Commissioner Bug Selig told Yahoo's Jeff Passan that he still hopes to have another playoff team in each league by next year. However, many details have yet to be worked out and there are related issues such as realignment to resolve, so the chances of expanded playoffs by next year are "iffy at best," Passan writes.
The possibility of realigning the divisions relates closely to playoff expansion, so the Astros' ownership change affects the discussions. Incoming owner Jim Crane has softened his stance on moving his team to the AL West, Passan reports. Three AL West teams are in the Pacific Time Zone, but that didn't stop the Rangers from obtaining a lucrative TV deal, so Crane is entertaining the idea moving his new club to the American League.
Selig maintains that the upcoming collective bargaining agreement will be his last. “Even though a lot of people don’t believe it, I’m done Dec. 31 of next year,” he told Passan.
One last chance to completely ruin the game of baseball, Bud.
Damnit I was about to say:
Only one more year to completely destroy the watchability of the All-Star game.
You trumped me good sir. Faster and better.
So I assume when the Red Sox made the playoffs and eventually won the world series in 2004, you were mad because the wild card is just another dumb idea by Bud?
I can honestly say I get mad when a wildcard team wins the world series…
The Red Sox may have been the wild card in ’04, but they had the third best record in all of baseball. What makes me mad is the whole division system, why does the better team sometimes have to sit out the post season just because a crappy team is in a division with a bunch of even crappier teams? For example in ’08 the third place Yankees had a better record record than the division winning White Sox; I’d have put the Yankees in the post season instead of the White Sox.
I’ve mentioned it before. I can’t believe a sport such as baseball needs 162 games, and if it does need 162 games, I can’t understand why the playoff system is so under-inclusive in general.
If you know your team is a loser 80 games in, the season becomes something near unbearable for most fans. Selig is right to want to expand the playoffs, but honestly the dude should chop like 12 games off the schedule when doing so.
I know where you are coming from, but I personally would love it if baseball season were longer. I don’t really understand how someone can call themselves a fan of something and yet want less of that thing. Obviously plenty of people do, and there’s nothing wrong with that, I just don’t understand it. Expand the playoffs, expand the regular season, heck make the whole thing last 11 months as far as I’m concerned (you’ve got to have enough of an “off-season” for teams to sign free agents or I’d say make it year-round).
You can be the biggest baseball fan in the world, you aren’t watching 162 games and I dare someone to prove they do.
I’ve missed a couple of games this year (literally like 2-3 games), but it wasn’t because I didn’t feel like watching them, or didn’t want to watch them. If I had been home, and had had time, I would have watched all of them. And if the season were 250 games long I would still be watching every game I possibly could right to the end of the season.
I doubt it, why would you assume that though? I must have missed the part where I said “everything Bud has ever done has been a complete and utter failure.” Could you point that part out to me?
Most of Bud’s faults have been the things he hasn’t done, or hasn’t fixed, as well as a lot of the things he wants to do or has tried and failed to do.
Poor Astros, going to play with the ladies in the AL.
Really? Have fun with your pitchers hitting
oh you mean real baseball?
If real baseball means giving the other pitcher an automatic out in the 9 hole, then I’ll stick to our baseball in fairytale land.
But will he finally, FINALLY, let the A’s move to SJ already?
nope. he’s going to drag it on as long as he can then say… welp, i dont think so, sorry guys!
just build the stadium in oakland LEW!!! The stadium used to be full from 99-2003 when the team was competitive…. if you build it, we will come! well not me, i live in san diego but i’ll come to games when i’m home!
I still forget sometimes that the All-Star game determines home field advantage in the WS. It’s just so absurd that after all these years my mind still can’t grasp such a idiotic concept.
Bud Selig kept the traditions of baseball, kept baseball in baseball city’s to the best of his abilities, he always kept an open mind and did not hide their past mistakes (steroids). He wasnt the best but compared to the other Commisioners in other leagues he was easily the best.
Lesser of the evils
damning with faint praise there.
So refusing to change and adapt to the times is a good thing? He hasn’t really been that open minded when it comes to instant replay. Maybe if the officiating in this League wasn’t awful, people wouldn’t be asking for instant replay… but Bud Selig does nothing to improve the umpiring in this league.
What exactly has he been open minded about…? Because, it seems to me that anything from Instant Replay to the All Star Game, he’s been anything but.
… and it’s not like he was responsible for the Steroid Era or anything. If they could have swept that under the rug, they would have.
“Maybe if the officiating in this League wasn’t awful, people wouldn’t be asking for instant replay… but Bud Selig does nothing to improve the umpiring in this league.”
This quote is evidence of your own bias more than any objective reality.
For starters, what do you think he’s going to do to improve umpiring when he has to face down an umpire’s union? “Okay guys! If you’re not at least 90% accurate according to a machine that we’re pretty much just assuming is accurate itself, you’re fired!?” Good luck. If you’re arguing for instant replay, that’s not umpiring.
Second, and more importantly, you’re begging the question. Every time I hear of any kind of study–and some of them really suck pretty hard, like the ESPN article you’re likely to see first if you go Googling for it–the accuracy of umpires on close calls is no worse than 80%, typically around 85%. That’s hardly what I would call awful, particularly since half the time I see instant replays of close calls it’s impossible to tell with any certainty anyway. The reason they’re called close calls is because they’re, well, close calls. Even an NFL-style “must be evidence to overturn” replay system would do little more than slow the game down. Definitive answers aren’t going to buy you more than a few percentage points on the accuracy meter. It’s worth a debate, but not something I would subscribe to — and certainly not something definitive enough to attack umpires or a commissioner over.
If you want to slap Bud Selig around, start with the All-Star game nonsense. That’s step one. Step two is letting teams like the Marlins get away with their craptastic payrolls while they pocket revenue sharing funds. Step three would be letting owners like Frank McCourt buy a team almost entirely on debt and then wondering how it all went bad when half his wealth suddenly disappears. There’s plenty to zing him for, umpiring isn’t one of them.
According to that study you pointed out:
65.7 % correct
13.9 % too close to call
20.4 % blown
There’s 20.4% blown calls that would most likely be over turned because of instant replay.
I don’t know about you, but I was never satisfied with a 65% in school. So, yeah, the umpiring in this league is awful.
The crew chief should have a press confrence after every game just like the managers and the players do. If a member of their crew blows a call, they should have to man up and admit it. If you force them to admit their mistakes, they’re probably going to make less mistakes.
I mean, Joe West has never been wrong in all his years of umpiring.
You don’t even need instant replay as it is now. Just an extra umpire in the booth watching the game who can let the umps know they missed the call.
Honestly, how long would it take an umpire (already sitting in a booth in front of a tv screen) to look at the replay? Quite realistically he could know the correct outcome before the manager even has time to contest the call. It would take seconds.
It can’t take any longer than when they overturn a missed call without instant replay. I mean you have: The blown call itself, the manager/player arguing, the umpires huddling around to discuss, they overturn, the other manager argues/gets ejected, and then play resumes.
A+ comment. the technology exists to easily and immediately verify most calls, including balls and strikes, but accountability is step 1
Bud? Is that you?
Until I hear it from Jim Crane, this is just the usual posturing by Bud, akin to the dangled All-star game to help the Cubs get public money to renovate Wrigley. (good luck with that)
I don’t see Crane going with an AL West move , unless Bud holds back sale approval. He’s publicly gone against it, and he’d anger the few Astros fans filling the park that want to keep the Cards, Reds and Cubs rivalries, and have to watch tons of 9PM road games.
BTW – Arizona is actively seeking a move to the AL, so it’s not like Bud has no alternative.
I’d rather see a couple of new AL expansion teams.
There aren’t enough eligible cities as it is, why add more? The only place I could see as even being close to a contender would be OKC, and only because they’ve rallied behind all those other sports too. Expansion is not the answer.
Portland, Montreal, Vegas
They will never put a team in Vegas. Also didn’t it’s bubble burst? I’m not so sure portland has a huge sports following although the city is wonderful. Does montreal miss the Expos? I’ve often wondered that.
Although I’ve had heard some rumblings about a team in Tennessee.
Every time this is brought up I have to say this. LETs GET TROPICAL!!! New MLB expantion team the Flint Tropics!!!
The only cities I could see wanting a MLB team are Memphis and San Juan (Peurto Rico). Two Problems:
The AL west is the one that needs another team. Which team should move?
This creates a situation where 2 divisions have 6 teams while the other divisions have 5. Doesn’t really seem fair.
How many times was MLB found involved in collusion against the players, while Bud was commissioner? He makes 18 million a year and wants to control player salaries. Now he wants to slot the draft. Slot your own salary first.
ROBOT UMPIRES OR GTFO
Actually its rumored that instead of home team advantage Bud is going to have the players spin around real fast with the bat pressed between the player’s forehead and the ground. Then have the players run the bases. Whoever wins, bats second.
One of the reasons that the NBA and NHL’s regular seasons are a joke are expanded playoffs. I know 1 more team from each league isn’t like half the teams of the NHL and the NBA getting to the post season. As it is now they schedule playoff games around the NFL schedule so they don’t have to compete for viewership, imagine adding another week to the playoffs, or starting the season a week earlier. I do like the idea of balanced leagues if it means the end to the unbalanced schedule. The Diamondbacks or the Rockies should be the team that is absorbed into the AL West, Houston, by being around longer should have right of first refusal to switch leagues, besides, I’d love to see Papi hit at Coors before he hangs it up.
What does the Rangers network deal have to do with the Astros? Crane will automatically get a big piece of the new Houston Comcast Sports Network thanks to Drayton and Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander.
If Arizona moves to the AL West the Astros will have to move to the NL West, which means the same amount of 9 PM starts. As an Astros fan (yes, we actually do exist) I am against the move to the AL because I hate the DH and I don’t want to compete against the Yankees and Red Sox (in about 5 years when the Astros are competitive again).
You had me at “I hate the DH.” :)
I agree and I am ok with going back to the NL West
I personally want the Astros to go to the American League. I’m sick of the Phillies getting swept or losing a series to them in September every year.
In all seriousness, I really don’t see the Astros as a fit in the American League. I think the Diamondbacks are the best fit. Their ballpark and the way they play baseball would be a good fit in the American League.
I hate the term “Wild Card.”
Add two teams. Cities to pick from: Portland, Oklahoma City, Nashville, Louisville, Indianapolis, Charlotte, and Sacramento.
Both options eliminate unbalanced schedule and interleague play, which is h@te!
Realign back to two divisions as it was prior to 1994. Shorten the season by 10 games and have two wild card teams for each league based on best record.
Division winners and wild card winners matchup in the first round. Winners battle for league championship and then the world series.
The other alternative is to add two teams as before but keep the 3 division format within each league.
Move Milwaukee back to the American League where they belong.
Shorten the season by 10 games and add one more wild card team.
Both wild card teams matchup in the first round for a short 3 game series. Standard playoff format after that, with the exception that the allstar game does not decide homefield advantage.
don’t for get about new orleans, buffalo, and las vegas.
its already about time to rid baseball of this pathethic jackass otherwise known as bud selig. he has the intelligence of an ashtray and the knowhow of a toilet. i used to think fay vincent was the worst commisioner ever….boy was i dead wrong! this sport is far,far behind the times. other than opera, waiting at the dmv, and watching paint dry, sitting through most baseball games can really be something. catch up to what the hell is working for the nfl and the nba. i love this game, but dam man, it need to get with the times, and the commisioner is holding it hostage!
its already about time to rid baseball of this pathethic jackass otherwise known as bud selig. he has the intelligence of an ashtray and the knowhow of a toilet. i used to think fay vincent was the worst commisioner ever….boy was i dead wrong! this sport is far,far behind the times. other than opera, waiting at the dmv, and watching paint dry, sitting through most baseball games can really be something. catch up to what the hell is working for the nfl and the nba. i love this game, but dam man, it need to get with the times, and the commisioner is holding it hostage!
hey, while we are on solutions, heres a few: Drug testing, i know it has to be collectively bargined but in spite of that(test for everything that the olympic commitee tests for), make it a three strike rule. 1st offense, half season suspention. second offense, one entire season suspention. third offense, banned from baseball with the ability to apply for reinstatement at which the commisioner will decide your application. Instant replay(except balls and strikes) on any call that the umpires have a degree of doubt on, which will be decided by an umpire on site at the ballpark who is ALSO scoring the game(why the hell should a sportswriter score the game to beging with)???and my favorite rule: if a starting position player suffers a not too serious injury during the game, as long as it occurs before the 7th inning, he should be able to re-enter the game as long as that player enters the game by the 7th inning, and the player that he is replaced with has to either play another position or exit the game without being able to re-enter.
…………….and baseball (just like every major sport) needs a salary cap.
Yeah, I’ll say it again. I completely agree that the owners need to be richer.