Exhibit a in the "wild card sucks" case.

Sure, let's have a 14 team AL and a 16 team NL, with 28 teams sent home in October. It'll build character.

Exhibit a in the "wild card sucks" case.

Agreed, except about the letter. We're well past "a" as far as exhibits go.

DB

Yawn. It's not like there haven't been wild card races.

I take the opposite view. Why should one of the two best teams in the league have to go home when two inferior teams win the other division titles?

If we're talking about eliminating divisions altogether, that's another story, but there are too many teams for that now.

We have, however, gotten to the point where I might support some sort of radical realignment with 8 divisions that ignores traditional league boundaries. Most of the reason for that is that I would like to see Baltimore and Tampa in a different division than the Yankees and Boston. That could be accomplished by putting them in a "Southern Division" with the Marlins, Braves, and maybe Reds. It wouldn't solve the Blue Jays problem, though (but putting them in a Mets-Phillies-Pirates-Nationals kind of division would).

Yeah, Biff, but they've been like teenagers pawing at each other, not the making of sweet sweet love that a "loser goes home" race between two really good teams can give you.

We have, however, gotten to the point where I might support some sort of radical realignment with 8 divisions that ignores traditional league boundaries. Most of the reason for that is that I would like to see Baltimore and Tampa in a different division than the Yankees and Boston.

Would that be to take the heat off Baltimore and Tampa Bay, or is there some more objective reason for that suggestion? No matter how you sort things out, you're always going to have cases where either you let wild cards into the postseason, or you have a clearly inferior team in there, on the strength of being lucky enough to land in a weak division. And the smaller the divisions, the more likely that one of these years you'll wind up with a losing team in the playoffs.

The way it is now, it's obviously a big advantage to be in the ALC or ALW. But with the wild card, at least you don't have the second best team in the league sent home due to an accident of geography. IMO that's more important than preserving an intradivision September bloodbath between # 1 and # 2, however aesthetically pleasing that sort of a brawl might be.

I've come around on this. I used to think that they should just abolish the WC, because of what it does to regular-season games. But now I just think that they should "punish" the Wild Card team more than they do. 4/1 home games in the first round, or even expanding to two WCs, which play each other in a one-game playoff extravaganza.

But now I just think that they should "punish" the Wild Card team more than they do. 4/1 home games in the first round, or even expanding to two WCs, which play each other in a one-game playoff extravaganza.

Either of those ideas would add incentive to win the division, while at the same time not completely shutting out the second best team in the league. I get the strong feeling it wouldn't get adopted because of the lost revenue for the WC team, especially since in many or most years the extra home date would fall to the Yankees.

Yeah, Biff, but they've been like teenagers pawing at each other, not the making of sweet sweet love that a "loser goes home" race between two really good teams can give you.

I don't necessarily disagree with this, but I do think some of the appeal of the great pennant race is lost when the winner might just lose to the 2006 Cardinals in the first round of the playoffs anyway.

If the Yankees don't lose any more games (and it appears they might not), the division isn't going to be much of a race, either.

But if it's the second one, Saint, a team that doesn't make the playoffs today will get one last game. And if they do it on the Monday after the season, the nation would be watching these teams play each other - that has to count for something money-wise.

But now I just think that they should "punish" the Wild Card team more than they do. 4/1 home games in the first round, or even expanding to two WCs, which play each other in a one-game playoff extravaganza.

I would support this.

have a 14 team AL and a 16 team NL,

This bothers me. I don't really want to see further expansion (and contraction is a non-starter), but it really doesn't seem fair that the AL West is four teams, while the NL Central is six. As if the Pirates didn't have enough problems as is.

This bothers me. I don't really want to see further expansion (and contraction is a non-starter), but it really doesn't seem fair that the AL West is four teams, while the NL Central is six. As if the Pirates didn't have enough problems as is.

Switch one team from National to American and do away with interleague. Or allow interleague play throughout the season.

Would that be to take the heat off Baltimore and Tampa Bay, or is there some more objective reason for that suggestion? No matter how you sort things out, you're always going to have cases where either you let wild cards into the postseason, or you have a clearly inferior team in there, on the strength of being lucky enough to land in a weak division. And the smaller the divisions, the more likely that one of these years you'll wind up with a losing team in the playoffs.

At this point, it would mostly just be to take the heat off Baltimore and Tampa, and that wouldn't really be fair. Also, the scenario I outlined in the post, if followed to its logical conclusion, results in Boston and the Yankees being all alone in one division, which will certainly never happen. But a geographic realignment designed mostly to put the Red Sox and Yankees somewhere else is something that could actually get done, I guess, so I wouldn't be much more opposed to it than the current system; both would unfairly damage the chances of a couple of teams, just different ones.

What would actually be fair would be to get rid of divisions and just have four playoff berths in each league. If they're won by New York, Boston, Baltimore, and Tampa, or New York, Boston, Toronto, and Tampa, then that's just the way it is. They probably won't do that, because if Baltimore and Toronto had real chances to make the post-season just by spending more, they would probably do it in a lot of seasons, and the whole midwest would get essentially shut out of the playoffs.

Switch one team from National to American and do away with interleague

If you do this, you have fifteen teams in each league, so one team is sitting idle at all times. It'd be hell on scheduling.

Or allow interleague play throughout the season.

Significantly more workable, but ewwww. I suspect we may see something like this with the next commissioner.

I don't think there's a real workable system for gaming the 2006 Cards out of the playoffs at this point, Eric. I think Wild Cards and >2 divisions are here to stay, for obvious money reasons. And as long as there are that many division winners, one or more may suck.

Yankees now up 2.5. Aside from cc, starting pitching has often been "eh", but the hitting has there. Over this 8 game streak, they are scoring 7 RPG.

It's been amazing. They're starting Wingus, with Dingus waiting in the wings to relieve in the fourth. Rod is not in the lineup. Cano is not quite the hit monster that he was earlier in the season. Yet they can't lose, it seems.

Nobody should be surprised this Yankee team averaged 7 runs a game over an 8 game home stand.

It hasn't been amazing, they have a very good offense, even without ARod.

Far more praise should be heaped on the bullpen's recent performance, that seemed far from likely around May/June.

I watched half the game on TV and listened to half on the radio.

To begin with, I figured it would be a letdown game, after the recent streak. And I'm down on Cervelli as an offensive contributor. I like Nunez, but he's no A-Rod at the plate. Javy looked to me like he had absolutely nothing. And from what I heard on the radio, Joba was really lucky to get through his inning with no damage.

Given how the Blue Jays have played them, how Bautista in specific seems to get great swings against the Yanks, and given all of the factors I listed above, I was really sure they'd lose today. I'll use the word again; I'm amazed that they won.

The Jays look like they're folding up shop. I think if they were busting it, third place is a realistic possibility. They've had a good year.

And a full year of Showalter would probably put the Orioles in first place.

Far more praise should be heaped on the bullpen's recent performance, that seemed far from likely around May/June.

Anybody notice how Kerry Wood has been lights out for the Yankees?

Yeah, it's been pretty awesome. What's his contract situation? I assume he's a free agent. If so, I wonder if he'd be interested continuing as Mariano's set-up guy next season.

Nobody should be surprised this Yankee team averaged 7 runs a game over an 8 game home stand.

It hasn't been amazing, they have a very good offense, even without ARod.

The most amazing thing to me is how quickly Granderson has improved since his swing makeover with Kevin Long---.936 OPS+ in the past 28 days, and that includes 7 days before he made the readjustment. And most amazing, he's actually looked pretty good against lefthanders.

Far more praise should be heaped on the bullpen's recent performance, that seemed far from likely around May/June.

Give Girardi credit for much of that, since he's been willing to promote and demote on the basis of performance, rather than contract or reputation. And he's done it on such an evenhanded basis that he hasn't created any pouting or ego crises.

I also love the way he took both Nova and Vazquez out of the game after 4.2 innings, depriving them of a chance for the win, but at the same time making sure the game didn't blow up in the fifth. And when Vazquez started complaining to the press about it, Girardi simply wrote it off to his competitive nature rather than firing back.