...we'd have some great competition in MLS right now. Both divisions would have tight races and big games this month. Sure, a couple teams would be out of the hunt, but that would be more than made up for by the 8 or so teams that would still have a shot at winning the division. Instead we get what we have. No drama, nothing, except trying to figure out which of the bottom-feeders will finally drop out of the running. The fans of the second-place team in the West may moan that they have a far better record than the East winner, but hey, that's competition. If you want to go to MLS Cup, win your division. That's what builds rivalries - the necessity of beating the other team to survive.
I've yet to meet one person who is happy with 8/10 teams making the playoffs, but what can we do? I've e-mailed everyone at the MLS web site. I figure this is what being a college basketball fan is like. As for the ideal system, I'd love only the division winners making it, but that would probably turn off some people. 4/10 makes more sense to me. The division winners and two wild cards.
Hi Ben, I'm Dave. Now that we've met... I like the 8 teams in the playoffs. I like it better with 12 teams and even moreso with a higher number, but 8 is the righ amount. Four is too few. Two? Why even bother. Six teams? That necessitates that two teams have up to two weeks off time while waiting for a game, and that is not necessarilly an advantage like gridiron.
I've heard several people say they'd like to just have the division winners play for the Cup. Perhaps more people like this idea than we realize.
I would like six teams-but to steal an idea from something being kicked around in baseball circles. Winners of the divisions are into the semis series. Best records 3 thru 6 play in a single knockout match, 3 playing 6, 4 playing 5. Home field to best records. As no team wants to chance the a one-off, you should see teams fighting hard to win their divisions. The single elimination would be really exciting and allow for easier playoff schedules. You could finish the regular season on a Saturday, the first round on Wed, and start the semis on Saturday.
They do. They get two out of three at home in both of the first two rounds, even if their opponent had a better record.
I like the way the English 1st Division does the playoffs for the 3rd spot for promotion. And you can use any number of teams. 5 v 4, winner plays 3, winner plays 2, Championship. Every regular season game matters as you want to be ranked as high as possible to play the least # of games needed. And yes, a 5th (or 6th, your choice) could win the championship. But any team that can beat the top 4 teams in a row over a 2 or 3 week period deserves the silverware.
Given that we only have 10 teams right now, you actually enjoy following an entire season to find out which two teams are the worst?
Maybe so, but America (actually, the world) is cursed with playoff inflation. It's sickening. Now baseball is thinking about 12 teams in the playoffs. I don't see how two would ever happen. I would like four teams, one playoff game to make the MLS Cup.