Playoff

A playoff in sports (North American professional sports in particular) is a game or series of games played after the regular season is over with the goal of determining a league champion. The championship of a league may be determined by as few as a single playoff between two teams, or by an elimination tournament involving several teams.

Playoffs in Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the oldest of the major professional sports, dating back to the 1870s. As such, it is steeped in tradition. The final series to determine its champion has been called the "World Series" (originally "World's Championship Series" and then "World's Series") as far back as the National League's contests with the American Association during the 1880s.

Related Topics:
1870s - World Series - American Association - 1880s

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Retaining the sanctity of the World Series as a special event (despite the erosion of its specialness since the introduction of interleague play) rather than merely the "final round of playoffs", the major leagues themselves do not use the term "playoffs" for post-season action. MLB has stuck with "____ Series" for each level of its post-season tournament (another term MLB does not use). In the Majors the singular term "playoff" is reserved for the rare situation in which two teams find themselves tied at the end of the regular season and are forced to have a playoff game (or games) to determine which team will advance to the post-season. Thus, in the Majors, a "playoff" is actually part of the regular season and thus can be called a "Pennant playoff". However, the plural term "playoffs" is conventionally used by fans and media to refer to baseball's post-season tournament (and has always been used by Minor league baseball for its own post-season play), so this article will defer to that usage.

Related Topics:
Pennant playoff - Minor league baseball

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Baseball has always been the least generous sport in allowing teams to enter its playoff tournament, and parodoxically so, given that it also has by far the lengthiest season in terms of games (currently 162). In 1903 (skipped 1904) the two modern Major League Baseball leagues began annual post-season play with a one-round system in which the American League team with the best record faced the National League team with the best record in a best-of-7 series (there were a few years it was best-of-9) called the World Series. This single-tiered approach persisted through 1968, even with the expansions of 1961-1962 that made it necessary for 2 teams each year to finish their seasons in ignominious double-digits, as it were, in 10th place.

Related Topics:
World Series - 1968 - 1961 - 1962

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Adoption of two-round playoff system:

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By 1969 expansion had made it harder to make the playoffs because there were more teams, but the same number of teams qualified for the playoffs since it had begun. To remedy this, and imitating the other major sports' long-standing playoff traditions, Major League Baseball split each league into western and eastern divisions, creating more divisions and thus more divisional winners and more playoff contenders... and no worse than a 6th place finish for any team. This created a new round of playoffs, which was dubbed the League Championship Series, a best of 5 playoff series. In 1985 this series was expanded to a best of 7 playoff series.

Related Topics:
League Championship Series - Best of 5 playoff

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Current playoff system:

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By 1994, further expansion was making it very hard to make the playoffs again. Major League baseball went through re-alignment again, adding central divisions to each league. Because only allowing divisional winners in the playoffs would make an odd number of playoff teams in each league, 3, the league also added wild-cards to each league, again imitating the NFL approach. This system was in place for 1994, but the players' strike cancelled the post-season. The system was realized on the field in 1995. The wild card team would be the team with the best record in each league of all the teams that did not win their division. This doubled the playoff contenders in each league from two to four, and from four to eight teams across baseball. The extra playoff teams meant another elimination round was needed. This new round would become the new first round of the playoffs, the best-of 5, Division Series. This term had first been used for the extra round required in 1981 due to the "split-season" scheduling anomaly following the mid-season players' strike. The three-tiered playoff tournament is the system in use as of 2005.

Related Topics:
1994 - 1995 - Division Series - 2005

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Some baseball purists don't like the idea that teams that were not consistently good enough to win their division can still win the World Series... an issue they also used to raise when LCS teams with lesser records advanced to the Series. However, the wild card approach has proven to be a great success with the fans, providing a good deal of extra drama during the final month of the season, although admittedly it has sometimes taken away from the normal "pennant race" drama when the two best teams in the league happen to be in the same division. The wild card qualifier has won four World Series, and three in a row, including, in 2002, a World Series consisting of both wild card teams.

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Some observers wonder if an extra wild card team should be added to each league, and if a best of 3 wild card playoff should be added before the Division Series, though as of the mid-2000s this does not have much traction. This would be the logical next step, if and when baseball expands its playoffs again.

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Home-field advantage:

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The World Series used several different formats in its early years. Initially it generally followed an alternating home-and-home pattern, except that if a 7th game was possible, its site was determined by coin toss prior the 6th game. In 1924 the Series began using a 2-3-2 format, presumably to save on travel costs, a pattern which has continued to this day with the exception of a couple of the World War II years when wartime travel restrictions compelled a 3-4 format. From the start of the 2-3-2 format until 2002, home field advantage generally alternated between leagues each year. Starting in 2003, following a much-criticized All Star Game in 2002 that ended in an unsatisfying tie, it was decided to give tangible meaning to that game, by awarding the league that wins it with home-field advantage in the World Series that year. Coupled with the American League's scheduled home field advantage in the 2002 Series, this has given the American League the home edge for 4 years in a row as of this writing.

Related Topics:
World War II - All Star Game

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League Championship Series:

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Until 1998 The LCS alternated home-field advantage with a 2-3 format in the best of 5 era and a 2-3-2 format when it went to best of 7 in 1985. Now home-field advantage goes to the team with the best record unless it is a wild card qualifier.

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Division Series:

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Until 1998 the Division Series rotated which of the three division champions would not have home field advantage, with the wild card never having it. Now the two division winners with the best records in each league have home field, with the least-winning divisonal winner and the wild card not having home field. The DS used a 2-3 format until 1998 and now uses a 2-2-1 format.

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