Lord help us (a.k.a., get off my lawn!)

There’s been some chatter lately about changing the MLB postseason structure. Here’s the synposis:

MLB is considering a move in which each league would have three division winners and four wild-card teams making the postseason starting in 2022, sources said. The best team in the league would receive a bye into the division series. The two remaining division winners and the wild-card team with the best record of the four would each host all games of a best-of-three series in the opening round.

Once the teams clinch and the regular season ends, the plan gets congested:

• The division winner with the second-best record would select its wild-card opponent from the three wild-card winners not hosting a series.
• The division winner with the worst record would then choose its opponent from the remaining two wild-card teams.
• The final matchup would pit the wild-card winner with the best record against the wild-card team not yet chosen.

Wait, what was that second bullet point?

The division winner with the worst record would then choose its opponent from the remaining two wild-card teams.

WTF?

There have been a number books — not to mention hundreds of articles —  several coming in the late-’80s and mid-90’s that purport to tell us what’s wrong with the game and how to fix it. (Bill James devotes a chapter in his latest Handbook to improvements both major and minor, which I will address point-by-point in a future entry.) It’s interesting to note that a lot of these come from former players who become commentators in retirement; State of Play: The Old School Guide to New School Baseball, by Bill Ripken, is the latest in this genre.

• Fair Ball: A Fan’s Case for Baseball, by Bob Costas
• Just Play Ball, by Joe Garagiola
• Smart Baseball, by Buddy Bell
• Long Balls, No Strikes: What Baseball Must Do to Keep the Good Times Rolling, by Joe Morgan
• Confessions of a Baseball Purist: What’s Right–and Wrong–with Baseball, as Seen from the Best Seat in the House, by Jon Miller
• Watching Baseball: Discovering the Game within the Game, by Jerry Remy

Are there things that are wrong with the game that should be examined? Of course, but as I see it, tossing this spaghetti on the wall in the hope that something sticks with the television audience — because, let’s be honest, that’s who all this is really for — is not the answer.