Stud I don't read SI, but as a sports fan since I could crawl, the one thing I always loved more than anything else was baseball. The games in April meant as much as the games in August and that feeling of urgency associated with wanting your team to win was there from the getgo.
Basketball and hockey are jokes, as just about half the teams make the playoffs, and football's newest version of 12 teams making the playoffs doesnt exactly rock my world either.
When they switched to the new format noone initailly complained because the Yankees were an incredible dynasty that only now is being appreciated to the fullest extent and they won 3 outta 4(although the year they lost they were better than the other other three years and ran into one hot pitcher in those stupid 5 game series).
Baseball is a different game than those sports, its truly a game of inches. Thats why they play 162 games to figure out who is better than who. But moreso than any other sport, even the very worst teams can win a series against the very best team. Tigers got swept out by the ****ing Royals in the final weekend just as an example.
For any one team to win three consecutive series is VERY hard. What it means is that the best teams aint necessarily playing for all the marbles. I have a problem with that because 162 damn games is more than enough for winners to be crowned.
Tigers were a damn good team, and I really don't have a problem with them playing in the Series. But I have a real problem with teams like the Cardinals and Marlins of 2003 and the Astros two years ago.
They didn't earn a trip there based on centuries of baseball tradition.
If they are gonna continue this nonsense the least they could do is shorten the season two weeks(I mean with 8 teams making the ****ing playoffs what does it matter?) and let em play 4 outta 7 the first round.
I gotta tell you that next April ain't gonna be the same for me, not even May.
You gotta feel like a fool watching the tv set these days in April as it really don't matter anymore. Anybody can be a wild card team, and any team can get hot or draw a better rotation in a 3 outta 5.
I'd highly doubt that anyone who is in a division vs wilcard battle will care next year. Why bother trying to win the division, it don't mean a damn thing anymore. If you look like the wildcard team anyways why not just go in the tank the last two weeks and start with the fresh rotation for the 3 outta 5?

Baseball was the last pure regular season sport we had left. It was the only regular season that meant anything, and now we don't even have that.