5 or 7 games in the Division Series?

Once again, congratulations to the Houston Astros for winning the World Series.

As you know, baseball has wonderful traditions.   Therefore, a .300 hitter in 2005 can be compared to one in the 1920′s.  This is not true of the NBA or NFL because the game is completely different than it was 50 years ago.

It took baseball until 1969 to set up divisions.  Before the ’69 season, the AL winner played the NL winner in the World Series.

In the mid-90′ss, baseball added the wild card and an extra layer of playoffs.

Here is a question:   Should the first round expand from 5 to 7 games?  My answer is a big yes.   The # 1 seed should get a shot at playing 7 rather than 5.  

Here is another idea:   Start the season on the last Tuesday of March.  It will allow you to start the first round of playoffs on the last Tuesday of September.

Should the season go back to 154 games?  No. Keep the 162 game schedule but the pre-season has to be cut back by a week to avoid November baseball and bad weather in many cities.    

In the meantime, George Will’s “Men at work” is still a great book: