I say 5/5/7 or 3/5/7. To force the 4th/5th starters, you could not have off-days during the series. It's a little unrealistic for the MLB, but so what.

I like 5/5/7, just turn on the TV right now to see how good playoff baseball is, in this format.

If it is possible to keep it that way and bring the next season back relatively quickly for the non-involved owners, I would vote for that.

I would also say that, although a break doesn't seem great when it first starts and you just want to keep playiong, it's not so bad to take a breath and usually feels like it comes back quicker than expected.

5/5/7 would be fine.  I agree with Rob that if you want to force the use of #5 starters then we'd have to not use off days at all during each series.  It's still possible to avoid them if a team would sweep the divisional and league series.  If you're sweeping a team though, that seems a decent reward.

Since there are no injuries this season, or requirement to give a catcher a day off every 4-5 games, there would be no impact on the hitters/fielders.  The bigger issue with no off days would be a possible lack of relief pitching.  Without any off days, one bad pitching outing can burn the starter in 3-4 innings and then have 4-5 relievers out as well.  That could snowball in a hurry and then we're faced with just 3 active relievers for a game or two... and 2 fresh starting pitchers sitting on the bench that we can't use for long or mopup relief as a real team would.  That could be the kiss of death in a 5-game series.

I'm not a fan of less than 5-game series.  I really hate the one-game wild card playoff MLB has right now.  If it's a tie break game, so be it.  To plan on a 1-game "series" to decide playoff fates after 82 games (for us) is against the grain of baseball.  I know the 7-game series isn't much better statistically.  It just feels better as you can absorb one or two games of atrocious luck (not that those ever happen) and still have a chance to advance.

A 5/5/7 format with no off days during each series and only off day between series would run at most 19 days.  If you were planning a 4-8 week hiatus between seasons, could we start the 'clock' from the start of the playoffs?  That would give the bulk of the league time away without deadlines to meet, and only 4 managers would have a significantly shorter break.  Odds are they won't mind as much given that they are winning - and winning always makes the game more fun... as well as then jumping back into a new season faster to take away the sting of defeat in the final series or a game-7 heart breaker.

I would liike to see 5, 7, 7.  No days off except between a series would be fine.