CL Playoffs: For or Against?

In favor - except it should be two teams, not three. But the main thing is to have the two leagues play the same schedule. The Pacific League got in first, so the Central League had to follow.

It's actually the Post Season Games and they're coordinated between the two leagues. So, next year we could have two regular season winners, as well as two other PSG winners that go on and face each other in the Japan Series. Could be rather odd.

Seeing how exciting the PL playoffs have been, I'm all for introducing them in the CL, too. I would have loved to see the Swallows, Tigers, and Dragons slug it out in a playoff series this season. It doesn't matter what my teams' position is, by the way. I would have said the same last year with the Tigers, Dragons, and BayStars.

I like the idea of more teams playing meaningful games in September. It could have been an interesting race for third this year between Yakult and Kyojin. I'm sure more fans would have shown up at the ballparks and the media would have followed the story with interest.

My only gripe with the current system is that the series are too short. I would like to see a 5-7 system like in the majors or, better still, a 7-7 system, but I realize the problem of having an odd number of teams and keeping the #1 seed waiting for more than a week.

I'm not a fan of any system that lets a second or third rate team make the championship. The CL was one of the last bastions of true baseball. At least we got one good last reminder of what a pennant race is before such things are obliterated by greed.

What do you mean by "obliterated by greed"? There's a still a huge race to finish first for the post-season advantage - did you notice this year how insane things got towards the end for the Fighters and Lions? Is it greedy to want to try to keep things interesting for more than one team towards the end of the year?

If a team is truly a second or third rate team, they're not going to make the championship anyway. Your notion of "true baseball" is 40 years out of date, I think.

- What do you mean by "obliterated by greed"? There's a still a huge race to finish first for the post-season advantage - did you notice this year how insane things got towards the end for the Fighters and Lions?

It wasn't nearly as intense as the Chunichi-Hanshin race because Seibu would survive anyways. And what good does it do if the first-place team then is erased in a couple games that make the first 130 or so games useless, as happened in the first two years of PL playoffs? Additionally, what happens when a sub-.500 team becomes the Japan Series champion?

While I agree that the race with Seibu wasn't very intense, playoffs have made the league more fun to watch and be a part of. Going straight to the Series without a playoff system is also a thing of the past and just isn't much fun to watch as the intensity of the playoffs for the fans. A system without playoffs is a thing of the past, like the majors post-1969.

Yes, I do at times think the system could cut out the third place team and both playoff systems will be just fine, though the playoffs do bring more excitement with the third team than without them.

Just think if Hanshin and Chunichi played in a playoff series, it would be more interesting than just seeing one team reach the playoffs. If the first place team loses in the playoffs, then are they really the best team in the league? Is Softbank really the best team in the league if they lost in the early rounds of the playoffs then?

The intensity between both of the teams would make for an intense series which would draw fans and bring out the intensity in both teams and their fan base. Anything that can bring out the fan base to games is a positive sign.

- Additionally, what happens when a sub-.500 team becomes the Japan Series champion?

That's why the system could afford to get rid of a third place team, and still have a very competitive playoff system, which is more beneficial to the fans. Unless a whole league collapses, both the first and second place teams are usually competitive.

If it wasn't intense, why did the Fighters' home attendance increase at the end of the year rather than decrease? You'd think if nobody cared about a pennant race, nobody would come out.

The thing was that the first place advantage this year was really huge in the PL, and the Fighters were playing at a disadvantage in the records because they had no tie games, so they were in a lot more of a must-win situation.

(To be fair, I can't speak for the Lions attendance; at a glance the only high-attendance game they had towards the end of the race was one against Softbank where Kazumi Saitoh was starting, and well, heck, I'd go hundreds of miles to see him pitch and I'm not even a Hawks fan. I think the Lions just plain have attendance issues.)

I'd really like to think a sub-.500 team wouldn't make it past the two teams above them plus their Japan Series opponents. On the other hand, take a look at the recent NL West "pennant races."

[...] System that lets a second or third rate team make the championship.

That is, of course, valid. But second- or third-placed needn't be second- or third-rate.

I'm in favor.

I am in favor of the CL playoffs. It's just like watching a wild card team in the MLB making it to the World Series.

I would not call any team a second rate team. Some teams start a great winning season later than other teams.

Absolutely in favor, especially as the two leagues have decided on the same format which adds credibility to the whole system.

Just think: if it were in place now we would have had the mouthwatering prospect of a Yakult vs. Hanshin series to look forward to (even if we would most likely lose) followed by the winner taking on Chunichi instead of just waiting to watch Chunichi take on the PL champions.

The important thing is that the team that finishes top is the winner of the league and so the main absurdity is eliminated (before it happened as well). The Japan Series is another issue entirely, and if a sub .500 team can win it, good for them.

OK, you also have to look at where that comment came from. Mischa, someone from Pittsburgh said this, and if anyone knows the NFL, they were the last place team in the playoffs and ended up winning, (with a little help from the refs). But in the end, even that person's town won and that was like the 8th seed or something (don't quote me on that).

I'm all for the 3 team playoff system. When I got here and heard they didn't have it I was so disappointed at the beginning of the season. That means that a lot of the time the season is over for 4-6 teams one or two months before the season actually ends. But if they had instated that this year maybe Yomiuri and Hiroshima would have tried real hard to keep up with the Swallows, and the same for the Swallows trying to keep that third place spot.

Anyway, good luck. Next year will be a lot more exciting.

Mixed!

From the baseball side of things, I hate it. Why on Earth should a team like this year's Swallows, that finished 18 games back, have a shot at the Japan Series? (Not picking on the Swallows, just picking on the third-place team.) They had 146 or so games to win the league and they failed, so why should they get another shot at it?

From the non-baseball, "real-world" perspective:

1. This year was unusual in that we had an exciting pennant race almost right to the very end of the season. That doesn't happen often. If a single team dominates and the last six weeks are just filler, attendance drops and overall interest in the sport/league flags.
2. If the CL had had a playoff system this season, the Swallows might have finished better than 18 games back because they would have wanted to make darn sure they got the last playoff spot; and other teams below them would have been fighting harder to knock them off. The system promotes competition throughout the season, and keeps the races interesting.
3. Most importantly to the business of baseball (and by extension to the continuation of NPB) is that the playoffs as an event generate interest. That interest gives people who might not normally care about baseball a chance to see baseball, experience baseball, maybe discover that they like it and want to see more of it. Almost anything that can potentially make non-fans of the game into fans is good for the game.

If you already like baseball, you might like the playoffs, but you'd probably watch ball even without them. If you don't already like baseball, the playoffs give baseball an opportunity to hook you and make you a fan. Same for Shinjo - if he can make non-fans into fans, he can't be all bad.

I don't mind a playoff system, but like others, I'd prefer the top two teams in each league play a 5-7 game series. The PL system is horrible, IMO, because it does open the door for a marginal team to catch fire and eliminate truly better teams over the course of 5-8 games. Any playoff system allows for this possibility, but eliminating the 3rd place team from the picture keeps it at a minimum.

As the PL already has a playoff format, it's clear that the CL needs to match that. And no question, it adds spice to the final weeks of the season.

Having said that, I'm not too crazy about the wild card system in MLB e.g., and the purist in me likes a system that rewards long-term performance over the course of the season. Nevertheless, I'm for the CL playoffs as a way to keep more hope alive for more numbers of dedicated fans.

If someone were a real purist though, they should be all for a 12 team league in Japan as it'll truly determine the best team in the country over the entire season, instead of who got hot at the Japan Series. But alas, tradition trumps many things.