Let’s Rethink the Playoffs

In the KBO, half of the league’s 10 teams make the postseason each year, albeit with a catch: Instead of the traditional postseason bracket that American audiences are familiar with, the KBO uses a step-ladder format, where the two lowest seeds meet first, the winner faces the next lowest seed, and the bracket continues in that manner until a champion is crowned. To see how it works in practice, let’s use this season’s KBO playoffs as an example.

To start things off, fourth seed LG was given a 1-0 series lead against fifth seed Kiwoom in a best of three, with the idea being to reward the fourth seed for their superior regular season performance. LG prevailed and were thus matched against third seed Doosan in another best-of-three (this and all following matchups started 0-0). While that seems like a very short series, the quick turnaround meant that LG could not use its rotation stars, giving Doosan a significant advantage. Doosan won, and then was matched against KT in a best-of-five. My Wiz sadly bowed out at that point, and so Doosan advanced to the KBO series to play NC in a traditional best of seven; the Dinos wound up winning in six games.

The key to making it all work is that the teams with byes have more of an advantage in this format than higher seeds do in MLB’s current setup. Teams use the time off to rest up for a few days while their opponent weakens itself by using their top pitchers. In the KBO, the upshot is that the higher seed wins significantly more often, though not so much as to deprive a round of its drama.

It’s very unlike any postseason American audiences are used to. But if you think about it, the appeal extends far beyond the novelty of merely doing something different. The immediately obvious advantage is that you can expand the playoff field significantly while still rewarding the regular season’s top teams.