The Hot Stone League

Larry Stone gives his take on a wide array of baseball issues and weighs in about the Mariners too.

November 19, 2009 at 9:33 AM

Selig sees the light: Postseason schedule will be condensed

One of the real annoyances of the past two years, since MLB revised its postseason schedule to start the World Series on a Wednesday, rather than a Saturday, has been the increase in days off during playoff baseball.

It has been hard for the postseason to gain any sort of momentum with the constant gaps, and I believe casual fans tended to drift off to other things -- college and NFL football, for instance. During one span, the Angels and Yankees played just eight times in 20 days leading up to Game 6 of the ALCS. In a sport that's built upon the rhythms -- and challenges -- of playing every day, that's just not right.

The issue was brought to the forefront when Angels manager Mike Scioscia called the scheduling "ridiculous" during the ALCS.

"I think you lose a lot of the integrity of what the season means when you have three days off at the end of the season to let other teams maybe reset their starting rotation, which is an advantage of clinching early," Scioscia said. "That's negated when any team can do it just by getting to the playoffs."

Well, guess what? Commissioner Bud Selig was listening, and he promises the schedule will be tightened. In fact, he cited Scioscia's comments as a motivating force.

This is a good thing. Now if the Commish could just do something about getting instant replay expanded, we'd be getting somewhere.

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The Hot Stone League

Selig sees the light: Postseason schedule will be condensed

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