Selig's New Blunder: November Baseball

NEW YORK -- The lords of baseball don't realize it, probably because they're old and stubborn and semi-senile. But their showcase event, the World Series, never has seemed more irrelevant in American life. I say it even as the New York Yankees, a world-famous brand name with gaudy stars and Hollywood girlfriends, return for the first time in six years to play the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies in what should be a compelling matchup of monstrous talent and East Coast psychosis.

The problem? Look at the calendar, stupid. The Series is starting later than ever, on Oct. 28, and potentially could finish with a Game 7 in what very possibly would be a frigid, blustery Yankee Stadium on November the friggin' fi-fi-fi-fifth. That means the Boys of Summer are perilously close to becoming the Icecubes of Winter, which is not the smart way to determine a champion in a game of intellectual nuance and patient, incremental drama. Though so many of these postseason contests have been cool to watch, I've also found myself thinking at times, "Can we please finish all this?" instead of sitting back and enjoying the action.

I can hear my body clock ticking, knowing Game 3 of the Series will be played on Halloween night -- what if Pedro Martinez dressed up as Don Zimmer during his start? -- and that Thanksgiving and Christmas aren't too far away. Pitchers and catchers reported to spring training almost nine months ago. The regular season launched seven months ago, with teams playing just about every day. Then, when the postseason arrived, the games suddenly stopped and started, with awkward and unnecessary off days dropped in because the FOX and TBS networks demanded the first two rounds be placed in advantageous evening time slots.

Consequently, whatever theater they've been trying to develop lost its momentum and ability to maintain a captive audience. It's a pathetic strategy by any measure but particularly when baseball is competing against King Football, whose pace is more conducive to a world that is getting faster in the 21st century. In the process, Major League Baseball is allowing financial greed to interrupt the integrity of its entire season, beginning to end. Such harsh thoughts are not only mine. They're shared by one of the game's most respected managers, Mike Scioscia of the Angels, who fired some much-needed shots at the commissioner's office before his team was eliminated from the American League Championship Series Sunday night by the Yankees. Exhibit A of what's wrong with the scheduling format: The Angels needed 22 days to play nine playoff games.

"We should never have three days off after the season. You shouldn't even have two days off after the season. It just takes an advantage away for a deep team, which everybody feels very strongly is an asset."
-- Angels manager Mike Scioscia "Ridiculous. I don't know, can I say it any clearer than that?" Scioscia said. "We should have never had a day off last Wednesday. We should never have three days off after the season. You shouldn't even have two days off after the season. It just takes an advantage away for a deep team, which everybody feels very strongly is an asset. It takes that advantage away, and I think that's something that Major League Baseball hopefully will consider looking at."

When asked to elaborate, Scioscia looked over at one of commissioner Bud Selig's longtime trusted aides, Phyllis Merhige, who was running the news conference. "Do you think I can answer this, Phyllis?" he said, knowing the territory was delicate. And off he went again, saying, "I stand by that comment 100 percent. I think that [the first] eight games in 21 days -- you lose a lot of the integrity of what the season means when you have three days off at the end of the season to let other teams maybe reset their starting rotation, which is an advantage of clinching early. That's negated when any team can do it just by getting to the playoffs.

"Some of it could be trimmed up. I think that it's something that eventually is going to have to be addressed. I think you can't control the weather to a certain extent, but the earlier you can schedule these to get them in, the better chance you have of finishing this in weather that is, I think, conducive to the outstanding level of play that is going to be on any playoff baseball field. And I think that it does have an impact. I don't know if it has an impact so much on who wins or loses, but it has an impact on the quality of play. And I think that's very, very important to the integrity of our game. It's just something that seems like it's gotten away a little. I can't say it any clearer: Eight games in 21 days is something you never expect in a season. I think that's the wrong template for baseball."

By extending the postseason, Selig and his peeps not only have turned off the masses beyond New York and Philly but increased the likelihood of inclement weather wreaking havoc. Remember earlier this month in the Bronx, when the Yankees and Angels played in a heavy rainstorm in the wee hours of Sunday? The early forecast for Game 1 Wednesday predicts showers and temperatures in the low 50s, with the possibility of lighter rain for Game 2 Thursday. They're expecting pleasant temperatures in Philly for the weekend games, yet showers are forecast for Saturday. Rain causes delays, which chases viewers to other channels and bogs down the competition. Few can recall how the Phillies beat Tampa Bay in last year's Series because the weather was the predominant story, including Selig's make-up-rules-as-you-go declaration that a team couldn't clinch a Series in a weather-shortened game.

That one was a farce, with one game starting past 10 PM in the East. This one could be, too, complete with Dri-Fit tights, hand warmers, thermal hats with earflaps and space heaters. The waiting, as Tom Petty noted, is the hardest part. "The worst part of it is just the wait. This was the longest day ever," Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte said Saturday, when his start was delayed until the next night by rain. "And I was just about to start getting in my routine and they come walking in there and tell me it got canceled. You realize it's a rainout. Get ready to do it tomorrow. But it's just frustrating from the standpoint it's just such a long day, when you're so ready and so anxious to get the game going."

Baseball very dearly needs a memorable World Series. The last five have lasted five or fewer games, including sweeps by the White Sox in 2005 and the Red Sox in 2004 and 2007. Did the Tigers even show up in 2006, hitting .199 with eight errors as the Cardinals won in five? This one certainly has firepower -- according to STATS LLC, it's the first time since 1926 that the two best power-hitting teams played in the Series. For the largest cities on the East Coast, it's classic stuff. The Phillies even took an Amtrak train to Manhattan's Penn Station Monday afternoon, representing the underdog, Rocky Balboa town playing the behemoth with the $210-million payroll.

"People want to talk about the money they give out," Phillies manager/character Charlie Manuel said. "But the Yankees have 26 banners flying over their stadium and they got those for a reason -- because they want to win. When you beat them, there's a lot of satisfaction there."

Yet beyond the I-95 corridor, you wonder how many fans will watch. It's football season, pro and college, and when baseball stretches into mid-fall, it's vulnerable to becoming a national nuisance. As it is, Selig faces the problem of bad umpiring continuing to muddle games, as it has throughout the postseason. But he can control the calls with expanded instant replay, assuming he ever gets it through his thick skull.

When the World Series is starting closer to New Year's Eve than the July trade deadline, in two cold-weather cities, there's nothing an inept commissioner can do but hope he isn't embarrassed again. Chances are, he will be.