MMQB: Which Playoff System is Your Favorite?

This is a great time of year for sports. Not only is it spring game season for college football and the first month of the season for baseball, but both the NBA and NHL have begun their playoffs in attempts to find their new champions. That led me to a simple question. Which playoff system is best?

The NHL has a tedious, but tried and true method of going about their playoffs. Each series is a best of seven fight, requiring that the eventual champion win a whopping 16 games before being crowned the victors. Also of note, is the format for which home ice is decided. In the NHL, the home team for the series hosts games one, two, five and seven, with games three, four and six being played on the away ice. This gives each team a fair shake with home-ice advantage, encouraging series that go longer than four games, due to each team having two chances in the first four games to play in front of their home fans.

The NBA does pretty much the exact same thing as the NHL, right down to the home-court advantage aspect of it all. However, the NBA playoffs also seem to be drawn out just a bit more, due to extra time between games. Many, like myself, see this as a major disadvantage, as it creates a slightly more unrealistic atmosphere, where the players are potentially getting more rest between games than they did in the regular season.

The MLB playoffs underwent a face-lift recently, with the addition of the second wild card. Now, there are the six division winners across both leagues, as well as two wild card teams each season. Those two wild card teams then face off in a one game playoff to determine which of them will play the team in their league with the best regular season record. From there, the three rounds of the playoffs follow a 5-7-7 format. It always feels as if the divisional round losers never really had a chance. Five game series can take a bad turn very quickly. There are many who feel that Major League Baseball should turn the playoffs into a 7-7-7 format. While it is easy to see how some teams who perennially compete for wild card spots could get tired of the one and possibly done style, it has undeniably changed the landscape of the regular season, with more teams gunning for a playoff spot now more than ever.

The NFL playoffs are quite different from the others, which is understandable with the extreme differences in the sports. The wild card winners face off against the three and four seeds in each league, the winners of which play the one and two seeds, the winners of which play in the conference championship game, and the winners of which play in the Super Bowl. It's quite simple, and it makes a lot of sense. There are some who clamor for a three game series in the conference championship and Super Bowl, but it will never happen. Not only are football players too used to having a week off between games (which would make the playoffs WAY too long), but it would take away from the spectacle of the Super Bowl, if everyone knew that it took more than one win to take it all.

Then, there's the college football playoff. The baby in the group proved to be quite fun last year. Although the system for choosing the participants could surely be better (maybe coaches voting instead of a closed door meeting that can leave many stunned), there's no denying that this year's playoff was a massive success. Aside from all three games being three of the most watched events of the year so far, all three had great moments for fans of any team. While it may change a bit in the future, the college playoff had a great debut.

Of course, there are other playoff systems as well, such as the MLS, but I'm out of time to write. So, BSD readers, which is your favorite playoff system, and why?