Expanding the college football playoff is just logical

A healthy chunk of you have already decided that I'm dead wrong on this, and that's OK with me.

But after four full editions of the college football playoffs, it's never been more clear to me that the bracket needs to be expanded to eight teams. Before you think you're two steps ahead of me, this isn't just because Alabama won an All-SEC final. I actually wrote that the eight-team field was ideal after the first playoff year.

That doesn't mean Bama isn't central to the idea of an expanded bracket, though.

First of all, the obvious claim for a bigger field: Champions getting left out. Ohio State and, to a lesser degree, Southern Cal, both won major conferences while Alabama was sitting at home because the Crimson Tide couldn't win their division. My eight-team bracket would have all five major champions and probably the top non-major champion - UCF for this year - with the field rounded out by two at-larges chosen by a committee. That means teams like Bama would still get in, but others would have a chance to earn a bid in a concrete way.

The second reason relates to Bama in a different way: Bama - the actual national champion - almost didn't get in. A couple more plays by Wisconsin, and the Badgers would've gotten the Tide's spot in the field. A couple plays that Bama had zero control over could've left out the team that ended up winning the whole thing. 

There will be, of course, opponents to the eight-team plan who will say that it diminishes the importance of the regular season. Tim Tebow said that exact thing during some of the lead-up coverage for the national title game.

That, quite simply, is garbage.

First of all, under the current system, Bama got in the playoffs without winning its conference or division. The Tide also beat zero teams that finished the regular season in the top 15 nationally, meaning they didn't have to put together a particularly impressive resume to overcome their lack of a title. Does their inclusion not mean that the current playoff format devalues parts of the regular season?

On top of that, about eight games in the final week had any chance of impacting the playoff field, and that's if you include the Iron Bowl. If you expand the bracket to eight teams and give the above guaranteed spots, that number expands to about 16. That's one week with 16 games in which at least one team is still potentially vying for a potential playoff spot. Imagine how many more games throughout the year would've carried added significance if every major conference champion got in? 

Another counter-argument is that no matter how many teams get in, someone will always complain. And that's true, but it also doesn't matter. The goal shouldn't be to make everyone happy; the NCAA basketball tournament is proof you'll never reach that goal. The goal should be to make sure you have the most fair, accurate championship as possible. 

The basketball tournament has that. Every conference champion in the country gets a bid, and dozens more teams get chosen based off their resumes. Any team that gets left out had at least one way to guarantee itself a trip to the tournament and came up short.

This year, UCF won every game it played and won its conference. Then, the Knights beat the Auburn team that beat both Alabama and national runner-up Georgia. In any other level of any other sport, leaving them out of even being considered for the national championship would be unacceptable. 

Beyond that, we aren't even guaranteed that an undefeated major conference champion wouldn't be left out. Alabama, Oklahoma State, Clemson, Ohio State and Southern Cal could've all been undefeated this year, and there are countless other combinations of major conference teams that could say the same based on scheduling. Under this system, one of those teams would be left out..
It's time to take that possibility, even if the likelihood is small, off the table and expand the playoffs. 

Buckle up, Braves fans

We've reached a turning point, Braves fans.

No, I'm not saying that the 2018 Atlanta Braves are ready to be World Series contenders. As much fun as that would be, that's not the point I'm talking about.

The point that the franchise has reached in this rebuild is the upward trend toward that contender status. If it wasn't already clear that was the phase to which things had progressed, this week's rumors about a potential trade with the Miami Marlins for Christian Yelich and J.T. Realmuto, perhaps among others, should solidify things.

Whether or not Yelich, Realmuto or both become members of the Atlanta Braves, this is a clear shift in philosophy. The Braves are no longer trading MLB contributors for future stars, or at least that's not the primary focus. Atlanta is ready to put together the roster that will deliver fans some wins and, hopefully, postseason success.

With that, though, fans - myself included - will have to realize some things.

Your untouchables are not everyone's untouchables.

Maybe you're the world's biggest Kyle Muller fan. Maybe you think he's going to be the next Clayton Kershaw, and maybe you're right. But there's an even better chance - with any prospect - that he'll never reach that point, and he may not ever make a major league rotation.

As such, if another team is willing to trade, for instance, a really good third baseman or current stud reliever, but they want Kyle Muller in the deal, that should at least be considered. 

For me, none of the prospects south of about Double-A ball are completely untouchable. There are some - like Kyle Wright or Drew Waters - that I'd really need to see a great return before I'd be comfortable seeing them go, but prospects are just that. There is nothing guaranteed about any of them until they reach the major leagues, and I'd hate to miss acquiring a 2018 or 2019 All-Star for the sake of keeping a kid that never actually panned out.

More importantly, the front office has their own preferences and plans in mind, and that may mean trading a young guy some fans wanted to keep.

There's more than one way to build a winner.

Maybe you don't value certain aspects of traditional lineup construction, and you'd rather see lots of high-OBP guys up and down the lineup. That strategy could probably work, but guess what? Lots of World Series rings have been won with that old-school philosophy, and lots more will be won that way in the future.

Maybe you don't think a closer should be saved for the last inning and that better relievers should be used whenever the leverage is highest. That has clearly worked for teams recently, but lights-out closers have been saved for the last inning for the most part on some really good teams.

The point is, there are lots of ways to put together a winning team, and all of them require getting the right guys to fit what you're trying to do. On the flipside, that may mean that, depending on what guys are available, the Braves may have to use a strategy that you wouldn't use, and that's OK.

Winning will be fun.

I'm not the only one, but I've hated going through a rebuild as a fan. Even if it's been relatively quick so far, I don't like looking at every player on the roster for what they'd be worth in a trade instead of what they bring on the field. 

It hasn't been much fun looking at the team in June or so and saying, "Oh yeah, this team isn't going to the playoffs." It's even less fun to actually have to wonder if it's worth it to try to win a few more games and perhaps sneak into the Wild Card.

If the Braves have truly turned that corner, we won't have to do that anymore as fans. We can get back to just cheering for the team to win and get better every day. We can get attached to players and root for them without knowing in the backs of our minds that they could get traded at the end of July for pitching prospects. 

Buckle up, Braves fans, it's time for the fun to begin.