Even in its shining hour, MLB seems to screw things up

By Louis Llovio Sports Central Columnist

With the Red Sox and Cubs on the verge of making it to the World Series, Major League Baseball seems to have come out of last year's near strike, all-star debacle, and steroid controversy without a scratch. The hits that MLB took seemed, at the time, to bring baseball to the brink, yet again, of disaster.

But baseball survived in spite of the rampant mismanagement of the once national pastime.

As a matter of fact, baseball maybe even flourished.

In the months leading up to the playoffs, the wildcard race was one for the ages, quieting purists and critics of the system. Going into the final weekend of the year, a trip to the postseason was anything but assured. The wildcard race concluded with two teams only a Hollywood scriptwriter on his cheesiest day would have dared place in a contest to contend for a shot at a World Championship.

If someone had said in April that the there was a real possibility that the Cubs and Red Sox were going to play in the World Series, they would be Rush Limbaugh's roommates today.

Guess who's still alive?

As of this writing, the Red Sox and Yankees are tied at two games apiece and God, by sending downpours of biblical proportions Sunday, has looked down and readjusted the Red Sox' rotation. He's also made sure David Wells, who pulled something as he ran out on the field in the near brawl Saturday night, was out of circulation and would miss the all-important start Monday night.

Even Heaven's seem to have a soft spot for this matchup.

The Cubs are still a win away from clinching. After going down Sunday to Josh Beckett and his brilliant two-hit performance, the Cubs head home. Not only will the Marlins have to contend with the crazies of Waveland Avenue, but they will have the unenviable task facing Mark Prior and Kerry Wood on consecutive nights. And if anybody thinks Wrigley will not be the center of the sporting universe those two nights, and that the long-suffering Cubs fans won't be waiting and the energy palpable, then they need to share a room with Rush.

But still, if the Cubs and Red Sox don't make it, baseball has struck gold this postseason. Even with the ugliness Saturday night -- what else would you expect from the Yankees and Red Sox? -- this has been a season to remember. For anyone that loves the sport, the only thing that could possibly top what has happened so far is the Red Sox and Cubs going into the ninth-inning of Game 7 tied with Pedro Martinez and Mark Prior still on the mound.

Yet, with all the good karma, Major League Baseball, in all its wisdom, has structured it so that this magical, once unthinkable, scenario will be a flop. That ninth-inning showdown would happen around midnight eastern time on a Sunday night. Kids who have school in the morning and the casual fan everyone cherishes who has to work early will be left to catch the highlights on SportsCenter.

Baseball, thanks to its kowtowing to FOX and the weak leadership of Bud Selig, has assured that, yet again, an entire generation of kids do not get to see a Game 7.

Because baseball has become about dollars, and the idea of looking out for the best interest of the game has been relegated to the dust heap of history as antiquated, it is entirely possible that there are kids growing up in this country who have never watched an entire World Series. Kids who missed the drama of the Yankees and Diamondbacks two years ago; the unbelievably gritty performance of the once hapless Anaheim Angels last year; and who will miss, no matter what combination ends up playing this year, the magic that will surely follow.

While great strides have been made in returning the game to its once prominent place, the ever-incompetent Selig has alienated an entire segment of the population. Sure, kids might not be the ideal demographic, but in a few years, less than anyone can imagine, they will become the only demographic. As adults, what will these kids watch? Football and basketball, games that have done everything to include them in their sport.

It is this shortsighted vision that has continued to land baseball into messes that need marketing miracles and heavenly intervention to save them from themselves. Unfortunately, one day, the cavalry will not be there to bail them out. Major League Baseball has assured that the day of reckoning is soon.

So, as you watch the playoffs unfold and hope for a miracle, remember when you are old and tired you won't be able to look back with your kids and remember that magical day when either the Cubs or the Red Sox finally overcame the curse and won.

Maybe Limbaugh has a spare bunk to lend the commissioner.

Article courtesy of Sports Central.