SocraticGadfly: Is #MLB over-expanded?

October 29, 2011

Is #MLB over-expanded?

As we had a great World Series, but one filled with miscues of various sorts, one baseball writer thinks that's indeed the case.
“There just aren’t great teams in baseball anymore,” the second scout said. “It all goes back to the expansion where the owners got so greedy and watered down the talent. What you have now is 50-60 ‘Four A’ players in the big leagues, many of them with starting jobs or in starting rotations. (Commissioner Bud) Selig talks about parity but what it is is inequity. I felt all year the Phillies were clearly the best team in baseball, but even they fell flat at the end of the year and between age and injuries they may have peaked.
“All you need to know is the Yankees, with a rotation that included (Bartolo) Colon, Freddy Garcia and A.J. Burnett ran away with the AL East.”
Of course, Bud ain't listening. His second wild card, and more mediocrity in the postseason, are coming down the tracks like a locomotive, complete with year-round interleague play and other nonsense.

I'd like either the Bob Costas idea of no wild card and the best division winner gets a first-round bye, or two wild cards in two-division leagues, and both wild cards can come from the same division.

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