A Little (League) Expansion Talk

Throughout this year's Little League World Series, I haven't been able to stop thinking about how awkward the 20-team format is.  They only expanded the field in 2022, so it seems unlikely that they'll expand it again anytime soon.  But, it does seem inevitable that they'll eventually go to 24.  Not only because it's not as awkward, but because it'd create a better experience all around.

The Little League World Series uses a double elimination format.  As a result, four teams that lose their opening game only play twice.  Prior to the 2022 expansion, every team was guaranteed three games.  The teams that started 0-2 would face each other in an international crossover game to conclude their tournament.  With the extra games required to accommodate four additional teams, though, those consolation games had to go away.  Which means some teams will go all the way to Williamsport to play just two games.  Ideally, they'd be able to go back to guaranteeing everybody a third.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, teams that have to go through the loser's bracket play practically every day.  After losing their first games, the teams from Ohio and Japan won four in five days.  Credit to them for winning each of those elimination games to stay alive.  And, as they always say, you don't want to drop into the loser's bracket in a double elimination tournament.  It's one of the pitfalls of the format.  But, still, that's a lot.  Both for the teams playing every day and the teams sitting around while they play.

Then there are the regions.  On the U.S. side, the breakdown isn't much of an issue.  There are 53 teams (California and Texas both have two, and Washington, D.C., also has a representative) divided into 10 regions.  The regions are all geographic based.  Most have four teams, two have five, one has seven and the two largest regions (Southeast and Midwest) include eight states.

Internationally, however, what regions are represented depends on the year.  Japan, Canada, Australia and Mexico send their national champions to Williamsport each year.  The Europe-Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Caribbean regions are also consistent.  Those last two teams, though, come from a rotation of Curacao, Cuba, Panama and Puerto Rico.  Two go each year, the other two participate in their respective regional tournament.  Because that makes total sense!

If the Little League World Series were to go to 24 teams by adding two on each side, all four of those places would be able to send a representative to Williamsport every year.  It wouldn't matter if it was their turn in the rotation.  The international field would include the four multi-country regions, the four existing single-country regions, and the four regions that rotate (which would instead become permanent).  No more rotation or wondering who's got a birth and who doesn't between Curacao, Cuba, Panama and Puerto Rico.  (It's even possible that all four could conceivably qualify in the same year if Panama were to win the Latin America region and the one that doesn't have an auto bid among the other three wins the Caribbean region.)

Expanding the field to 24 teams would obviously create two additional regions in the U.S., as well.  Which would eliminate the two eight-team regions, which have never felt fair anyway when so many regions are literally half that size.  My first thought would be to create a "Gulf States" Region with Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas, reducing the Southeast Region to six (Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee) in the process.  Likewise, I'd take some teams out of the Midwest Region and create the "Heartland" with Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska. 

That would shift some other states around, as well, but all 12 regions would still make sense geographically and have roughly the same number of teams in them.  Half of the regions wouldn't be affected at all, in fact (*-unchanged).  My U.S. regions would be New England* (Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire), Metro* (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island), Mid-Atlantic* (Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington DC), Southeast (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia), Gulf States (Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas), Great Lakes (West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana), Midwest (Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota), Heartland (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska), Southwest (Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas East, Texas West), Mountain* (Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Nevada), Northwest* (Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho), West* (Northern California, Southern California, Arizona, Hawaii).

An expansion to 24 teams would create another benefit.  Instead of double elimination, they could go to a group play format.  This isn't an entirely new idea, either.  The Little League World Series had four-team pools until 2010, when it went to double elimination.  So, even though nobody who's young enough to be playing in the Little League World Series had been born yet the last time they did it, it's not an entirely foreign concept.  

By breaking each bracket into three groups of four, all teams would be guaranteed three games.  Nobody would play more than six total, either.  After the group stage, three group winners and a top second-place team move on to the U.S./International semifinals.  So, you'd have 16 of the 24 teams playing three games, four that lose in their respective semifinals four, and the four that make it to the U.S./International Championship Games six.  You know how many the team that goes into their half of the bracket's Championship Game plays currently?  Five.

Going to groups would avoid some of the problems that the double elimination bracket has created, too.  Because of the 10 teams on each side, eight will potentially have to play an extra game if they advance through the winner's bracket.  With that determined entirely by blind luck of the draw.  Ditto with the matchups.  You might be the second-best team on your side, but play the best team in your first game and face the tremendous disadvantage of dropping into the loser's bracket.

Little League could seed the draw if it so desired based on the results of the previous year (with the two finalists kept from being in the same group and the rest of the teams drawn at random).  Or, since the teams that qualify are so different every year, they could continue to use the completely blind draw.  There's really no right answer.  Either method would work, and neither would cause any controversy.  And the top second-place team still making the semifinals creates a buffer should the two best teams end up in the same group.  (They'd need to figure out a tiebreaker system, but that seems easy enough to do.)

Schedule-wise, there would be options and flexibility, too.  Keeping the current schedule of two games per day would give each team two days off between contests.  Or, they could increase it to three games per day on each field, which would push the start from midweek to Friday.  Or, some hybrid combination that would allow them to be done with plenty of time to spare on the day of the Little League Classic.  No matter how they set it up, the total number of games would increase from 38 to 44.

Whether there are any plans to expand the Little League World Series or change the format, I don't know.  My guess is there isn't since the 20-team field is still fairly new.  Even though it might not be imminent, though, I do think it's only a matter of time before they go to 24 teams (12 in each bracket).  And, when that day comes, they might want to consider dropping the double elimination and going back to group play instead.