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Major League Baseball’s product is in shambles.

For the fifth consecutive year, the playoffs ended with a short World Series containing mere fleeting moments of drama, primarily thanks to the weather. Baseball’s postseason, modeled loosely on the National Football League’s Super Bowl tournament, doesn’t work. Never did; never will.

Decades ago, the World Series was a competition between two teams winning their respective leagues. That changed during the 1969 expansion. To create additional pennant races, each league was split into two divisions, based on geography—MLB style. Eastern teams wanting to maintain their rivalries with the Chicago Cubs were appeased when Atlanta and
Cincinnati were assigned to the West division. Where Cubs go, Cardinals follow.

Yet, in 1973, baseball received a stunning hint there was a flaw in its restructuring. The New York Mets won the National League East with an 82-79 record. On August 8^th, the Mets were in last place, its home for most of the season. In one stretch, they lost 17 of 23 games, maintaining a losing record from May 6 through September 21. On August 5^th, they were 12 games under .500, 10 ½ games behind St. Louis.

At the close of the season, half the teams in the National League West sported better records than New York. In fact, had the league maintained its structure from 1900-1967, the Mets would have finished 16 ½ games behind West Division champion Cincinnati Reds.

What sent New York from worst to first in seven weeks? A late season hot streak, driven by superb pitching, in a terrible division. The Mets won 24 of 33 from August 27^th through the last game of the season. They rode that momentum into the National League Championship Series, defeating the Reds in five games. Then they almost shocked the heavily favored Oakland A’s in the World Series, taking a three games to two lead, before dropping the last two in Oakland.

No longer is that season an aberration.

The World Series Rarely is a Contest Between the Best Teams

The last season a team with the best record in baseball reached the World Series was in 2004, when the Cardinals, with 105 wins, were swept by the Boston Red Sox, the first of three recent American League sweeps. The remaining two Series ended with the National League team winning, 4-1. A key problem is the number of postseason games following a 162-game season. In the 1970s and 80s, October baseball rode a momentum wave from the League Championship Series to the World Series. In recent years, that momentum has shifted from the Division contests to the LCS, making the World Series an anti-climactic disappointment on the field and in the television ratings.

Throughout the 24-year two-division era, ten teams finished in first place while failing to win 90 games, a .556 winning percentage, the arguable threshold between mediocrity and championship caliber. They include the 1970 Pittsburgh Pirates (.549); 1972 Detroit Tigers (.551); 1974 Pittsburgh Pirates (.543); 1979 California Angels (.543); 1982 Atlanta Braves (.549); 1984 Kansas City Royals (.519); 1987 Minnesota Twins (.525); 1988 Boston Red Sox (.549); 1989 Toronto Blue Jays (.549); 1990 Red Sox (.543). Only the Twins won the league pennant and, ultimately, the World Series.

In the current three-division format, 17 teams were mediocre division winners: the 1995 Los Angeles Dodgers (.542); Seattle Mariners (.545); 1996 Cardinals (.543); 1997 Houston Astros (.519); Indians (.534); 1998 Indians (.549); Texas Rangers (.543); 2000 Yankees (.540); 2001 Braves (.543); 2003 Chicago Cubs (.543); 2005 San Diego Padres (.506); 2006 Cardinals (.516); Padres (.543); 2007 Philadelphia Phillies (.549); Cubs (.525); 2008 Chicago White Sox (.543); and Dodgers (.519).

Final tally for mediocrity: ten teams in 24 years with one World Series winner versus 17 teams in 13 years, with two championships: the 2000 Yankees and 2006 Cardinals. The Mariners won 116 games in 2001, yet were eliminated by the Yankees in the League Championship Series. Had there been no divisions, the Yankees would have finished in third place, 21 games behind Seattle and seven behind Oakland. Ironically, the Yankees beat the Athletics in the Division series, overcoming a two games to none deficit.

Perhaps the most galling change for traditional fans, in 1994, was the addition of a wild card team, creating what, in actuality, is a postseason tournament in which eligibility is not dependent on being one of the four best teams in the league. In 2002, the Anaheim Angels beat the San Francisco Giants four games to three to win the first wild card World Series. However, that was not the first World Series in which two teams which did not win their division competed.

In 1981, when a players strike interrupted the schedule for two months, owners decided to split the season, declaring teams in first place before the strike and at the end of the season eligible for the playoffs. Bad news for the overall National League division winners:  St. Louis and Cincinnati. Ultimately, the second place Dodgers beat the third place Yankees in the World Series.

The current postseason tournament structure not only compromises the World Series, it alters the meaning of the regular season. From 1900-1968, the league schedule was a true championship season. In the pre-expansion era, 1900-1960, teams played others in their respective league about 22 times each season. Once the leagues added a collective four teams in ‘61 and ‘62, the schedule was expanded to 162 games, with each team meeting 18 times.

Current attempts to concoct pennant races within five-team divisions bear no relationship to the earlier eras. Teams play simply to reach the tournament. The final records do nothing more than determine seedings, which include home field advantage. Furthermore, interleague play, which has removed the mystique from the World Series, gives certain teams unfair advantages due to scheduling quirks. While the Cubs play six games against the contending White Sox, the Cardinals play six against the last place Royals.

To create some semblance of a pennant race, the leagues reinstituted unbalanced schedules in 1999. Teams within the National League play 17 or 18 games against teams within the divisions and six or seven outside them. The cost of this structure was the death of numerous 100-year-old rivalries.

And what has this laughable system provided? During the last 11 years, eight wild card teams have reached the World Series, two of whom won. In addition to Anaheim’s victory, Florida beat Cleveland and the Yankees.

Three Possible Solutions

This is not an American institution selling a quality product. Integrity has been sold for lots and lots of money. Until MLB overhauls its structure, playoff games, most of which are aired on cable network TBS, and the World Series will continue their ratings slides, baring an unexpected successful run by the Cubs. So, here’s my solution for restoring credibility:

OPTION ONE: Eliminate the divisions to restore legitimacy to the regular season and thrilling pennant races. Limit the postseason to the World Series. The season can begin on or around April 15^th and end by October 15^th.

OPTION TWO: Revert to two divisions in each league, which maintains the LCS.

OPTION THREE: Since MLB never would consider options one and two, then eliminate the divisions and allow the top four teams in the standings to qualify for the postseason tournament. What’s the difference? In 2005, the East division’s fourth place Marlins finished the season with a better record than the West’s first place Padres. In reality, San Diego finished in seventh place, behind three East Division teams eliminated from playoff contention. The dichotomy became even more disastrous in 2006, when the Cardinals finished in fifth place, a game and a half behind the Phillies, who lost the wild card race by three games. Yet, the Cardinals won the World Series, against a rattled wild card team.

Each team in each league would play the other teams in their respective leagues an equal number of times. Historic rivalries such as Dodgers-Cubs; Giants-Cardinals; Phillies-Pirates; and Yankees-Tigers would be revived. Give the one through four positions monikers, such as champion, gold, silver and bronze because owners and players will give up those wild card champs T-shirt revenues. Hint: “Wild Card Champs” is a ridiculous oxymoron. In the opening series, Champion plays Bronze; Gold plays Silver.

Finally, dump the insulting This Time It Counts All-Star Game. With interleague play, the novelty is gone forever. National League cities have been cheated for years due to this idiotic gimmick. Check the ratings—no one watches it! How Joe Buck maintains a straight face while not choking on that slogan forever will remain a mystery. This Time It Counts is moot because MLB hasn’t presented a six-game World Series in five years

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