[quote author=Ten link=topic=751.msg7785#msg7785 date=1351278840]<br />I definitely like the new regular season changes, divisions and conferences needed to go like three seasons ago. The shorter season and round-robin style gives teams much more incentive to take every game seriously. Much applaud to the board/Bones for these changes.<br /><br />I like the shorter playoffs, too. With only the better half of the teams, it gives the playoffs a higher standard and a better sense of earned victory. However the 4th seed does get kind of shafted in this system, though. Even though they did better than the 5th seed in the regular season (which is what the whole round-robin system was supposed to promote), they still run the risk of forfeiting their playoff spot to a team who did worse than them. But I guess you didn&#039;t have a whole lot to work with in these new systems, so I guess 4th seed will just have to deal w/ it.<br /><br />Looking forward to the new season!<br />[/quote]<br /><br />The 4th seed gets a benefit that the 3rd seed may never get: a home playoff game against a statistically inferior opponent. I think this encourages seeds 3-5 to work much harder to improve their record over each other. The third seed wants to get the bye with the top two teams (and ensure a bout with the 2nd seed instead of the 1st), the fourth seed gets a homefield advantage for a game, and the fifth seed gets a shot at redemption. I think it&#039;s a cool system and will lead to an interesting race that makes the middle of the league stay competitive.