A writer at NBC sports has decided that whenever baseball returns in 2020, it should hold a March Madness bracket tournament instead of a shortened season.
This is what happens when sports talkers and writers have no sports to talk or write about.
His idea is a seeded tournament with the two pennant winners having a first round bye. Each round would be a 9 game series. Teams would move their way along to a World Series tandem.
The problem with this idea: it is crazy bad.
Owners will not want half their teams total 2020 revenue end with 9 games (or 4 home games at most). The players cannot pad their stats for the next contract if games played is only 9 in 2020.
Fans would not be happy with a "one and done" series.
The local television revenue would be zero since local broadcasters would be screwed over.
The owners will demand that no matter how many available dates, they will play 100, 75 or even 50 to crown pennant winners.
The lack of spring training is going to take a real bad toll on pitchers. The new (and stupid) three batter pitcher rule is going to cause more injuries, even in a short season. Bullpen arms are not based on full innings' workload. One relief pitcher throws an inning, he is usually not available for a couple of days.
2020 is going to have many issues but fundamentally changing the schedule is nonsense.
