If you're a typical sports fan like me, you spent last weekend consumed by football, with a great college football Saturday followed by the opening weekend for the NFL.
The beginning of a new football season excites me more than most parts of sports, but what it has done for me is put baseball on the backburner, and I don't think I'm alone in this.
Major League Baseball may always play second fiddle to the NFL and college football in September, but it shouldn't fade from fans' attention this much, considering this is the final month of MLB's regular season and the playoff chase is in full swing.
To close the gap, Major League Baseball must make some changes, mostly with its playoff system. The best change to make would be to change the number of playoff teams in each league from four to five. This idea has gotten some support from sites such as ESPN.com in the past, but not nearly enough press as it should.
As of Sept. 15, only two teams not currently in playoff position are within five games of a playoff spot, those being San Francisco and Texas, which are 3.5 and 4.5 games behind its league's wild card leader, respectively. This means just four teams are in somewhat close races for the final playoff spot, leaving most of baseball's fans bored.
If five squads in each league qualified for the playoffs, Florida, Atlanta and the Chicago Cubs would all be within three games of a playoff spot.
The five-team playoff system wouldn't affect the American League as much as the National League this year, but it would give teams such as Seattle and Tampa Bay outside chances at playoff spots, as opposed to the virtual impossible chances those two teams have now.
The bottom line is, late in the season, more teams would be fighting for playoff spots, making the sport more relevant to fans late in the season.
Allowing five teams into the postseason would give the league other advantages as well.
Under the five-team format, two wild cards would enter the postseason. Thus the two wild-card teams would play each other in a one-game playoff the Monday after the conclusion of the regular season, creating a dramatic game that would surely tantalize all baseball fans.
This five-team structure would also address one of baseball's recent problems, which is the soft path wild-card teams can take to the World Series, and the lack of reward for division and league regular season winners.
Because home-field advantage is worthless in baseball, each year the wild card has as high a chance of qualifying for or even winning the World Series as other times. Since the inception of the wild card in 1995, nine wild cards have played in the World Series, and four have won it.
But a one-game playoff between wild cards the day after the season ends and the day before the first round of the playoffs means wild card winners may have to travel Sunday night, burn their best starters Monday, then, if successful, must turn around and travel to another city for their next game Tuesday.
This would not only make advancing deep into the postseason for wild cards more difficult, but it would also add significance to the race for the regular season league title.
Currently in the National League, Los Angeles, St. Louis and Philadelphia are all within 2.5 games of each other for first place. But under the four-team system, who really cares who comes out on top? You don't get a bye, home field advantage is virtually meaningless and the wild card team you're facing is just as well rested as you are.
But if the league had the one-game playoff, the No. 1 seed would get to face a more tired team, which in all likelihood burned its best starting pitcher the day before and will only get to throw him once in a short series.
Despite my injury-devastated Mets being entirely out of the postseason hunt, I could see myself fascinated with the conclusion the regular season with a higher amount of more relevant races. But with only a handful of meaningful games remaining this season, I'll stay focused on the Badgers and the Jets.
Like the current playoff format, or have a better idea? E-mail Scott at kellogg2@wisc.edu.
