There's pretty much always 2-3 teams that are a clear cut above, but a 2 round "playoff" doesn't really provide a good opportunity to work that out. The top teams from different conferences are so insulated from each other, we basically only get one chance per year to see how things might work out differently if they were challenged more than once in a year.

A larger playoff isn't important because it allows you to identify "the best team," if that's what you want, just go with the eye test and rankings. But that's not what playoffs in other sports do. Playoffs allow you to match the best teams that have had the best seasons in the sport and play them against each other with the chance to see who comes out on top. Just like we do in other sports. The Phillies weren't the best team in the NL, but I don't think anyone had a problem with them being the NL rep in the World Series. They played their way in there.