Bud Selig announcing this week there is a strong possibility one wild card team in each league will be adding beginning next year. No details have been given, but there is a right and a wrong way to do this. Adding another 7 or 5-game series to the playoffs would be a mistake. It would push the beginning of the season into March and the end of the season into November. The right way to do this would to have a 1 or 3 game playoff between the 2 wild card teams in each league. That would add a lot of excitement and it would give a tangible benefit to teams performing better in the regular season, because as it is now home-field advantage is not enough of a reward to keep those wild card teams from upsetting the division winners.
Wards of the State
Major League Baseball has seized control of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a supreme embarrassment for one of the league's most storied franchise. Bud Selig was justified in taking this step because owner Frank McCourt has completely mismanaged the franchise. Most embarrassingly, he put his grown sons, one in business school, one working for Goldman Sachs, on the team's payroll for $600,000. Most egregious, he used more than $100m of the team's money on personal mortgage deals. The last straw was a $30m loan he got from Fox so he could keep meeting payroll. Complicating matters is a nasty divorce battle between McCourt and his wife Jamie. Frank claims he is the sole owner of the team. Jamie claims she is half owner because the team was purchased during their marriage. Selig might actually be saving the franchise by taking it over, and he will surely try to force a sale and make the McCourts battle in court for the proceeds. But it certainly is an incredibly embarrassing incident for the Dodgers organization and it could cripple the team's operations if it continues to drag on.
The Hypocrisy of Baseball
In baseball it is ok, even encouraged to steal bases. But it is not ok, and even discouraged to steal t-shirts. Cincinnati pitcher Mike Leake was arrested on suspicion of stealing 6 t-shirts from Macy's. The t-shirts had a total value of $60. Considering Leake's $425,000 salary he should have been able to afford them. The Reds seem unfazed by this, they let Leake take his scheduled turn after the incident and he improved to 3-0 on the season.
The Worst Baserunning I Have Ever Seen (And I'm a Mets Fan)
Thanks to an expanded free preview of MLB Extra Innings I spent the early season dipping into several games of teams I would never normally watch. When the Blue Jays and Angels went to extra innings I tuned in. And what I witnessed shocked me. Bobby Abreu led off with a single and advanced to third on a single by Torii Hunter. First and third no one out in the bottom of the 13th. Infield in, outfield in. Vernon Wells pops one to left, it's so shallow the left fielder (who I previously mentioned was playing in) and to run in and dive for it. Abreu conservatively decided not to test Travis Snider's arm. But Torii Hunter was running. Snider fired to first and doubled him up. Where the fuck was he going? His run means nothing. To make matters worse, Alberto Callaspo walked, and was picked off first. Where the fuck was he going? Technically it was Abreu who got caught stealing because he made a mad dash for home once he saw Callaspo was a dead duck. So with first and third and none out the Blue Jays faced one batter and got 3 outs. Total embarrassment.
Picture of the Week
I'm a sucker for interesting first pitches. Celebrities, hot chicks, dinosaurs. But this time it's a robot throwing out the first pitch for the Phillies.
First Pitch Honorable Mention
The Easter Bunny throws out the first pitch at the Marlins-Rockies game.
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