By a wide margin, Americans would prefer a multigame series in baseball’s wild-card postseason round to the single-elimination game, the Seton Hall Sports Poll found. The multigame series was favored by 47 percent of those polled. Only 26 percent wanted to keep the one-and-done, with 27 percent saying they didn’t know.
The Seton Hall Sports Poll, conducted last week and released Monday, surveyed 780 Americans on cellphones and landlines, with a 3.6 percent margin of error.
“The call for added games in the wild-card round may be influenced by having the Yankees and Dodgers (the two biggest markets) both potentially playing a one-and-done game,” said Rick Gentile, director of the Seton Hall Sports Poll. “Admittedly, added games pushes the postseason deeper into November, and that could present a problem for MLB, the players’ association and the networks.”
In other results of the poll:
• Large-market teams have an advantage over small-market teams in advancing in the postseason, 57 percent of those polled said. Only 13 percent said they did not.
• To the question of whether rules changes such as fewer trips to the mound have improved the pace of play, a large majority said they didn’t know. The rules changes were supported by 23 percent, with 21 percent saying they have not changed the pace of play and 55 percent saying they didn’t know.
The Seton Hall Sports Poll has been conducted regularly since 2006.