:

MLB going to 16 teams in the playoffs would make it unwatchable for me. The regular season wouldn't matter and the playoffs would be a joke. 

I'm fine with discussions on adding a wild card here or there, but any expansive additions would result in losing me as a fan. 

Doesn't seem to effect other sports' popularity. And which is the least popular? Hmmmm

As a Sox fan I am thrilled for expanded playoffs. I am also thrilled about getting some games in for developmental reasons. If Kopech and Rodon can start this season from the get go, I think we will have a shot at getting one of those extra playoff spots. 

3 minutes ago, soxfan2014 said:

Doesn't seem to effect other sports' popularity. And which is the least popular? Hmmmm

The NHL. It shouldn't be though, hockey is a really fun game. I think its lack of popularity has a lot to do with how expensive it is to play as a kid. That's killing baseball too. Hockey is a rich kid's sport, and baseball is trending that way too. 

With football you just need a football and some open space and with basketball you need one ball and a hoop and you're good. 

Edited June 17, 20205 yr by Jack Parkman

4 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

Well they already agreed to the luxury tax as a de facto cap. There's no way in hell that the owners are giving that up, so might as well go to a cap and floor system. 

It's a defacto cap but those teams go over it until the penalties are too harsh. Then they go down for year only to go up again. Plus that limit is really high. Its higher than the NFL cap and they have 53 players and MLB has 26.

1 minute ago, Jack Parkman said:

The NHL. It shouldn't be though, hockey is a really fun game. I think its lack of popularity has a lot to do with how expensive it is to play as a kid. That's killing baseball too. Hockey is a rich kid's sport, and baseball is trending that way too. 

with football you just need a football and some open space and with basketball you need one ball and a hoop and you're good. 

Well sure.... but it's also a 3 hour boring game.....  

2 minutes ago, ptatc said:

It's a defacto cap but those teams go over it until the penalties are too harsh. Then they go down for year only to go up again. Plus that limit is really high. Its higher than the NFL cap and they have 53 players and MLB has 26.

I think a soft cap similar to the NBA with a floor could be a good compromise, where you're only allowed to exceed to retain your own talent, have stuff like the MLE, etc. 

Edited June 17, 20205 yr by Jack Parkman

5 minutes ago, SonofaRoache said:

If the owners agreed to this deal 5 weeks ago, it would have needed to be more than 60 games. The owners waited things out until it only made sense to play less than 65 games. Then, they came in at the end looking like heroes for making "concessions". 

Correct. It's close to the same deal the owners wanted. However, the final deal will probably be for a few more games with the owners getting the extra playoffs in 2021.

4 minutes ago, soxfan2014 said:

Doesn't seem to effect other sports' popularity. And which is the least popular? Hmmmm

I made a personal statement. It may or may not alter the popularity of the sport, but that's not of a concern to my personal enjoyment of it. 

10 minutes ago, SonofaRoache said:

Baseball is too long and too flukey to not have expanded playoffs, even if it means shortening the season by 10 games. In most cases there just isn't much of a difference between teams ranked 4 thru 6 in each league. 

That doesn't make sense. How can it be the longest sport (and thus the most accurate representation of standings at the end) yet flukey?

Want flukey go to the NFL. 

MLB standings are not flukey. 

Just now, Jack Parkman said:

I think a soft cap similar to the NBA with a floor could be a good compromise. 

Possible. I'm all for something similar to try to get the teams trying. Arent there teams that are routinely bad in the NBA though. We need to look at why and try to correct that.

So 16 teams in the playoffs means 8 per league - 2 at the top of each division (East, Central, West) and the next 2 best teams record-wise are the 7 and 8 seeds. Based on last years standings that would be:

Yankees

Tampa

Minnesota

Cleveland

Houston

Oakland

Boston (84-78)

Texas (78-84)

 

Atlanta

Washington

St Louis

Milwaukee

LA Dodgers

Arizona

Mets (86-76)

Cubs (84-78)

 

Only one team below .500. Could do NBA style 1 vs 8 2 vs 7 etc but that's boring. I'd like to see the WC teams play each other still in a 1 game elimination, give the top seed in each league a bye, then do 2 vs Wild Card, 3 vs 6, 4 vs 5.

1 minute ago, iWiN4PreP said:

That doesn't make sense. How can it be the longest sport (and thus the most accurate representation of standings at the end) yet flukey?

Want flukey go to the NFL. 

MLB standings are not flukey. 

MLB has the highest level of variance from season to season out of any sport. Even good teams can have bad seasons. In the NFL it's all about the QB. 

Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger or Tom Brady represented the AFC in the Super Bowl in every year except two from 2001-2018. 

Edited June 17, 20205 yr by Jack Parkman

Just now, iWiN4PreP said:

I made a personal statement. It may or may not alter the popularity of the sport, but that's not of a concern to my personal enjoyment of it. 

Cool. You will be missed.

2 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

MLB has the highest level of variance from season to season out of any sport. Even good teams can have bad seasons. In the NFL it's all about the QB. 

What makes you say that? Source? I'd be interested in reading. 

Edited June 17, 20205 yr by iWiN4PreP

5 minutes ago, soxfan2014 said:

Cool. You will be missed.

Thanks, but I don't see anything saying a 16 playoff is the permanent change yet, so there is hope that it won't occur !

Edited June 17, 20205 yr by iWiN4PreP

1 hour ago, hogan873 said:

If the proposal was just sent to the players, there obviously isn't an agreement yet.  But, this definitely the most optimistic news since...well, since play was halted back in March.

Hopefully owners and the MLBPA can keep their traps shut until there is an agreement.

This is a good point.  They can have the discussion and even have a framework in place without having an agreement.  Remember there are a lot of lawyers involved here.

6 minutes ago, almagest said:

So 16 teams in the playoffs means 8 per league - 2 at the top of each division (East, Central, West) and the next 2 best teams record-wise are the 7 and 8 seeds. Based on last years standings that would be:

Yankees

Tampa

Minnesota

Cleveland

Houston

Oakland

Boston (84-78)

Texas (78-84)

 

Atlanta

Washington

St Louis

Milwaukee

LA Dodgers

Arizona

Mets (86-76)

Cubs (84-78)

 

Only one team below .500. Could do NBA style 1 vs 8 2 vs 7 etc but that's boring. I'd like to see the WC teams play each other still in a 1 game elimination, give the top seed in each league a bye, then do 2 vs Wild Card, 3 vs 6, 4 vs 5.

tHIS HONESTLY SOUNDS AWESOME!

 

You honestly cannot tell me that the Red Sox and Cubs wouldn't have had some serious upset chances AND that the Mets rotation couldn't get crazy... This sounds amazing

Edited June 17, 20205 yr by Squirmin' for Yermin

Just to clarify, the expanded playoffs wont be permanent right? Man I hope not

54 minutes ago, flavum said:

So again, what’s the point of the six month grind? Where’s the reward for winning 88+ games?
Expanding the playoffs would encourage teams to seek a level of mediocrity that may or may not get you in the playoffs, but cheap teams can still sell it to fans that they tried. Making the playoffs in MLB is supposed to be difficult.

I would rather see smaller playoffs, but if this is what gets a season going again, count me as a fan.