Should the Big Bash League consider a series for its final?

The premier Twenty20 competition is already one of the most exciting sporting contests in Australia.

Should the Big Bash League's semi and grand final be played as a best of three or five series instead of a single fixture? Picture: John McCutcheon

OPINION: A best-of-three or five-game series could add an exciting new edge to the Big Bash League.

The premier Twenty20 competition is already one of the most exciting sporting contests in Australia.

Huge audiences tune in to see some of the most explosive batting on offer in any cricket competition in the world, and see how bowlers, regularly the casualty of shorter forms, can generate crucial and valuable dot balls to save their side.

The Women's Big Bash League season will start on December 1 with the grand final on January 26. The men start on December 19 with the grand final scheduled for February 17.

The semi and grand finals are one-off games, but should organisers consider a series format to liven the finals and better crown the competition's best team?

Finals series are a much more common presence in the United States. Major League Baseball, the NBA, and NHL, to name a few, are all contested over three, five, or seven games, depending on which final the teams are playing.

This is not about Americanising Australian sport, but I have never been more engaged, thrilled and stressed as a fan than at the MLB's League Championship Series games.

Boston Red Sox dropped the first game of the ALCS to Houston Astros before winning four straight to win the pennant and qualify for the World Series. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers will play Game 6 of the NLCS, which the Dodgers lead 3-2, today (AEST).

Sure, it will mean the season stretches out for at least another week or so, but the onus on players to perform at their best level more often, as well as the strategy in maintaining injury-free lineups, has made the series an unbeatable advertisement for the MLB.

The series format is already in use in the National Basketball League - Melbourne United beat Adelaide 36ers 3-2 to win the 2018 crown - and the Australian Baseball League uses a best-of-three in finals.

Cricket is a different sport, but the short, T20 format would be perfect for such a system to be implemented.

It would mean Hobart Hurricanes would have a chance to respond after Jake Weatherald's 70-ball 115 led Adelaide Strikers to the 2017-18 BBL title, and allow other bowlers the opportunity to turn the tide.

The BBL is already an exciting concept, and a series format for finals could make it even more dramatic.