baseball 2012

[smc]

So, baseball fans, what think ye of the proposal -- currently being pushed hard by MLB with the Player's Union -- to change the format for the baseball post-season?

Under the proposal, each league's three division winners would earn a first-round bye, while the teams with the fourth- and fifth-best records in each league would play a game to determine who gets the wild-card berth. Then the wild-card winner would play the top-seeded division winner in the first round.

Personally, I think this is idiocy.

Jemele Hill, writing on ESPN.com today, explains one of the reasons I think it's idiocy. It involves my beloved Boston Red Sox.

"Do you remember where you were on Sept. 28, 2011? It was only the greatest regular-season finale in baseball history. The Boston Red Sox needed one more out against the Baltimore Orioles to make the playoffs. Trailing the New York Yankees 7-0 in the eighth inning, the Tampa Bay Rays needed a win and a Boston loss to secure a spot in the postseason.

"Then the most unreal, unpredictable, unbelievable thing happened. The Orioles and Rays both won in dramatic fashion. And the Red Sox claimed the notoriety of the most epic late-season collapse of all time.

"If the expanded postseason formula had been in place last year, those two dramatic games would have only affected home field for a one-game playoff between the Rays and Red Sox. Of course, Terry Francona might still be the Red Sox's manager and, most importantly, beer and chicken wouldn't be frowned upon in Boston's clubhouse."

I would rather keep things as they are than have had my Red Sox make the playoffs last year under the circumstances just described!

Jemele Hill continues:

"This proposed postseason expansion nonsense is undeserved charity. (Just ask the 2010-11 Indiana Pacers, who made the playoffs at 37-45, or the 2002-03 New York Islanders, who limped in at 35-34-11-2.)

"Congratulations, mediocre teams! You have even more incentive to remain average!"

Any thoughts, friends?