Q.  Is cash the only motivation that Bud Selig has for changing MLB's playoff structure?

A.  Selig talks a lot about hope for the have-nots.  He's sincere about that part, I think. 

Selig would like for fans in Milwaukee and Oakland to experience the things that fans in Boston do.  I don't think that's contemptible, do you?

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Marilyn Vos Savant, smartest person in the world,* was asked, at what point should I buy a Prius -- hey, I do have to put the old car in the junkyard, after all.*  And the factory had to produce the waste to manufacture the Prius.

She advised, whatever costs you the least money, over the course of your life, is a good guideline for what's greenest.  Add up the gas costs, the cost of the new car, and take the cheapest route... that will correlate with smallest footprint...

Don't forget.  Whatever structurally makes MLB more money is reflecting ---- > more fan enjoyment.

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Q.  Do you like the 7-game series in the opening round?

A.  Five games is (a) pretty random, unless (b) you have Felix.   More about that in a second...

Anything that reduces luck, is fine with all of us.

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Q.  Would 7 more games, times 1/15 of ML teams, stress the pitchers too much?

A.  The expansion to 162 games increased a franchise's time on the field.  Work expands to fill the time allotted.  If you have to use 6 pitchers in the playoffs, instead of 5, you do that.

Baseball lineups find their level.

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Keep in mind, the World Cup early qualification involves a lot of teams.  Brazil and Spain and Germany seem to find their way to the top anyway.

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 Q.  In the reductio ad absurdum, if ALL the teams made the playoffs --- > how would baseball change?

A.  The rosters would become more geared to playoff convention.

In the playoffs, the best 6 pitchers matter more, and the worst 6 pitchers matter less.

Hitters who can do something with a tough pitch matter more, and the ones who poach mistake pitches matter less.  Witness Japan in the WBC.  They deploy hitters who can produce moderately against tough pitching, not hitters who can produce spectacularly against lousy pitching.

It's ironic.  Baseball would become more about "Champion" ballplayers.   And the writers who believe [too much] in "Champion" ballplayers resist their emphasis.

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Baseball would become less about the ludicrous 162-game marathon -- which to me, is a rather off-putting convention -- and more about the tournament.

Why is that automatically a bad thing?  Who ever said that the 162-game thing mattered more than the head-to-head?

I like the head-to-head better than ---- > A beating D and therefore finishing ahead of B.

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Part 3

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