Angels manager Mike Scioscia is proposing a 158-game schedule that would shorten baseball's season without decreasing things too much financially.
Teams lose money when they lose playing dates, and "if you went to 154 games, you'd lose a lot of gate revenue," Scioscia said.
"But if you blend it, where you cut down some games and some dates, you could minimize the [financial] impact, tighten the schedule by a week to 10 days to accommodate an expanded division series and get the World Series done in October."
Scioscia is a member of Commissioner Bud Selig's 14-member special committee to review and examine on-field related issues.
Read more: http://baseball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ ... z0zWCoUd2E
Per the wiretap, one of the members of Bud Selig's commission to investigate ways of improving the game has endorsed an expanded playoff format.
Obviously, as a Jays fan, I think this is a good idea. I don't buy the argument that shortening the schedule by six or twelve games will lead to fewer ticket receipts, because it also leads to more teams being in the race, which makes more people go to the games. Most importantly, however, it is simply unjust that the Blue Jays have the hardest schedule in the major leagues (current winning percentage of teams faced is .518, ranks number 1), while some other current division leaders have incredibly easy schedules (consider the Reds at .482, or the Padres at .494).
Hope more people come out in favour of this.
