There’s been an awful lot of talk about extending the division series from five to seven games recently. The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo suggests doing the opposite:
With the season getting too long, how about cutting the Division Series from five to three games and the League Championship Series from seven to five games? Teams with the best pitching would be rewarded in the Division Series because they’d be able to use their top three starters. Of course, there would always be upsets, which is fine, too . . . Baseball should not reduce its regular season from 162 games - you wouldn’t want to compromise all the numbers associated with the modern era - but tweaking the postseason might create more excitement in shorter series.
A best of three series would make a mockery of the first round. If the schedule is so important, baseball would be better served by simply eliminating the first round.