A 9-Game World Series?

Read about it here.  It would be a horrible idea.  I am not against baseball reform, however, my ideas would be a little bit different.  You want to make the World Series more like the Super Bowl?  You want to settle the DH controversy?  You want to purify the home run records?  Here are the answers to everything in my top 10 ideas for baseball reform:

1. Eliminate the DH and go to an 8-man lineup in both leagues.  Who wouldn't want to see A-Rod come to bat six times a game?  Then watch all the inflated records of the steroid era start to fall.  Bonds home run record will be shattered in a few years.  Justin Morneau will finish his career with 900 homers and he'll only be in third place.  Who wouldn't like to see this? 
2. Stop counting errors as an official stat.  You either make the play or you don't.  When Barry Sanders used to fake a safety out of his socks, nobody said, "We can't give him credit for that 80-yard touchdown run because there was an error on the play."  So why does that statement not sound absurd when you replace "80-yard touchdown" with "triple" and "safety" with "right-fielder"?
3. Get rid of first and third base coaches.  Imagine how ridiculous it would be in any other sport if there was always a coach standing on the field yelling, "Go this way! No, wait, go back!  Do a belly-flop now!"  Let the players make their own decisions in the heat of battle.  That's why there's practice.
4. If the Cubs don't stop sucking, make them tear down Wrigley and build a dome.  Name it after Steve Bartman.
5. Get rid of this stupid format for determining home field advantage in the World Series.  What other sport would allow this kind of nonsense?  Either give it to the team with the best record or play at a neutral site.  And by the way, true home field advantage would mean that all seven games of the World Series are played in the same place (unless it's 1987 or 1991 - haha), but I'm getting ahead of myself.
6. You want the World Series to be more like the Super Bowl?  Go to a 16-game regular season and play once a week.  This will allow you to start your ace pitcher every game.  Then settle each round of the playoffs with one game.  Play the World Series Game at a neutral site.  (This, of course, would eliminate the possibility of #1 from coming true, but you can't have everything.)
7. Stop trying to create rivalries with this interleague format.  Trying to create a rivalry is like trying to give yourself a nickname.  In fact, get rid of interleague play altogether.  This was the only thing that baseball had that was better than football until they blew it.
8. Remember playing kickball in elementary school?  Remember being able to get somebody out simply by throwing the ball at him?  We should look into bringing that back.
9. "Rain delay" is a phrase I don't ever want to hear again.
10. The sum of the matter is this: just be more like football.

Comments

[johnvano]

heresies, all of them.

[Micah J.L.]

Here I stand.

[Scott Rzeppa]

You son of a bitch. You do not know the first thing about baseball. The only good idea you have in part is getting rid of the DH. But only having an 8 man lineup would ruin the game. Having a pitcher bat greatly increases the strategy in the game and gives the game subtleties that only true baseball fans realize and understand. As far as your other half-assed ideas. Errors are an incredibly important stat in determining the true value of a player. Getting rid of 3rd base and 1st base coaches is dumb as hell. The reason for them is that a runner doesn't have eyes in the back of his head. He cant see the whole field while running and would have to constantly be looking to the outfield for the baseball to determine whether or not he should run to the next base. There would be no more scoring from 2nd base on a single, which is one of the most important tools that a team has in run producing. As far as the Cubs go. They have the most loyal and faithful baseball fans of any other team. The fans don't need wins to enjoy the team as other fair-weather fans do. They can just sit in the bleachers with a cold beer and enjoy watching the team that they have loved their whole life. You are a complete jackass. I think you need to stop watching baseball all-together. I speak for fans in general when I say we don't want someone like you watching a sport that you dislike and obviously know nothing about.

[George Carr]

The first idea got me thinking. Personally, I don't want to watch a batter who isn't capable at the plate. Dropping the requirement for pitchers to hit would eliminate the DH and equalize league ERAs.

George Carr