Since 1903 when the Boston Americans defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series, the champion has been determined by having the winner of the National League play the winner of the American League. And historically, the two leagues (AL and NL) have played separate schedules (against only teams in their own league) up until meeting in the series.

However, in recent years the lines between the leagues have blurred with the introduction of interleague play and the adoption of the designated-hitter rule by both leagues. (See: Are the American and National Leagues Still Relevant?)

Best Teams Regardless of League

Since the American and National Leagues have become little more than a convenient method to place teams into groups, is there any reason for the World Series to continue to dictate that an AL winner must face an NL winner? What if the two best teams, regardless of league or geographic division, had the opportunity to face each other?

It’s not uncommon that some of the very best teams are in the same league, and even the same division: think the NL West San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers, the NL East New York Mets and Atlanta Braves, or the AL East New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays (or Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, or even Baltimore Orioles—if you prefer). Why not leave open the possibility, even arrange playoff brackets, so that these teams could face each other in the World Series? Of course the eventual World Series foes would need to navigate (and win) their way through a playoff bracket to make it to The Series.

A New MLB Playoff Structure Proposed

What if the MLB playoffs were structured to include the best teams, regardless of league? Granted, the division winners (by league) would be included, and by virtue of winning a division would be granted a higher seed in the playoffs just as they are now.

Consider this proposal: the six division winners get the top six playoff seeds with the next six-best teams across all of Major League Baseball gaining seeds seven through twelve. In other words, for the Wild Card teams it would not matter which league you’re in; you could end up with four Wild Cards from the NL and two from the AL, or in an extremely unlikely scenario all six Wild Cards could be from the same league.

Who Gets a Bye?

This would be a little different than the current system. Rather than the top two division winners from each league getting a first-round bye, the top four division winners (regardless of league) would receive a bye. In other words, it’s possible that all three division winners from the American League could get a bye, if all three had better records than the best team in the National League. This is unlikely, since each league tends to have one weak division, but certainly a possible outcome.

How Would the Seeding Work?

• Seeds 1-4 would go to the top four division winners (1st round bye).
• Seeds 5-6 go to the fifth and sixth-best division winners.
• Seeds 7-12 go to the next six best teams (regardless of league).

1st Round – Wild Card Series

This would continue to work as it has been with the two division winners (seeds 5 and 6) playing the Wild Cards with the poorest regular season win-loss records.

• 5 plays 12
• 6 plays 11
• 7 plays 10
• 8 plays 9

2nd Round – Division Series

Formerly known as the ALDS and NLDS; you might also call this the Quarter Finals since league alignment would no longer be considered. We can disagree on which bracket gives the number 1 seed the best chance to advance, but this setup guarantees they do not play higher than the number 8 seed.

1. 1 plays winner of 8/9
2. 2 plays winner of 7/10
3. 3 plays winner of 6/11
4. 4 plays winner of 5/12 

3rd Round – Semi Finals

Formerly known as the ALCS and NLCS, the leagues no longer matter so we’ll just refer to them as the Semi Finals as in other sporting tournaments.

• Winner of A plays the winner of D (so the 1st seed plays no higher than the number 4 seed).
• Winner of B plays the winner of C (giving the number 2 and 3 seeds the possibility of playing each other).

4th Round – The World Series

Now the best-of-the-best face off to determine the true champion without regard for league, meaning two American League or two National League teams could face each other.

Let’s Try It, MLB!

If we want the game of baseball to continue to evolve, to innovate, to add excitement, what better way than to reimagine the playoffs for what they could be. Let the two best teams have a chance to face each other without getting caught up in the traditional boundaries of the American and National Leagues. Think how exciting it would be to have the Giants versus Dodgers or Yankees versus Red Sox in the World Series for the first time in history! Let’s give it a try, MLB.

Photo Credit

Photo by Taylor Rooney on Unsplash