So the Cardinals won the World Series? They won only 83 games in the regular season. 83 wins woulda got you 4th place in the AL East or Central. 3rd place in the AL West and NL East and West. Of course it gets you first place in the NL Central and a trip to the playoffs.

Now, at this point, my brother Frank and Dad would need full-disclosure - I'm a bitter Yankee fan, yes. So this year, unlike previous years I'm actually thinking about these things. It has come to this.

I was thinking, we need to have one season to be a test for the future of baseball. It needs to be a throwback season - you know, like those games where the players wear the original uniforms of their team - high socks and strange colors (Astros). We need to get rid of the D.H., all players have to play with the team that originally drafted them, the league will be winnowed down to an AL and NL consisting of, say, 6 teams each - the Yankees, Red Sox, Orioles, White Sox, Indians & Tigers in the AL and the Cardinals, Cubs, Dodgers, Giants, Braves, and...oh, the Brewers (whatever). Any players not on a team will be evenly split among teams needing players. Practically every team will have really good pitching and at least several All-Stars. The Yankees would have Jeter but not A-Rod or Giambi - you get the idea. Getting players on teams would be a mess but it would be a lot of fun watching it all happen and watching teams come together. Extra players get sent to the minors and fans in Pawtucket get a game that's just that much better.

Then we could have a 151 game season like the old days. The best team in each league would go right to the World Series which would start in late September and be played mostly in the day when the kids could watch. And maybe we make it a best of 11 game series just to make sure the best team wins, not the hot team.

This was a totally unscientific analysis and I know many, many real baseball fans would pick it apart. My point is only this: baseball is bloated and diluted, but still the greatest game ever.