Baseball should be played like the sandlot! 9-on-9! Pitcher’s gotta hit! Let’s not treat pitchers like they’re gods. As a Phillies fan, I don’t think anybody has more of a privilege as we do in asking our pitchers to be treated like royalty.

Get your hands dirty! Pitchers are just one position on a field of 9. Do I get nervous when a ball hits Cliff Lee’s fingers as he trying to bunt? Sure, but that’s baseball! If Cole breaks his leg running out a grounder will I scream for the DH? Heck no! Them’s the breaks (no pun intended).

No DH! The only thing that should be labeled “Designated” anything around Citizens Bank Park is a Designated Driver.

It took the NFL 2 work stoppages to get a salary cap, but first the owners had to agree to share revenue (easier for the NFL because it’s more reliant on national TV revenue, which is shared). Without revenue sharing, the small market teams wouldn’t have enough money to spend up to the salary cap, and the payroll inequities would have continued.

This discussion ignores an important point — MLB and its player union are negotiating a new CBA without any real threat of lockout. And with little publicity.

Oh, and this wild card game thing — pointless. But if MLB sees more TV dollars, it will happen. Most likely, Bud would be pushing this even if none of the additional dollars went to the players — more profits for the owners..

What if a 3-way tie for that slot were to exist? Or what if a division race ends in a tie that affects a WC slot?

Shouldn’t all efforts be toward improving the game? Put a 5th ump in a broadcast booth for review of all basepath calls — and impose penalties for deliberate Hit by Pitch and for deliberate hard home plate collisions — and leave the WC the way it is!

Better yet: Leave the WC alone, and let the next best Won/Loss record (of all remaining 22 teams) host the following year’s All Star Game.

It’s funny, because those two things are squarely at odds with one another. There’s nothing fair about calling a multi-game gap a “tie,” which is what the one-game playoff essentially does, nor is it fair to reward inferior teams for the vagaries of geography.

Mark my words from this day forth (and sports columnists should be sure and credit yours truly, “JBL”, for this first-in-the-nation analysis) . . . the addition of the Wild Card Play-Off will more than likely motivate the larger market/higher payroll teams to spend even more on payroll in an effort to win the division.

Which will (after several years of Phi/NY/Bos/Tex/LA/Chi/Atl being in the NLCS/ALCS and WS every year) eventually, in turn, force MLB to propose the expansion of the Wild Card round to a 3 or 5 game series – which still won’t fix the problem – but at least the networks will be happy with their added inventory and revenue (that is, if any fans in the remaining 60% of baseballs markets are even still paying attention).

Additionally, I fearlessly predict:
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- That the Yankees – in an effort to field MLB’s first starting lineup comprised solely of All-Stars; and avoid the potential shame and endless ridicule of being eliminated in a one-game play-off by a team with half or even a quarter less payroll – will approach $300 million in payroll within the next 3 years.

- The Red Sox will announce that the have found a way to add more seating (the rumor is a hovering grandstand with a transparent floor, supported by 4 helicopters) in an effort to increase revenue enough to keep up a 75% of Yankees payroll pace. However, within a few years, reality sets in and the Red Sox announce that although they have mixed feelings about it, plans for a new Fenway Park are officially underway.

- The Rays will be forced to go over the $50,000,000 threshold in payroll. Sternberg begins carrying a fire extinguisher fire – just in case the fire burning through his pocket gets out of hand. Within 5 years, he announces the inevitable, the Rays are moving to Southwestern Connecticut into a brand new state of the art facility right off of I-95 and Metro North railroad. The expected revenues from the publicly financed facility will cover a $150,000,000 payroll and pay the buyout of the Tropicana Field contract. Gov Malloy is overjoyed to have put his hometown of Stamford, CT on the big league map – even as the State of CT remains on the brink of financial disaster.

- Between 5-10 years out – the Pirates, Reds, Brewers, Royals announce they no longer can compete without a salary cap and are considering folding if MLB doesn’t make drastic changes.

MLB responds by swapping the Royals, Orioles, Indians and A’s with the Phillies, Mets, Nats, Dodgers & Giants leaving no big markets in the NL. MLB calls it a necessary economic reality and announces that the proud tradition of the Senior Circuit will carry on as the 2nd Division.

The new 16-team AL will have four 4-team divisions with a wild card from each and will have a round robin style tournament to determine who will play for the World Series.

The new NL with two 7-team divisions, will have only one play-off series between the two division winners. It will be called the Small World Series.

Interestingly enough inter-league play will continue – between the AL and the Japan League. The NL will play their inter-league schedule exclusively against AL affiliated teams from the PCL and IL.

- 15 years after MLB decided to include 1/3 of the league in the playoffs the entire NL folds and MLB is in danger of being irrelevant due to new XBox HGS (Holographic Game System) – which has kids and adults a-like preferring to play baseball with their friends, virtually, from the comfort of their own bed.

And all because CEO Bud Selig continues to act in the best short term interests of baseball owners.