Davidoff: This postseason plan is short and sweet
There existed little reason to believe the Yankees weren't going to stomp on the Twins last night, sending the American League Central champions home for another frustrating winter.
The Twins certainly did their part to play the role of beleaguered doormat, as a night of rest in New York failed to improve Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire's mood.
But what if the Twins entered American League Division Series Game 3 knowing that their visit to the Big Apple was guaranteed to last a minimum of two days? What if, to make clear that we're not playing favorites, the 2007 Yankees would have had more time to recover from the infamous attack of the Lake Erie midges?
Yes, the Division Series should be expanded to a best-of-seven format. Although the best-of-five setup enhances the drama, it simply isn't fair after a 162-game regular season.
"It would make it more interesting," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said before Game 3. "I think there would be . . . it would be a different feel to the first round. I think clubs talk about the nervousness in the first round because it's such a short series. I guess I really don't have a true feeling either way. I wouldn't be opposed to it, though."
"These short series are different, for sure," Gardenhire said. "We've all talked about that. It is what it is . . . If they want to do stuff like that, it would be fine."
As long as we're lengthening the first round, let's bring some more significant reform to the proceedings. Let's add another playoff team to each league, therefore throwing on another mini-round of games. And we'll pull all of this off without either cutting games from the regular season (no owner wants to give up the revenue from a home contest) or extending the postseason later than it goes now (a Bud Selig pet peeve).
Here's our humble proposal:
1. Next year's regular season will conclude on Wednesday, Sept. 28, and World Series Game 1 is set for Wednesday, Oct. 19. That gives us three weeks to squeeze in three rounds before the Fall Classic.
2. On Thursday, Sept. 29, hold a "wild-card play-in" pitting the two wild-card teams against each other in a winner-take-all contest. This year, we would've seen Boston at the Yankees and Atlanta at San Diego.
The three division winners get two days of rest, giving them time to line up their pitchers and ensuring that the wild-card winners will not get such a luxury. That should increase the incentive for teams to win the division, an issue of discussion during the Yankees' September.
3. On Saturday, Oct. 1, begin the best-of-seven Division Series. Eliminate travel days. That will better test clubs' endurance and pitching depth.
4. On Sunday, Oct. 9, begin the best-of-seven Championship Series with the standard travel days between Games 2 and 3 and Games 5 and 6.
5. Then you're all set to start the World Series on Oct. 19, which sets up a Game 7 for Oct. 27. Which means that 2010 will mark the last time we see November baseball.
Given that every maneuver in baseball ultimately has to do with the Yankees, these suggestions would both protect the Yankees (from losing a short Division Series) and protect against the Yankees. Right now, it's awfully difficult for clubs to bust up the Yankees-Red Sox power duo when it comes to playoff entries. In this setup, the Yankees and Red Sox could both qualify and still leave room for either another AL East team or a wild-card entry from one of the other two divisions.
And in this instance, fans in the Bronx wouldn't pay good money to watch a dead team walking from Minnesota.
