We're Talking Playoffs

First, the basics. If you haven't heard (and odds are if you're reading this, you likely already know), USL League One expanded their playoffs to eight teams, up from six teams previously. Is that too many teams? Not enough? Just right? 

I don't know. It seems like too many for my taste, but I'm much more of a regular season guy than an postseason guy. The playoffs are fun, a reward for a great regular season. But no one asked me if they should expand, nor should they. 

So we've got the top eight teams seeded 1-8 and they'll play a typical tournament. Gone are the first round byes for the top two seeds. Your reward for finishing first is home field throughout the postseason. Is that enough of a reward? Maybe. Probably. The powers that be seem to think so. 

But what if we wanted to make things a little more interesting in the playoffs? I've got a couple of proposals that are fun to think about, even if there's little chance of them actually happening..

1. Pick Your Poison - As it is now, the playoff seeds are locked in. If you finish eighth, you travel to play the top team. That's how it's always been and that's how it always will be. 

Unless.

Unless we decided to it doesn't have to be that way. So here's the idea. The top team in the league still hosts the first round playoff game. But instead of them automatically playing the eighth place team, they choose among the playoff teams who they want to play in the first round. In theory, I guess they could pick the second seed to play in the opening round. It would be chaos. Bedlam. You'd probably have to limit the selections to teams five through eight so the top four teams get the benefit of home field, but we can work out those details later. 

Maybe the eighth seed poses a tough matchup and they'd rather play the sixth seed. Maybe the seventh seed has a roster full of injuries and the top seed thinks that's the better match up. Imagine the motivation of the team picked to play the top seed. 

After the Number One seed picks, the second place team picks their opponent. Then the third place team picks and the fourth place team plays whoever is left. You could use that as your bracket or after the first round, have another draw to set up the semifinal round with the top remaining team selecting who they want to play in the semifinals while the other two teams match up.

Make a big show of it. Have the draw on Monday night after the regular season. Convince CBSSports to show it live. Make the manager (or owner) say who they want to play and why. Tell me you wouldn't watch that.

It would be high drama. Someone make this happen. 

(Was this a Bill Simmons idea? It seems like it was, and if it wasn't, it's certainly something he would come up with.)

2. Moving On Up - This proposal is more unlikely than the last one which is crazy because that first one won't ever happen, but lets throw it out there and see what happens. (Nothing will or should happen!)

In this scenario, the winning team in the playoffs gets to add one player from the team they just vanquished to their roster for the remainder of their playoff run. For example, let's say Tormenta finished third and hosts Charlotte in the first round of the playoffs. Charlotte pulls the upset and moves on to the semifinals, but they also like how Jackson Khoury plays so they choose him to be on their roster for the rest of the playoffs. Khoury now becomes a member of Charlotte and advances to the next round with his new team. Once the Jacks lose, Khoury returns to Tormenta. 

Clearly no manager or owner is going to get on board with this, but hear me out. 

Actually, I got nothing. There's no way I could convince a club to add someone to their roster, potentially affecting team chemistry and preparation for a semifinal or championship match. And no team is going to risk injury for one of their guys to go play for a team for just a game or two. But it would be so entertaining. Debates all week of "When we win, who should we pick?"

But for the fun of it, let's combine the two ideas. Not only does the top team get to pick their opponent, but if they win, they get to add a guy from that team. Do you prioritize winning at all costs or do you pick a team that might pose a bigger risk, but the reward is a player you covet for your own squad that could propel you to the title? You know that would drive discussions leading up to the game and then afterwards with either who to pick or, if the higher seed loses, debates about who they should have picked to play. 

The season hasn't started yet. There's still time for USL1 to make these changes.