...and King's got his article in already. Looks like I'm first to post.

Why is beisbol so susceptible to weather, especially rain? The athletes are juiced to stand in the field or sit in the dug out all summer, what's a little water going to hurt?

This is such a bleepin' no branier, it'll never be done--start the major league season on the first day of spring. Every team, every year. It might mean a three city road trip for some teams in the north, but really, so what? I've been to enough home games in Detroit to know that March 21 isn't that much worse than April 3.

Even if you're not of the whole "Baseball is a metaphor for God" persuasion, knowing the season always starts on the first day of spring would be kinda cool, or at least memorable. And think of what it'd do to people like George Will.

I believe this is the second time in World Series history that David Eckstein has faced Neifi Perez in the series...but last time, 2002, Eckstein represented the American League and Perez the National League.

The true problem is that there are way too many games. Look at football. Football is exciting because teams play once a week, and for only a few months. Anticipation, baby. Whereas baseball wears out its welcome by the end of September. (And this is coming from a baseball fann; casual fans have moved on by Labor Day.)

Start the season in mid-May, wrap up the World Series by mid-September. Less games means more audience for the playoffs (since football will just be gearing up), and less people getting sick of baseball. It's a summer game; play in the summer and then get out while people still want more.

Seven months of baseball every year is like having the Olympics once a month. Scarcity is a good thing. Save baseball; play less of it.

My suggestion to shorten the baseball season while simultaneously making the World Series more special?

Eliminate all the interleague games.

154 game seasons since the begining of playoff expansion. Glad someone else is thinking about it, even if that someone else is Bud Satan. 'Course that means it'll never happen...

OMIGOD we CHANGED Baseball !!!!!!!!! Now every statistic is screwed up and we've destroyed the INTEGRITY OF THE GAME!!!!!!!!!! Did Babe Ruth play with Global Warming???? Did Koufax throw a genetically modified leather ball??? Holy shit it's the end of the universe !!!!!!!

You hit it on the head with this one. As a baseball Luddite, I'll point out that the most recent change that has led to this situation is the wild card. Remove the division series and we're already done with the World Series, *just* in time for this cold, rainy spurt.

I believe that you've got it all wrong. The World Series will soon follow it the footsteps of the Superbowl, as in it will be played at neutral sites with fair weather. This is the only possible solution once the Division series expands to a best of seven format and an additional playoff round is added.

Please don't doubt that another round will be added to baseball's playoffs. Baseball is the only major US sport with only three playoff rounds and if I know that then the powers that be sure as hell know that and it's gotta hurt, right in their wallet.

So get ready of the World Series in Miami (National League games) and Seattle (American League games) and say good bye to Fenway, Yankee Stadium and any other northern stadium without a dome. Oh, and forget Halloween, we're talking Thanksgiving.

I agree with the article and several letters offering solutions, including:

- A return to the 154 game season

- Double headers

- Starting seasons earlier.

However, this issue does not pertain to baseball only. There should be no reason to play basketball and hockey until June (I recall several hockey games being postponed or delayed because it was too warm to create ice!)

Perhaps less emphasis on TV revenue will help restore higher quality of play for all sports... dream on...

Robert A.

Every time I see a promo for the War at Home, I actually feel good about myself for not watching that show. Thanks for that validation, Fox.

Agree: all sports drag on for too long. Regular seasons should be shorter across the board (except maybe NFL). Who needs 82 NBA games, since any reasonably good team gets into the playoffs anyway. Don't shorten the playoffs though -- those are the best parts of any sport.

Disagree: the War at Home is not nearly as bad as King makes it out to be. Yes, the plot outline of each show is predictable but the dirty, ridiculous things that come out of each of the characters mouths is not. I find it highly entertaining, one of the few times I laugh out loud at a network TV show. I also like it because it isn't a retread of a successful show, which is what every other sitcom, drama, or reality TV show is these days. I think this is the first time I've ever disagreed with King.

They'll never do it, but here's what they need to do:

1. Go back to two divisions per league, eliminate the wild card, and that gets us down to one round of playoffs.

2. Make every team play double headers. One double header every weekend. What the hell else is the five-man rotation good for?

3. Day games. Remember them?

Ok, King I get it. You are a big baseball fan. A rainout warrants an article? Do you have some affliction that once the World Series starts your brain only thinks baseball and your TV and newspapers only have baseball coverage?

We can bicker about starting and ending dates for the season all we want, but what really got my goat was the rain delay fare offered by Fox. It is written in the Abner Doubleday rule book that a rain delay MUST feature at least one episode of M*A*S*H*. The episode does not need to run in its entireity, but we must get at least one Hawkeye zinger before we cut back to the stadium. Any network failing to comply with the MASH rule forfeits its rights to future baseball broadcasts.