It's just shy of October 1st and yet tonight the baseball playoffs are set to begin. This means that the World Series might actually get decided before November. The decision to schedule the playoffs a tad bit earlier might prove to be one of the few bright moves that MLB has made in recent years.

(Although I have no dog in this fight, when the playoffs begin tonight I'll be pulling for Detroit...simply because I hate the Yankees.)

Hankster: Yeah, I'd heard something like that might be in the works. My frst impulse was to think that it was just one more stupid idea coming from Selig's office precisely because it would add another playoff round. But then I decided to withhold judgment until the proposal is finalized and made public.

Didn't know the decision was close but, yes, I know they've been talking for over a year. Earlier talk also included elimination of divisions and moving a NL team to the AL (as mentioned in the article).

That said, I'm not big on adding a one game playoff but it's certainly preferable to adding a three game playoff round.

I gave up on MLB during the year of the strike.

I still attend games when the tix are free though...especially if it's a private suite.

MLB went to hell because of steroid use.

MLB went to hell when I grew up and the illusions melted. And what's with this "playoff" nonsense. The World Series doesn't need to be anything more than a playoff between the two pennant champs. It's all about the money, and not about the game. F'em.

Major league baseball went to hell when Harmon Killebrew retired.