Draft Order By Playoff Finish

[Rockies GM (Alex)]

Currently, we order our draft order by record with points scored being the tiebreaker for all teams, including those in the playoffs.  My proposal is simple... for teams that make the playoffs, the draft order is determined by finish in the post-season, with record, and then points scored (similar to the non-playoff teams) being the tiebreaker for teams eliminated on the same day.

I've heard this brought up numerous times over the years... figured it was a good time to suggest it.  This would affect the 2023 season and onward, not the upcoming draft.

Thanks!

[Blue Jays GM (Stephen)]

Maybe we will super approve it this time!

baseknock.proboards.com/thread/9165/back-end-draft-order

[Orioles GM (Michael)]

The playoffs are famously fluky. Why are we rewarding stacked teams that don't get aggressive with higher picks? This seems silly to me.

[Marlins GM (Travis)]

Don't understand why it's a big deal? A stacked team will win a lot of games, and if they get bounced in 1st round, they deserve a higher pick? They're still stacked regardless, they don't need a higher pick. I don't understand why this is proposed.

[Rockies GM (Alex)]

Aug 17, 2022 19:37:02 GMT -5 Marlins GM (Travis) said:

Don't understand why it's a big deal? A stacked team will win a lot of games, and if they get bounced in 1st round, they deserve a higher pick? They're still stacked regardless, they don't need a higher pick. I don't understand why this is proposed.

Because…. Like every other league that exists we don’t give teams better worse draft picks based on the regular season. The playoffs determines who was the best team of the year, our draft should be ordered as such.

[Blue Jays GM (Stephen)]

Aug 17, 2022 19:37:02 GMT -5 Marlins GM (Travis) said:

Don't understand why it's a big deal? A stacked team will win a lot of games, and if they get bounced in 1st round, they deserve a higher pick? They're still stacked regardless, they don't need a higher pick. I don't understand why this is proposed.

The absolute most a team could "improve their draft stock" is from 28th to 22nd. That scenario involves the top 3 teams coming from the same league by record & the third place team getting upset in the first round of the playoffs. More likely, you are really just improving from 26th to 22nd.

What this does is makes sure playoff teams don't have better picks than non playoff teams. For example, if the season ended today, the Royals would have pick 16, a better pick than both the Marlins & Dodgers who missed the playoffs.

[Marlins GM (Travis)]

Over a 19 game season, the best teams will separate themselves more in terms of record as opposed to their playoff finish. I think it'll better reflect the strength of the league and who deserves what pick, as opposed to when they got knocked out of the playoffs.

[Blue Jays GM (Stephen)]

I know I won't convince you, but I am going to try anyways. Playoffs don't totally ignore the regular season standings. You have to win a certain amount of games to get there and depending on what league you are in, maybe that is more than the other. The improvement a team gets in their pick from losing early in the playoffs would be marginal at best and this is more about the teams ending up in the playoffs and a top 18 pick. Any team who gets a first round bye will at best be in the bottom 8 picks always.

As an example, Let's take the Royals this year. Say they stacked their team at the trade deadline and went all in and in this scenario congrats to them, they win the world series! They were bad, but good enough to make the playoffs most of the year, stacked it at the end, and win it all. Now they have a world series title & the #16 overall pick. Why? Because they were bad for 3/4 of the year, but better than the other bad teams. To me, Marlins would deserve to have a better pick as would the Dodgers.

[Rockies GM (Alex)]

Looks like this doesn't currently have enough support.