A CORRECTION AND A NOTE: I obviously wrote this little piece in a great deal of haste and just to have some fun. So my normal phalanx of fact-checkers * did not give this the once over. So there was (at least) one mistake. Tampa Bay was booted out of the playoffs so quickly, I simply forgot that they had won 99 games in the regular season. Oh well, I’ve gone back and changed any misleading numbers in this piece.

As for the note, again I wrote it in haste or fun. Some commentator tried to tell me it wasn’t worth considering, or at least I think that’s what s/he was saying. Neither Candice nor I could quite figure out the point of the comment, so I took it down. As I say in the “About MTC” post . . . I will check comments and if you disagree strongly just get your own newsletter.

I’ve been living the bachelor life for the past 10 days. That means three things:

• First, I don’t eat as well as I do when Candice is home.

• Second, I often end up eating supper in front of the television.

• Finally, I watch way too much baseball.

These are all connected. I want to focus on #3.

The baseball playoffs began in early October with four wild card games on one day. I watched the vast majority of all four games. The eventual wild card winners — Texas, Minnesota, Arizona, and Philadelphia — took their first steps to sweep these best-of-three series. (Yes, all four series were 2-0 sweeps . . . which led to the first of several problematic days off.)

On to the Division Series games, which are best-of-five. Five teams across baseball won more than 90 games this year, and three of the five (Milwaukee and Tampa Bay were the exceptions) played for the first time in this round. As of last night, all five are now out of the playoffs. How could those teams with the better records all be out? Why, they never stood a chance.

There has been some exciting baseball, and we’ll never forget this play:

But there have also been a lot of blowouts over these two rounds, which has given me plenty of time to think about how I would improve the game if I were commissioner.**

First, get the (monetary) gambling out of baseball.

I am so tired of seeing David “Big Papi” Ortiz spray champagne on some schmuck who has just won a $100 bet I could scream. Listen, David Ortiz is not coming over to your house. I’ve written about this before, so go read the earlier article to get the full firehose of my opinion.

Second, make the regular season count again.

Baseball is unique because teams play day-in-and-day-out for six months over a 162-game season. But all three teams that excelled by winning 100 or more games over the regular season had a five-day layoff while the wild card series took place. These top regular season teams all looked rusty and were quickly dispatched in the first round in which they participated. There are, of course, explanations for those outcomes besides being disadvantaged by the layoff.

• Baltimore is an up-and-coming team that learned how to win close games in the regular season without a stellar pitching staff. They’ll be back.

• Los Angeles has a manager in Dave Roberts who knows how to win 100 games in the regular season but doesn’t have a feel for managing in the playoffs. Bruce Bochy would eat his lunch.

• Atlanta pulled off that miracle win in game #2 against the Phillies, but let’s be honest: Philadelphia has Atlanta’s number in the playoffs at the moment. Those kind of streaks happen.

So, should we give some more advantage to those who do well — even exceptionally well — in the regular season? As commissioner I want the regular season to count for something, so I would consider:

• Cut back on off days. After playing pretty much every day for six months, teams get rusty when they sit for 4-5 days. Squeeze that schedule however many rounds you have and let’s end before Halloween. November games are just stupid.

• Put fewer teams in the playoffs. This is the best way possible: drop the third wild card team. Let’s go back to the system where the two non-division-winning teams with the most wins play one play-in game, and then move immediately into the Division Series. Hey, it worked for the 2019 Nationals!

UPDATE #2: Joe Posnanski has a good column today on how we came to have three divisions in each league. Before 1969 there were two leagues and the winners of the two leagues went straight to the World Series.

Third, limit the number of pitching changes.

I hadn’t given this much thought until Joe Posnanski wrote about it, but “few things are more annoying than when a manager comes out during an inning to pull a pitcher with nobody on base just to get the platoon advantage.” It interrupts the flow of the game. Joe suggests that MLB outlaw changing pitchers with nobody on base.

Finally, no cheerleaders in baseball.

Look at the video above at about the 25-second mark. When Atlanta pulls off that miracle, CHEERLEADERS in skimpy outfits run out onto the top of the dugout. Just like there’s no crying in baseball, there should be no cheerleaders!

Atlanta has a good team but they have an ownership group with no soul. As I’ve written earlier, the Braves started the very ominous period of building sterile corporate campuses/amusement parks. Their decision to build and move to Truist Park in the far northern suburbs was terrible. It was a move away from the city, public space, public transportation, and — most egregious from my point of view— communities of color.

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Since these ideas have as much chance of being implemented as I have of being commissioner, let’s move along to a few other observations from my intense week of watching baseball.

• The new rules are working. The games are faster, there’s more offense, and if you head upstairs for an adult beverage you’re likely to miss something fun and significant. That’s a good thing.

• Second, I’m coming around on Harper. Maybe. Regular readers know that I dislike the Phillies Bryce Harper. A lot. When he played with the Nationals he was an aloof, arrogant, self-centered jerk, but he was ours. He’s also one of the most exciting players in the game. His clubhouse reputation has apparently improved since he went to Philadelphia, and I like his teammates Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber (also former Nats). I’m still not going to root for Harper, but I won’t be sad when he does something amazing either.

• Finally, Dusty Baker was the only thing good about the Astros last year; now he has company. I like Dusty and was glad when his Astros won the World Series. However, I’m now all in on Yordan Alvarez. What a monster! He’s just so much fun to watch.

That’s enough for now. My bachelor days are over yet the League Championship Series games await. Play ball!

More to come . . .

DJB

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*There is no phalanx of fact-checkers here . . . there’s barely one (i.e. me)

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**I’d probably need to be the king of baseball, as the commissioner is just a working stiff for the owners these days.

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Photo of DJB at Nats Park during 2019 World Series. If I were commissioner, I’d get better seats.