'Improved' playoff system flawed and unfair

Right off the bat I will state that I am a die-hard New York Yankee fan, and that I am proud of my team. Despite the Yanks' premature playoff exit, they continue to reign as world champions, at least for another two weeks. And they are still a much better team than the Cleveland Indians. I did not hear one baseball expert predict that the Yankees would lose to the Indians in the first round. Granted baseball is a profoundly unpredictable sport, but in my opinion, the Indians did not even deserve to be in the playoffs this season. For this and other reasons, I'm convinced there is something seriously wrong with the current playoff system.

New York finished the season with the second best record in the American League (96-66), and third in baseball. The Yankees were nine-and-a-half games better than Cleveland during the regular season, surpassing them in almost every statistical category. The Indians had a mediocre year. They played .534 ball, and ended up winning the Central Division by default after Jerry Reinsdorf traded his contending White Sox team away in July.

I know what you're thinking right now--here's another whiny New Yorker. But I insist that I am not just making excuses. I fully admit that my team did not play its best against Cleveland. Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez were virtual non-factors in the offense. In Game Five, Joe Torre made a fatal blunder by batting rookie Jorge Posada in two pivotal situations while Chad Curtis and Cecil Fielder languished on the bench. Meanwhile, the Indians played their hearts out the entire series and received two strong performances from young pitcher Jaret Wright. But that will not stop me from calling into question the current structure of the baseball playoff system.

I am one of those purists who was opposed to the three division and wild card set-up from the start. I would much rather have seen the Orioles and Yankees battle it out in the regular season for the AL East crown without the possibility of a wild card to taint the competition. Instead, we watched all the excitement drain out of September baseball once playoff positioning was virtually determined, and the Yankees knew they were assured of a postseason berth. I would rather not see .500 teams like the Houston Astros and the Indians make it to the playoffs at all--something that would have never happened when there were only two divisions.

But the most supremely inexplicable aspect of this new-fangled system is the process of playoff seeding and home field advantage. Is there anyone who can explain to me why the Astros (84-78) and the Indians (86-75) had home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs? Can anyone tell me why the Braves, who finished at a league-high 101-61, would have had to play the final three games of their first round series on the road? It seems so simple: the team with the better regular season record should clearly get home field in all intraleague playoff series. I can't help but think that had Game Five been in the Bronx, I would be writing an Orioles/Yankees ALCS Preview right now, and not a diatribe on the evils and inconsistencies of realigned playoff baseball.

Home field is just the tip of the iceberg. Perhaps someone can also help me out with the whole concept of the 2-3 home/road five-game playoff format. Does baseball have something against the NBA's infinitely more fair 2-2-1 home/road schedule? Having the final three games of any playoff series at home is a categorical advantage for that team. In a short series, it's even worse.

Even more ridiculous is the fact that, entering the playoffs, the team finishing with the best record in each league does not necessarily play the team with the worst outcome. The empty commissioner's office randomly declares which division will play which. If seeding worked logically, in this year's first round the Orioles would have played the Indians and the Yankees the Mariners, which would have been infinitely more fair to Baltimore, the team with the best record. The Orioles, throughout a grueling 162-game season, earned the right to play the weakest playoff team in the first round. By arbitrarily seeding playoff teams, baseball neglects the import of the entire regular season. A system that makes finishing second the more attractive option has grave problems.

Baseball is fast becoming the ultimate paradox in sports. On the field, it's the most beautifully designed game in the world. Off the field, it has deteriorated to the point where it is almost beyond comprehension. Until baseball finds a tough commissioner with a brain and a genuine love of the game, it will continue in its downward spiral until all of its elegance is obscured by inscrutable rules. Call me bitter or call me arrogant, but until baseball starts making sense to me again, I will claim that my Yankees lost a tournament with unfair rules.

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