Playoff Format

It took only one night of playoffs for stunned fans to realize what a terrible playoff format The Baseball Network is offering. Regionalization quickly became a dirty word to baseball fans. Viewers accustomed to seeing all the postseason games are limited to one game a night. In the Philadelphia area Tuesday, we watched Cincinnati beat up on the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-2. Cleveland-Boston? Couldn't see it, except for brief updates. New York Yankees-Seattle? Ditto. Atlanta-Colorado?

If the NHL thinks it has taken some unfair shots about its crowded playoff format - only five of 21 teams sit out postseason play - it should have heard the grief the American Hockey League took last week about its new format. This season, the AHL playoffs included a two-game qualifying series between the fourth- and fifth-place teams in each of the two divisions. According to AHL executives, the addition of the fifth-place team was designed to give more teams a shot to make the playoffs and generate fan interest.

The Suburban High School Hockey League has a new look for the 1990-1991 season. The league has grown from 10 to 16 teams, but the beauty of the expansion is in the eye of the beholder. "We should have a better product down the line," Central Bucks East coach Andy Richards said. "We should be able to develop natural rivalries (between) some of the new teams (and) some of the established teams. "For example, Central Bucks West is a new team, and they are an instant rival for us. Lansdale Catholic, another new team, should have a rivalry with Archbishop Wood.

Back at spring training after last week's owners meetings in Phoenix, Phillies president Bill Giles predicted that baseball's two leagues each will be realigned into three divisions, with a wild card and an extra round of playoffs for the 1995 season. "Twenty of the 28 clubs favor something along those lines," he said yesterday at the Carpenter Complex. "We don't know yet exactly what we're going to do, but our surveys show that a great majority of fans want expanded playoffs. "That should make September and the postseason more interesting.

The Eagles know they will play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this season. They're still not sure exactly when or exactly how many playoff berths might be up for grabs when they do. The NFL announced yesterday that it would make up its Week 2 games on the weekend of Jan. 5 to 7. The games, postponed because of the acts of terrorism that shook the nation on Sept. 11, will replace the four wild-card playoff games scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 5 and 6. The NFL is expected to play some games on that Saturday and some on that Sunday, so the Eagles aren't sure yet which day they will be playing in Tampa.

For baseball, the future is suddenly here. Three divisions in each league. Eight teams in the playoffs. Interleague play. It is all coming now - probably in 1995 - thanks to a nearly unanimous vote by baseball's owners Thursday giving preliminary approval to changes that will plunge this sport into a radically different new era. Those changes might not all happen at once. Schedules, details and intense labor negotiations need to be worked out first. But when they are, the results will shake up baseball as it never has been shaken before.

The relentless series of snow and ice storms this winter did major damage to the Suburban High School Hockey League schedule. Because of the various postponements and cancellations, league officials have decided to restructure the playoff format. The top three finishers in the league will play off for the Class AAA title and a berth in the Flyers Cup Tournament. The regular-season champion will be granted a bye and face the winner of a semifinal series between the second- and third-place finishers.

The NHL said Friday that it won't go forward with its realignment plan and modified playoff format next season after the players' association refused to agree to the changes. The changes were recently approved by the NHL's board of governors. The league said it will maintain its current alignment and playoff format next season. "It is unfortunate that the NHLPA has unreasonably refused to approve a plan that an overwhelming majority of our clubs voted to support and that has received such widespread support from our fans and other members of the hockey community, including players," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said.

If the coaches have their way, the Public League boys' basketball playoffs will look a little different next season. At their coaches meeting yesterday at Strawberry Mansion High, the Philadelphia Public League Coaches Association agreed to ask the league's supervisory committee to change the playoff format for next season. Currently, 16 teams make the playoffs. The new format would have 16 teams play a preliminary round. The winners of those games would play one of eight teams - likely the top two finishers in each of the league's four divisions.

When the Winnipeg Jets moved from Atlanta last summer, it was certain the NHL would consider realignment. That proposal was all but rejected by the players association, and the NHL called off plans Friday to realign and adopt a modified playoff format next season. Defenseman Ron Hainsey, the player union representative for the Jets, discussed the travel concerns Saturday before the game against the Buffalo Sabres. "The playoff format, with eight teams in two conferences and seven teams in the other two, there was no willingness on the other side to have a conversation about how to possibly tinker with that," Hainsey said.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Notre Dame played Alabama for the national title Monday night at Sun Life Stadium. There really wasn't any controversy about who should be in this year's game. At least we don't think. Some seasons, of course, there have been. But the BCS system for determining such things, which came into being in the late 1990s because college football was having an almost impossible time getting the top two teams together after the regular season, has largely gotten this thing correct, especially more recently, regardless of the perception.

DING DONG, THE wicked witch is at long last expired.   So let's have a moment of silence for the BCS, which for the past 14 years (and the next 2) has decided, for better or whatever, which two teams would play for college football's national championship. To listen to the detractors — and there were a few — it's been mostly for the bad. It must have had something to do with Oregon getting left out in 2001. Or maybe that was Miami in 2000? Did I hear Auburn 2004? Of course, it's only fair to point out that the powers that be did occasionally get it right, too. More than once or twice, as a matter of fact.

NEW YORK - With less than a month to go before opening day, baseball at last decided who's in and who's out come October. Now, even a third-place team can win the World Series. Major League Baseball made it official Friday, expanding the playoff format to 10 teams by adding a second wild-card club to each league. "I hope we get that extra spot," said new Houston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, whose team is coming off a 56-106 finish that was the worst in the majors.

ON THE EVE of today's soft deadline for finalizing details of the implementation of a 10-team playoff field, Major League Baseball and its players' association are close to announcing the change that would take effect in October, sources told ESPN yesterday. There was no announcement scheduled. At the time baseball's labor agreement was forged in December, sources from both sides said the expanded playoff field would be put in place for the 2012 season, provided that the two sides could figure out how to squeeze in the extra playoff required.

This might sound strange coming from a guy who has been screaming that public-school football teams should be playing for state titles, but the elimination of state championships for Non-Public programs could be a good thing. That's because there are situations, and this is one of them, when a South Jersey title can mean more than a state title. That surely would be the case for St. Joseph of Hammonton. For the Wildcats, winning a state title under the NJSIAA's old playoff system usually involved beating St. Mary's of Rutherford by 40 points.

When the Winnipeg Jets moved from Atlanta last summer, it was certain the NHL would consider realignment. That proposal was all but rejected by the players association, and the NHL called off plans Friday to realign and adopt a modified playoff format next season. Defenseman Ron Hainsey, the player union representative for the Jets, discussed the travel concerns Saturday before the game against the Buffalo Sabres. "The playoff format, with eight teams in two conferences and seven teams in the other two, there was no willingness on the other side to have a conversation about how to possibly tinker with that," Hainsey said.

The NHL said Friday that it won't go forward with its realignment plan and modified playoff format next season after the players' association refused to agree to the changes. The changes were recently approved by the NHL's board of governors. The league said it will maintain its current alignment and playoff format next season. "It is unfortunate that the NHLPA has unreasonably refused to approve a plan that an overwhelming majority of our clubs voted to support and that has received such widespread support from our fans and other members of the hockey community, including players," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said.

There will be no NJSIAA state football playoffs for public schools until at least 2015. Is this really such a bad thing? On Dec. 5, a proposal to change the NJSIAA constitution to allow state football championships for public schools didn't receive the needed two-thirds vote. The vote was 167-102 in favor, just 62 percent. According to bylaws, that vote can't occur again until December 2013, and if it passes then, a vote on a specific playoff plan wouldn't take place until December 2014, meaning the earliest that state public school playoffs would come is 2015.

LANDON DONOVAN'S goal in the game's 72nd minute gave the Los Angeles Galaxy a 1-0 win over the Houston Dynamo and the MLS Cup last night in Carson, Calif. The goal was set up when David Beckham headed a pass toward Robbie Keane, whose pass Donovan converted for a league-record 20th goal in 29 career playoff games.   MLS changes A new-look regular-season and playoff format for Major League Soccer was announced yesterday, as the league welcomes Montreal as its 19th franchise in 2012.