it was that way forever because the leagues never played one another. interleague play wasn't introduced until 1994. giving a team homefield advantage in the WS over another based on W/L percentage would be pretty dumb, considering they never played the same teams at all. even now, with interleague play, each team only plays a team from the other league 15 times, split up over 5 different teams. that's less than 10% of their schedule. honestly, i don't think there's a BEST way to decide that given the structure.
because it doesn't afford a clear solution to determining homefield advantage in the WS? honestly, i think this is picking nits. i'm fine with the distinctions between the 2 leagues. i don't hear anyone beating that drum. i just hear people complain about the change to deciding homefield in the WS by the all star game. half of the time, when i remind people what it was before, they say they weren't even aware of what it was prior. i think it's a bit of complaining to complain, honestly.
Unfortunately, this was pretty predictable. all about the $$$$$$$$ Quit messing with the integrity of our national pastime.
I feel like 10 is the right number; the top third, the cream of the crop. Not just above average, but legitimately good teams making it into the postseason. The NBA has too many playoff teams. The NFL has it right, and now MLB will too.
I'm not a fan of 10 in general, but I do love the idea being talked about - where the 2 wildcards play a winner-take-all game to decide who goes on. It's sort of a wildcard play-in game, meaning that being a division winner actually has a huge advantage over being a wildcard. And it really only adds 1 total game to the playoffs in each league.
Baseball began as 2 separate leagues. In the 70's, the AL decided to use the DH. You have a sense of rivalry between the 2 leagues that does not exist in the other sports, generally. That doesn't make it better...it just is what it is. Honestly, if you don't like baseball, do you think you MIGHT be viewing the entire topic with bias? If you're not a fan and call yourself a hater, do you even care enough to be concerned/interested in the issue of how they decide homefield advantage in the WS? That's a pretty small issue if you don't like the game, generally, to begin with.
Don't you think since I admittedly don't like baseball, and call myself a hater, that you shouldn't be taking this so seriously? (cause i'm not)
i'll support an expansion of playoff teams only if they continue to play every day (you know, like in the regular season) instead of the 2 days in between BS.
I kind of like the idea of the play in game that would make good TV. I'm guessing those two teams usually have close to the same record let them duke it out. And theyre probaly using one of their aces in that game so they wont be ready game 1 of the divison series. Which is a pretty big disadvantage that doesnt really exist now