Another Silly Idea from Selig

You know that MLB Commissioner Bud Selig really loves the game of baseball, but sometimes he needs more common sense in terms of making changes.

Interleague play gave the game a boost when it was introduced in 1997.  Now outside of the regional rivalries like the Yankees-Mets, Cubs-White Sox, Dodgers-Angels, Indians-Reds, etc., it has lost interest for die-hard fans. 

Most people think awarding home field advantage in the World Series for the winner of the All Star game is a knee jerk reaction to the managers running out of pitchers in the 2002 game.  Going back to the alternating format for each league would be a much better system.

Now, the commish is considering adding teams to baseball’s post-season.  NOOOOOOOOO!

Several people have come out in favor of the plan to add two teams to the playoffs in the future, and most of those people have a stake in expansion. 

First, the managers.  Both Terry Francona and Manny Acta have said they support Selig’s plan.  Of course they do.  It’s a job saver.  Most franchises aren’t going to jettison a skipper who just made a post-season appearance in the last couple of years.

It’s the same reason that college basketball coaches always come out in favor of expansion of the NCAA Basketball Tournament.  The more teams that get in, the more coaches that can say they guided a team to the tournament. 

These guys don’t have a big stake in preserving the integrity of the post-season, they have a huge stake in staying employed.

The other people who have supported adding two teams are sports media people.  These guys have cash to gain from Selig’s plan, at least for their networks.  More games equal more advertising revenue to be charged.  That’s the standpoint they are coming from. 

Baseball plays 162 games to determine which teams make the playoffs, not 16 like the NFL, which allows six teams from each conference to make the playoffs.  At the end of that many games, do we really need to have 35.7% of American League teams getting a chance to make the World Series?  Of course not.

Look at the NBA playoffs, which is as bloated a system as you can find.  How many eight seeds have defeated a top seed in the first round in the last twenty years?  Two, Denver beat Seattle and Golden State beat Dallas.  Neither of those teams was very good.  The Nuggets were 42-40 when they beat the Sonics three out of five in the first round, and the Warriors had the same record in 2004. 

Do .500 teams belong in the playoffs without winning a division?  It’s opening the door for mediocrity.

Even with eight teams qualifying for the title in baseball, the game in the playoffs is much different from the regular season.  You don’t need five starters, you don’t need a bench, and you only need two or three solid relief guys to win because of all the off days.  The Yankees won those titles from 1996-2000 because they were perfectly set up for the post-season.

Remember 1987 when the Minnesota Twins, arguably the worst team to win the Series, did it basically on the arms of two pitchers, Frank Viola and Bert Blyleven.  On the eight games won by the Twins that playoff year, seven were started by those two hurlers. 

Who’s to say that can’t happen again when the second wild card in either league cashes in on a championship. 

Of course, if it was the Tribe, we would all be thrilled.  However, in spite of that, baseball should keep the system the way it is.  The number of teams in the playoffs isn’t the reason baseball is losing fans.  If that were true then all the teams making the playoffs would sell out, right Bud?

MW