Oct 27 2009 07:39 AM
Can I just freak out a bit about the post-season schedule?
1) It's making the post-season last until the ground hardens. Nobody wants to have to choose between seeing Rudolph or a piss-cold game seven of a World Series.
2) Travel days are one thing. Days off while there are two teams in one town waiting to play is wretched.
3) Two games at once? Oh the horror! Deal with it. I'm sure MLB can find a model where they make similar money selling packages to two different broadcasters. And if they can't, they can make up the difference by not alienating viewers with farcical playoff schedules.
4) (This is what really eats at my underwear.) Light schedules reward a top-heavy team. Championship teams have depth, or at least they should. And if they don't, and they elect to pitch the same guys over and over, there should be some real risk to burning them out. That's why Girardi pulling Rivera last week was so funny. What are you saving him for? At this pace, you can pitch him every damn game.
I mean, great, the Yankees have a big ace at the top of their rotation. What do you do when a team is strong at the top of their rotation? You hope to grind out a win or two against their top pitchers and feast on the Chad Guadins, the tendinitis-plagued Sergio Mitres, the stamina-impaired Chamberlains.
You don't think that a team staring down the barrel of Sabathia's gun takes at least some heart knowing that they get to face a guy who thought this look worked for him?
But no, Gaudin has pitched exactly one inning in the last 28 days, the Yankees protected by the schedule from having to reach down that far.
5) Baseball is supposed to be a grind. A team gets to the post-season playing 18 games every 20 days. It's silly that they can get through it playing 12 games every 20.