The old grind

One idea that’s being increasingly  kicked around is reducing the Major League schedule from 162 to 154 games. This was one of the segments on yesterday’s Pardon the Interruption.

Co-host Tony Kornheiser, being old, remembers the pre-1961 expansion era when the regular season consisted of the lower figure. There was also no post-season other than the World Series.

There are a few advantages to this. For one thing, the players stay fresher. Kornheiser pointed out the grind of being on the job from February to — for some — the end of October (if not November if each round of playoffs goes the distance). You can listen to the show here (skip to just before the four-minute mark). Barry Svrluga devoted a whole book to the topic.

Sorry, but I’m not buying that one. Yes, they do a lot of travelling through several time zones, but they are not actually putting in an eight-hour day on the assembly line. And yes, they’re at the ballpark several hours before the game, but there’s a lot of down time, even while they’re on the field.

I’m more in agreement with either starting the season later or ending it earlier. Of course, starting later is no guarantee the weather will cooperate and the suggestion to hold all earl-season contests in domed stadiums or in warm-weather cities seems a bit unfair.

And as much as we love baseball, not having the World Series drag into November is also to be desired (as is earlier starting times for the games so they don’t span two days).