This version of the Blog Bat Around is brought to you by David at Indian's Baseball Cards. His question to the masses is "If YOU were the baseball commisioner, what changes would you make?"
My question is Where the hell should I start???
#1 There are waaaay too many teams in the MLB. Can you say contraction boys and girls? Teams like Florida and Tampa that can't even get 8000-10000 people a game? Gone.
The bottom 2 teams in average attendance go bye-bye after the first season, the bottom two teams again after the second season of my reign, I mean, term.
There are waaay too many relievers and bench players that should not be wearing major league uniforms out there right now. This will strengthen the player pool, and make for a better game overall. Not too mention more money in the revenue sharing pool.
#2 Speaking of Revenue Sharing, it will no longer be equal. It will be based upon team success. The more wins, the bigger your % of the pie.
Along these lines, there will be a salary cap, and a salary floor. These will be hard numbers. No more going over the cap and using your revenue sharing to pay the luxury tax fine. Also, no more fielding Double A players making the league minimum for a season and raking in the profits. The object of the game is to win people.
#3 No damn DH. No one wants to see some fat bastard waddle out of the dug out just to take an at bat. Look at every other sport in the world. If you're too old, too fat, and not good enough to play the sport, you don't make the team. Except baseball. Make that half of baseball. Either you can play baseball, or you can't. Plus, having half the league play a different set of rules than the rest is just stoopid.
#4 You know why there is still a DH? The players union won't let the league cut the position. (Lost jobs) so to appease them, I'll expand the rosters by two players. They have to be baseball players though. Not fat bastards.
#5 Speaking of serperate rules for different teams.... no more humidor in Colorado. Why are they special? Same rules apply to everyone in my league.
#6 No more god damned interleague play. The fans don't like it, the players don't like it, so why the hell are we doing it? The All Star game used to be cool because we got to see the leagues collide. We need to get back to that.
#7 The All Star game will be no more. It will now be the MLB All Star Fan Festival. The fans can vote whomever the hell they want. But the player will not be credited with an All Star appearence. To see guys like Yadier Molina get credit for being an All Star causes Babe Ruth to roll over in his grave.
There will be an All Star teamed named by the commisoners office (in conjunction with coaches) and that will be the true All Star Team for awards, bonuses and baseball cards.
So the people of Puerto Rico and Japan can stuff all the online ballot boxes they want. It's your Fan Fest.
Oh, NO MORE HOME RUN CONTEST.
#8 Baseball is slow enough. No stopping to review instant replay. Because as we all know, Instant replay ain't so instant.
To aid in this, since there will be fewer teams, meaning fewer games, I'll have a few extra umpires not doing anything. So each game will have six umpires, just like in the playoffs. An extra one down each foul line.
#9 The unbalanced schedule sucks. So it's gone. We have a National League, and an American League. No divisions. Six playoff teams, three from each league. The winner of the pennant gets a first round bye in the playoffs. The next two wild card teams play each other, the winner goes on to play the pennant winner to go to the World Series.
Finally some incentive to win.
And that, my disciples, is the way baseball should be changed for the better. Every point would improve the quality of play, and the enjoyment level for fans.
Now, let's make it happen.
