World Series Home-Field Advantage: Lots of Options for Change
By Zac Snyder
Jul 11, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals catcher
(4) greets third baseman
(13) after Carpenter scored a run against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the fifth inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Team with the best record
MLB came out of the dark ages by going with an out of the box idea to make their All-Star game more interesting, but may have missed the mark. An easy change to make would be just to give home-field advantage to the league champion with the best record.
Pros: It would be widely accepted as reasonable as it would bring MLB in line with the NHL and NBA. The AL is the stronger league right now, but that isn’t any different than than the NBA’s Western Conference being superior to the East. Don’t over think it, just let records decide.
Cons: Even with interleague play, there can be debate about whether the team with the better record is deserving of home-field advantage. Perhaps they were the beneficiaries of playing in a weaker league or a poor division. With interleague play still representing a small part of each team’s schedule, it is difficult to compare records across leagues.
Next: Let league records decide