A Look at the Four Main Playoff Formats, and What Changes Could/Should Happen

"There are too many teams!"

"There's not enough teams!"

"Too many bad teams get in!"

"Good teams get beat too early!"

"This should be a conference final, not the first round!"

I've heard them all. We've heard them all. The supposed reasons why a playoff format is "faulty" or "unfair," we ask for change, we get it, and we have new things to complain about. I had this idea for this story about a month ago, and now it's time for me to put this out there. One of the many things I love about the playoffs is the format. We've seen many different formats over the decades, and I've written part-by-part stories about MLB and the NFL's history. The debate over the Stanley Cup Playoff format is one thing that inspired me, another is Chris "Mad Dog" Russo talking about the formats on First Take.

So let's take a look at the four main playoff formats, the current formats. The formats will be listed in chronological order, from earliest on the calendar to latest:

NFL

As we all know, when a new calendar year begins, the NFL season starts to end. This has been the case for the better part of the last six decades, as the evolving playoff format has forced the NFL Championship to be placed in the first Sunday of the New Year. I'm old enough to remember when the playoffs actually started either on the final weekend of the year or the first weekend of the New Year, but in the last five years, the playoffs have begun on the second weekend of the New Year. I also remember when it was the top two teams per conference who got byes, but that was reduced to just the top seed when the NFL added the (in)famous #7 seed in each conference.

The #7 seed has been a topic of controversy and ridicule since it was instilled in 2020. It's seen as a one-on-done seed, and the teams who get that spot win about 9 or 10 games. Overall, the #7 seed is 1-13 since the 2020 instillation. There have been a few close calls, but the one win belonged to the Green Bay Packers in 2023, the year we trounced the Dallas Cowboys and came very close to the NFC title game. Of course, the longer controversy is the wave of mediocre (or worse) division champions. Most recently, the Carolina Panthers won the NFC South at 8-9 and hosted a Rams team who was leagues ahead of them.

The current format is fine, however, I do sense that the league may (or may as well) add an 8th seed and do away with byes altogether. It makes sense. 32 teams, half of them get in, and the race for the #1 seed would only be for home field. I can see them doing that, and that will be the last change they make to the playoff format.

NBA

While the official NBA Playoffs and the Stanley Cup Playoffs start on the same day, the NBA's Play-In Tournament starts the NBA's postseason, so I'll mention the NBA here. I still remember when the first round of the NBA Playoffs was played under a best-of-five format, and it was 2003 that saw the first round extended to a best-of-seven format. The Play-In Tournament was a remnant of the 2020 bubble, and currently serves as the opener that fills in those last two spots.

Right now, I can't really see any changes they could make to this format. I think it's pretty good as is right now. I did once say that the divisions should be realigned to the old four division format and they could make the first two rounds purely divisional (similar to the NHL's format in the 80s/early 90s), but that would eliminate the Play-In, unless you have fourth and fifth place in each division battle it out in Play-In series. This current format does work, doesn't really need any tweaks.

NHL

This has been the topic of complaints for the last two years. The Stanley Cup Playoff format has changed a lot over the years. I mentioned the old divisional format from the 80s. Before that, they ranked teams 1 through 16 and had them play it out. Similar to the NBA, the NHL took on the "1 vs 8" format, with two differences: one, the first round was already best-of-seven, and had been since 1987. Secondly, they reseeded after the first round; a move I never did like.

It was in the 2013-14 season that debuted the current format: top three in each division gets in, and the remaining spots are decided via a Wild Card format. People were complaning about this last year because we got a Kings/Oilers series for the fourth straight year, and this year, they're complaining because the Central Division being top heavy resulted in the Stars and Wild facing each other in the first round with loaded records. The more I hear this crying for the Stars and Wild, the more it annoys me as an Avalanche fan. Where was this when we had to play similar series each of the last two years? In those situations, it was fine, but when it's the Stars and Wild: "It's not fair that one of these two will be out in Round 1!" Here's a thought: maybe one of those teams should have won the Central.

There is nothing wrong with the current playoff format, though I wouldn't mind if they did away with the Wild Card part and brought back the 80s format: top four in each division. If we do get expansion like I keep hearing, then that will make things very interesting regarding any possible playoff format changes.

MLB

Finally, there's the last postseason of the calendar year, MLB's Postseason. Major League Baseball's postseason format has always been simple, mainly because it's always been exclusive. First, it was the two first place teams in each league. Then it was first place in each division. Then the Wild Card was instilled in 1995. Currently, it's three division champions and three wild cards, and four rounds. The once single-game Wild Card round became a best-of-three series in 2022, and it's two Wild Card Series in each league.

I have a feeling we will see changes in the format. Not more teams, I think 12 is perfect. I've wanted the Division Series to be best-of-seven for a while now. And I say that even though I'm happy with the LDS being best-of-five. I do like how the room for error increases with each round. Wild Card is best-of-three, and if you win that, you get to play a best-of-five series, and if you win that, you get to play best-of-seven the rest of the way. Part of me also wants the Wild Card to be best-of-five, but if they don't trim the regular season, extensions to one, the other, or both rounds would run the postseason near close to Veterans' Day.

I don't think the powers that be in MLB want a lot of November baseball. In fact, I think they pushed up Opening Day in recent years to avoid Game Seven of the World Series landing in November. The only way that MLB would even consider lengthening the Wild Card and/or Division Series is to trim some games from the regular season. They wouldn't have to trim much, maybe that final week--reduce it from 162 to 154. I think they'll do it; postseason games are more money.

* * *

Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, and the National Basketball Association. North America's four main leagues, and all with interesting playoff formats. When it comes to the formats, I have three questions:

1. Are you satisfied with the current formats?

2. What changes should each league make?

3. Which league has the best format?

Feel free to comment with your thoughts in the comments section below.