I think the new one-game wild card preliminary round of postseason play has broken me. I'm actually wearied by the idea that there are three more rounds of playoffs after this. Seriously?
Maybe the division series should be trimmed back to best of three and the LCS to best of five, keeping the World Series at best of seven. This would make for a pleasing symmetry of odd numbers, plus it would mitigate the November Problem.
I'd been musing earlier about the possibility, instead of two wild cards, of having the wild card-best record division series be best of three while the other one remains best of five. The pitfalls of this are obvious, so perhaps all three games need to be played in the best record team's stadium to readjust the wild card's disadvantage further. Or maybe this is more baroque than helpful.
I was ranting on Facebook and Twitter a bit last night about the Infield Fly Rule, and this piece defends the call in the Cardinals-Braves game as well as any. Still, I don't think anybody would have been saying, "that should have been an infield fly," if it hadn't been called in that situation. Maybe the Infield Fly Rule is the baseball equivalent of the parallel postulate - an awkwardly-phrased, non-intuitive rule that is necessary for the whole thing to work. I don't know.
I also want to put on record somewhere that I predict the Nationals will win the NL pennant - and I'd be glad, not least because of this guy - and I have no idea who's winning the AL. I can't complain if the Yankees win, but it's the most boring possibility. Orioles might be the most intriguing option, but there are no teams whose success is to be dreaded here.
I think Yankees-Cards is the least appetizing combination. So I'll root against that.
Maybe the division series should be trimmed back to best of three and the LCS to best of five, keeping the World Series at best of seven. This would make for a pleasing symmetry of odd numbers, plus it would mitigate the November Problem.
I'd been musing earlier about the possibility, instead of two wild cards, of having the wild card-best record division series be best of three while the other one remains best of five. The pitfalls of this are obvious, so perhaps all three games need to be played in the best record team's stadium to readjust the wild card's disadvantage further. Or maybe this is more baroque than helpful.
I was ranting on Facebook and Twitter a bit last night about the Infield Fly Rule, and this piece defends the call in the Cardinals-Braves game as well as any. Still, I don't think anybody would have been saying, "that should have been an infield fly," if it hadn't been called in that situation. Maybe the Infield Fly Rule is the baseball equivalent of the parallel postulate - an awkwardly-phrased, non-intuitive rule that is necessary for the whole thing to work. I don't know.
I also want to put on record somewhere that I predict the Nationals will win the NL pennant - and I'd be glad, not least because of this guy - and I have no idea who's winning the AL. I can't complain if the Yankees win, but it's the most boring possibility. Orioles might be the most intriguing option, but there are no teams whose success is to be dreaded here.
I think Yankees-Cards is the least appetizing combination. So I'll root against that.