I haven't commented yet on the commission that Bud Selig set up to change baseball. There are two types of baseball fans to be wary of. One is the kind who believes that baseball was absolutely perfect when they were between the the ages of eight and twelve, has been going downhill every since, and so therefore every single proposed change is a bad idea. They're bad; the other kind, the Selig kind, is worse -- they believe that the only grounds for opposing whatever fool thing they've thought of must be an unwillingness to change traditions.
Of those, Selig is the worst of the worst. No only does he not understand that change needs a reason more compelling than "you're just against any changes," but he's constantly overreacting to the headlines. I do believe that baseball's current season/playoff structure does a poor job of bringing out baseball's strengths, but I have no confidence at all that Selig will get it right. I'm hoping for stalemate until he's gone, and then somehow we get lucky the next time around. Otherwise, it's going to be going to a balanced schedule because it's not fair that WC competitors have difference schedules, then back to an unbalanced schedule because there aren't enough games in-division, and then to an unbalanced schedule because...you get the picture. It's no surprise that Selig's biggest triumph is mlb.com; he's always looking for change, and sometimes change works out well.
He has his good points, but I won't miss him when he's gone.
Contract two teams, no interleague, balanced schedule (play each of the 13 other teams in your league 12 times = 156 games). Top team in each league gets a bye to the LCS. 2nd and 3rd play each other to join them. Whoever wins the NL pennant gets promoted to the AL and whoever is 14th in the AL gets relegated to the NL.
ReplyDeleteOh, and MLB will hand each team that has a knuckleballer qualify for the ERA title a check for 5 million bucks (to be paid for by an excise tax on cadillac health care plans).
I think everyone can agree on those terms, no?