The world according to Jim:
• The quote is posted on the bulletin board above my workspace: “This ain’t a football game, kid. We do this every day.”
It was a classic baseball one-liner, uttered by the late Earl Weaver one night a few decades ago as game time approached and his chat with Washington Post baseball writer Thomas Boswell in the Baltimore Orioles dugout ran up against the start of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
It was and is a great quote. And maybe someone should run it by current MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, to remind him of one of the true charms of the game he tries to administer. …
• It is the beauty of the game, and to me such a big part of its appeal: They do this every day. Regular-season baseball is a six-month drama, a mosaic that gets filled in a little more as each day is crossed off the schedule.
I realize not everyone can hang on every pitch or even every game, but it is one of the rewards for those who can and do pay regular attention, who keep up with lineup changes, slumps, streaks, relief pitcher usage and all of the little things that contribute to the results over a night and a series and a season. This stuff matters, and if you pay attention to all of it, or even some of it, baseball can be the best reality programming around – especially, but not exclusively, if your team is in contention. …
• Which makes me wonder: Does the commissioner watch baseball on a nightly or even regular basis? Does he recognize or even realize how those who do watch, be it the sport overall or a particular team, digest the game?
Or does he just see the NFL’s national TV ratings for that league’s once-a-week spectacles and panic at the comparison between apples and oranges? …
• The commissioner, who in fairness has had some good ideas (the pitch clock, outlawing the shift) but also some wacky ones (like the free runner at second to begin extra innings) is at it again with his suggestion that the next expansion should include radical realignment on a regional basis. …
• We’ve been through this before. As far back as 1997, when Bud Selig was still interim commissioner, there were noises about radical regionalization that included putting the Dodgers and Angels in the same division. Eventually, the issue was solved with one team switching leagues – it turned out to be the Milwaukee Brewers, the team Selig used to own – which otherwise left the historic structure of the game alone.
I wrote it then and it’s still true today: “In other words, the game itself is strong enough, compelling enough, to survive the people who keep trying to screw it up.” …
• Manfred most recently floated the idea of geographical realignment following the next expansion – largely, if not specifically, for TV purposes, given his reference to the “10 o’clock (Eastern) slot” – and seemingly with the idea of getting rid of the National League and American League identities.
Among the responses, the vast majority of which were negative, I most loved that of New York Mets radio voice Howie Rose, whose post on social media called it the “last move before total destruction of the traditions that made baseball great.”
• In truth, it’s quite possible to restructure the divisions within the current league structure. The Athletic came up with a four-teams-in-four-divisions plan that would require Colorado and Tampa Bay to switch leagues but otherwise would leave the NL and AL intact and increase regionalization within the divisions without wrecking historic rivalries. …
• And yes, I know, everyone plays everyone else now and with the universal DH the game is identical in both leagues. But admit it: When the Dodgers and Yankees played in the World Series last fall, with all of the history and memories evoked by that classic matchup, didn’t it just feel more special? …
• Beyond that, under the current system there’s still hope for a Freeway World Series someday. Are you sure you would rather trade that for 18 Dodgers-Angels games a season? Especially if it means putting the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants in different divisions, as was the case in one suggested system? That’s not only a non-starter, it borders on sacrilege. …
• Then again, the way this season’s six Freeway Series games went, if you’re an Angel fans, you might take that bait. …
• One additional bit of scheduling that needs to be adjusted, and could be solved with four-team divisions: September should include at least one series against each other team in your division, and preferably home and home. It’s ridiculous that the Dodgers and Padres will wrap up their season series this weekend, with five weeks left. …
• Our suspicion a couple of weeks ago that the NFL’s 10% stake in ESPN would influence the way the Worldwide Leader in Self Importance goes about its business? Didn’t take long. ESPN abandoned a Spike Lee project on Colin Kaepernick, and you shouldn’t have to ask why. …
• This week’s quiz: The Dodgers were swept in a season series by the Milwaukee Brewers and the Angels this season, the fourth and fifth times that a defending World Series champion was swept in a season series. The other three involved the same team. Who was it? Answer below.
• I’ve always found it abhorrent that some betting agencies post odds and accept wagers on the Little League World Series. An official for one of the offshore agencies tried to defend it this week, saying: “Our customers request these markets annually … we simply provide an option for people who want to watch and wager on these remarkable athletes.”
You sickened yet? …
• Quiz answer: The 1998 Florida Marlins. The ’97 Marlins finished 92-70, made the postseason as a wild card and beat Cleveland in seven games to win the franchise’s first World Series in its fifth season. Then the fire sale began. The ’98 Marlins were 54-108, finished 52 games out and were swept 9-0 by the Cincinnati Reds, Brewers and Giants, plus being swept in a three-game interleague series by the Yankees. …
• Bonus nugget: The fire sale didn’t end with Opening Day. Catcher Charles Johnson and outfielder Gary Sheffield were traded to the Dodgers in May for Mike Piazza, who lasted five games as a Marlin before he was traded to the Mets, the team whose cap he wears on his Hall of Fame plaque.
(Why was Piazza traded by the Dodgers? Long story, but it’s only the second-most egregious transaction of Fox’s ownership. The worst: Selling to Frank McCourt in 2004.)
jalexander@scng.com