The expansion of the postseason is intended to allow more teams an opportunity to compete — but the reality is that playoff expansion functions as a money-making machine, with each extra game drawing in millions of viewers at the expense of watering down the postseason field.
The clearest example of this playoff dilution takes place in the National Basketball Association. In the 2019-20 season, the NBA’s postseason expanded to 18 teams from its previous 16, adding an additional two teams the next year in 2020-21, and in the 2020 season, the National Football League expanded its postseason from 12 to 14 teams.
The NBA Play-In Tournament added two new teams to the playoffs, filling in the no. 9 and no. 10 seeds. These teams rarely advance, which shows how they are usually completely unqualified to compete in the playoffs. Only one no. 10 seed—the 2025 Miami Heat—advanced to the typical 16-team bracket, where they were swept 4-0 against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the most one-sided playoff series in NBA history.
The no. 9 and no. 10 teams aren’t playoff-worthy, and their inclusion only decreases the quality of the playoffs. There is no scenario where, in a 30-team league, the no. 17th through no. The 20th team is deserving of a playoff spot because playoffs should be reserved for the best of the best. These teams usually have winning percentages under the .500 mark, with the four extra teams from the 2025 season being the 40-42 Atlanta Hawks, the 40-42 Sacramento Kings, the 39-43 Dallas Mavericks, and the 37-45 Miami Heat, who all lost more games than they won.
In the NFL, a no. 7 seed has defeated the No. 2 seed only once since the expansion. In the 2023 playoffs, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Dallas Cowboys before being eliminated in the next game.
The NFL’s format still makes more sense than the NBA’s. The 13th and 14th best teams in a 32-team league remain competitive and are much more deserving of a playoff spot than team 20 out of 30, and good teams, like the 2024 Seattle Seahawks, can still miss out.
The only league in which these new playoff teams have been successful is Major League Baseball. The newly introduced 6-seeded teams hold a 5-3 series record and two World Series appearances.
While baseball’s 6-team success shows the potential of expanded playoff formats, in most sports, expanded playoffs mean more commercials and more blowouts — two things fans rarely enjoy. It’s time to admit playoff expansion has gone too far.
