Should pool play mean more?

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I feel that there should be more importance to pool play then getting a good seed or maybe a 1st round bye. I think tournaments should only guarantee a 3 game pool play or maybe increase pool play to 4 games, then only advance the top 8 to the championship bracket. I feel that a team can lose all pool games then come back and still win the tournament is not right. Just my opinion. What are everyones thoughts?

 

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Many ASA tournaments follow that same format. If you are an experienced team with 9 starters and x number of subs, that's fine. If you are an inexperienced team or a team that is trying to develop players, it is bad. Pool play is when your weaker players who are working hard in practice can get some game time. You can start your #3 or #4 pitcher without it possibly costing you the opportunity to win the tournament, etc. My preference is 2-3 pool games for seeding into double elimination.

 

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We've played in primarily ASA tourneys this year and all but one have had 3-4 pool games with all teams advancing to single elimination on Sunday. When I was coaching boys baseball and slowpitch softball, most tournaments had pool winners and some wildcards advancing to double elimination. Sometimes you got a good draw in pools and sometimes you didn't, but I liked the fact that we had to play well in pool play to make it to Sunday, but you could have one off game on Sunday and still have a chance to redeem yourself. We've had several tourneys this year when we've swept through pool play and then got knocked out early Sunday either due to one mistake or due to facing a lower seeded team that didn't care what they did on Saturday. It would seem to me that having pool play count and going to double elimination might also be better for TD's when they have weather issues on Sunday. First of all, there would be less teams around trying to get their one game in and secondly, the TD could hold the option to go to single elimination if necessary. I know that most baseball tourneys are still run that way today.

 

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I think it is part of the job of the coach/manager to determine what type of tournament they want to play, and how they wish to play their team. The tournament format should be clear up front so you can determine if you wish to enter. Biggest drawback of only having top teams go to elimination play is for a team that loses 1 or 2 games, suddenly may have little or no chance of playing on Sunday. They can certainly use the games for other purposes, but it can mean you have a team with several "consolation" games.