* I was thinking, three-inning games; but this is good, too

(…Because you can keep those little pocket schedules on your bookshelf.)

I am still waiting for some sports pundit to start off about the possibility of having three inning baseball games. It worked out pretty well for the Phillies and the fans. Started at 8:30, over before 10:30. Might even bring the young fans back because the strategy has to be spot on.

But this column by Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune has some merit as well. In essence: shorten that damn season! Start later, end earlier, and finish the post-season before X-mas! On a recent edition of Pardon the Interruption, Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon suggested going back to doubleheaders. What the heck, don’t even worry about making them day/night affairs at this point.

As for the havoc this would create in the record books, what’s the big deal? MLB went from various “standard” schedules. They’ve only been playing 162 games a year since 1961.

Beside, as Morrissey notes:

Records we hold dear would likely never be broken again because of the shortened schedule. But let’s keep in mind that the steroids era has taken a sledgehammer to the record books anyway. The home run records, in particular, are silly.

Remember all the hoo-ha when Roger Maris was about to break Babe Ruth’s record? “Oh, no” said the powers that be. “We’ll have to have some kind of mark, unless he does it in 154 games,” which was what they played before expansion that year.

It all boils down to money. The longer the games take, the more commercials, the more advertising revenue. Even in these troubled times.

Tagged as: baseball schedules, records