Good points. I don't see any way they'd let the season get shorter (except through periodic strikes and lockouts) but expanding the rosters doesn't sound like a bad idea. Who wouldn't want a Manny Mota type to pull in off the bench?

Just a nitpick, but Mike Scioscia's been carrying three catchers in recent years.

Wouldn't it be cool if we had a 154 game season, and possibly see another .400 hitter??

Plus, what if you add another 2 teams to the playoffs (making post-season a tad longer) and give first round byes like they do in football, to the best teams. Then the best teams will be rested and be more likely to play at their top ability. I think it would be a good (or at least interesting) move.

The season should be 12 games shorter (or 4 series) and division winners eliminated. The 4 teams with the best record from each league go to the play offs, and then the first round of the playoffs should be a round robin tournament.

And no I haven't been drinking... these are good ideas!

If anything, the season is too short. Let's go to the old Pacific Coast League schedule, where they used to play 200 or so games.

It's the off-season that's too long. I was ready for next season in December. Come on, let's get going already!

Ugh. I hate watching pitchers hit, it's painful enough watching neifi perez hit, why do people want to see pitchers hit? I'm in favor of the DH in the NL.

i'm not opposed to shortening the season by a few games, and i'm not opposed to just taking the 4 best teams and doing away w/ the divisions. However, expanding the playoffs is stupid!! if you can't tell who belongs after 6 months and 162 games, you never will. the season is long for a reason. if MLB were to add teams to the playoffs, ala the NFL, it would have to shorten the season by several weeks.

Right on, Jeff A.
(or at least telecast Winter League games on ESPN 3/4/5/ or whatever number they're on).

I can't stand watching pitchers hit in the majors. Woopdeedo if a guy finally gets a hit, or someone can actually hit .250. Keep the DH, and expand rosters to 26-27. The playoffs are fine as is; no more dilution, er, expansion.

Precisely.

Nobody, especially the fans, can agree on what's the best solution: season too long/too short, DH good/evil etc. How do you expect Selig to find consensus among the owners?

Espn 8: The Ocho.

For a volleyball, Wilson makes a good point. The sport needs an absolute overhaul. All the ideas above are exciting to think about... well, except doing away with the DH. But they'll never happen.

"people want to see the DH go the way of the Dodo"

And other people think tht the DH is great and watching pitcher attempt to hit or lay down those perfunctory bunts is just awful, awful baseball.

Most polls I see are around 50/50 in this area. So here's an elegant solution, have one league where pitchers hit and have one league where there's a DH. Then everybody's happy.

What?

'I don't know when the roster was set in stone at 25 players, but I believe it's now too small. '

No thanks - Expand to 28 players and you'll see 14 man staffs with 5 pitching changes a game. The problem is that now you have 2-3 guys pitching

A good comparison is international soccer where teams play league, tournament and international and you see a lot of guys come up and reserves play more.

I don't want roster expansion - there's more than enough pitching changes as it is.

If dropping the season to 154 gives Barry less of a chance of setting the HR record, I'm all for it.

Seriously though, I think a 6 team playoff would be better. Without the bye week I have witnessed many good Atlanta Braves teams who coasted through the last couple weeks have to go in against a hot wildcard team and get dumped out. When those teams are rewarded with a bye it makes them healthier, thus evening the playing field a bit.

Not that I'm making excuses for higher ranked teams that get knocked out, but this business of the hot team coming in and always at least getting to the LCS is pretty annoying.

Re: pitching changes, make a guy have to pitch to at least 2-3 batters, unless he's injured, meaning unavailable for the next 2 games.

pitchers are bad hitters?

Javier vasquez, greg maddux, dontrelle willis (and i think jeff weaver, not sure) all hit home runs last season.

I know its 3 at bats from 3 out of 300 pitchers, but still, its worth something.

hypothetically, if there was no DH, and the red sox had to play ortiz at first full time would it hurt them?

hypothetically, if there was a DH in the nl, would it significantly hurt teams built on pitching such as the astros(with clemens anway)?

Anyone who says they hate seeing pitchers hit has never watched Carlos Zambrano step up to the plate (or Mike Hampton, for that matter).

Z hit .300 last year in 80 ABs, and recently said he wants to play winter ball for Venezuela as a DH. The guy even had 2 triples last year, which is pretty amazing considering he's listed at 255 lbs.

If Neifi Perez is in the lineup, there's no excuse for him batting ahead of Zambrano in the order.

I don't like seeing most catchers hit; maybe they should expand the DH to catchers. And they should get a Designated runner to run for Catchers.

And how about 2B? Most of them can't hit. DHs for them, too.

Anyway, why not have more double-headers? That would allow more days off. The day would be longer for players, but not that much longer. 9 hours intead of 6.

Also could move up the start of the season by about 2 weeks. That would allow more days off and probably wouldn't hurt much.

I'm all for a shorter 154 game season, but how about one other idea...relegate the lower teams and promote from the lower leagues. That's what the soccer leagues in Europe do, and it would make baseball a whole lot more interesting at both levels.

Take the bottom team from each division, and play a round-robin tourney to see which team stays in the majors. Then the other two teams (four total across MLB) drop to AAA. Then, the top four AAA teams get promoted to the majors. Teams like KC, Tampa, the Mets, etc would have a bigger interest from their fans as even late-season games would have meaning. Plus, AAA teams would also draw bigger crowds.

The big downside is that the farm system would need a drastic overhaul, but I think a loan system would work.

Well, I'm a fan of the DH. I find watching athletes doing something they're not good at annoying. So, if you HAD to get rid of the DH, I have a suggestion that no MLBPA attorney and no baseball purist would ever sign onto, but makes a certain sense:

Get rid of the DH;
Don't let the pitchers bat;
Shorten the games to 8 innings.

This would keep the hitting stats the same, since each of the 8 batters would avg. the same #PA's per game,
it would SHORTEN the games by around 20 minutes, and it would diminish the importance of the player that I think is usually the lousiest on the team: the set-up relief pitcher.
You would use your starter 6-7 ip, then maybe one set-up reliever (instead of 2 or 3), then to your closer.

OK THAT will never happen, but I think it's interesting to muse about.

'Also could move up the start of the season by about 2 weeks. That would allow more days off and probably wouldn't hurt much.'

They could shovel off Fenway Park and play on 4/1. The problem with that is the same teams would have to start on the road for a while or play in horrendus conditions. Also it would coincide with the NCAAs. They'd start spring training befor ethe Super Bowl. None of things are going to happen. My suggestion would be to modify rules on pitching changes - 2 per inning unless a guy gets hurt. Get rid of the 1 batter guys - the games would be faster and you wouldn't have the guys pitching 40-50 innings a year taking up roster spots.

I might also add Livan Hernandez as a pitcher who pwns a lot of position players in terms of hitting. I believe he had 2 home runs last year - and one of them in RFK no less.

YES! trade the DH for an extra roster spot ! I love it! Down with the DH once and for all.

jeff b,

i remember that. it was against my mets. i also think in that game he threw 150 pitches. 150!!!! no wonder the guy throws 300 innings a year.

not to start another cuba rant, but i think that is the way baseball is taught in cuba- the pitcher has as much responsibility at the plate as any position player. glad to see livan carry that over.

I have no problem with adding a roster spot or two, but I'd like to comment on the simple goofy nature of Rosenthal's idea...do these guys just fail to realize that this is not a once a week softball league?

It's just like the other day when the topic was that ESPN shouldn't ask teams to change their game to Sunday nights...and I guess broadcast dead air, as no one schedules games on Sunday nights.

This is a multi-billion dollar industry...maybe trillion. A few years ago, cable TV, sat radio, wildcard rounds, and so on, were radical, yet all did one thing...add revenue to the game. The idea of taking money away from the game...to give players one more day off a month?

It's a move that would have no benefits at all.

As for the "relegation" idea, which is brought up all the time, imagine going to the player's union and saying, "Oh, and by the way, in order to help the game, we're eliminating 4 teams and 100 jobs".

Lots of luck.

well,

if you FOR the dh because you don't like watching pitchers do something they ain't good at, i don't want to have to watch a guy who is a professional ballplayer who can't run, catch or throw. i'd rather see a pitcher lay down a bunt ANY DAY.

i also think that shortening the season is a good idea - give the guys another day of rest every month - they about wiped out by the end of the year.

expanding the roster for more position players i would go for but i ALSO do NOT wanna see even MORE pitcher changes

Pitchers batting introduces an element of luck into a game. No pitcher makes a rotation, or doesn't make it, because of his bat - it's not considered at all - so whether they can bat well, is sheer luck. Expand the DH to the NL.
I think they should cut the regular season down 10-15 games. The main reason is that the first round of the playoffs really needs to be 7 games.

'I think they should cut the regular season down 10-15 games. '

I'm sure all concerned will be OK with the 6-9% cut in revenues.