You can't. The sim doesn't allow for any kind of creative shenanigans. I'll admit I'm not the biggest fan of a bye round, but it's either 8/10 playoff teams (an idea with way more flaws than intrigue), 6/10 playoff teams (which at least makes competing for league/conference lead worthwhile), or 4/10 playoffs teams and two rounds (gets rid of the bye, maybe adds playoff race intrigue and addresses some of the things in this article, but shit. 40% of the teams in playoffs. That's cold man. Also kills Cinderella stories even deader.)
Going off STHS capability alone, I'd say the most logical approach is how we've been doing it.
Now, if we added 1-2 dozen hard, active, reliable members... Maybe we expand again, and THEN put 8 in the playoffs. But I'm not projecting that until at least S60 .
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