I can understand why Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig wants to explore expansion, but in my opinion it’s a bad idea.
MLB commissioner Bud Selig isn't afraid to upset the purists. Associated Press photo
Here’s one quote from Selig:
 “We have less teams than any other sport. Eight teams make the playoffs. One wild card in each league. We certainly haven’t abused anything.â€
To me, that’s what makes baseball – and the National Football League, for that matter – better than the other leagues. I think WAY too many teams in the NBA and NHL make the postseason. Why should a team with a losing record be allowed to make the playoffs? Systems like that cheapen the regular season.
And for a league that was so concerned about having its World Series played all the way into November, how much longer would an extra round of playoffs make the season?
I’ve heard that one proposal is adding one wild card team to each league, then the two wild-card teams would play a one-game playoff for the right to face the No. 1 seed in each league. But for a marathon sport, I don’t like the idea of encouraging one-game playoffs. They’re great theater, but they should be played only when absolutely necessary.
And do we really need to have the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees in the playoffs every year?
What the hell does having the redsox and yankees in the playoffs every year have anything to do with your reason? They both make it most of the time anyway, without playoff expansion. I don’t agree with playoff expansion either. Just wanted to point out your irrelevant comment about the sox and yanks making playoffs every year.
The baseball season is already too long. The playoffs already take too long. And the game takes too long to play.
If Mr. Selig wants to innovate how about changing the rules so the batter can’t leave the box between every pitch? At the end of the season take the teams with the four best records overall and put them into the playoffs, and ignore division championships. This is another attempt to make more money at the expense of the game.
And the only thing Selig as team owner/commissioner has ever abused is the fans.
You’re right Keith that they are in the playoffs almost every year. But even on the rare occasions when they haven’t both made it – like this year – they both would be in under a system that allowed as few as five teams from each league. My initial statement was more of a throw-away statement at the end of my reasoning than anything, but it’s true.
I’ve read that these proposals are meant to help teams like the Jays and Orioles who feel hopeless. But I feel like this is merely a way to bypass actually solving the problem of playing in that division.
And yes, Jeff. This proposal is all about the money, even if it contradicts their previous goal of having the season end earlier than it already does.