Baseball is using coronavirus as a pretext for permanent change

The tradition of greedy owners destroying what makes baseball good to line their pockets is as old as the sport itself. But using a pandemic to expand the playoffs for good would be a new low

One of the first examples of baseball’s near-sighted willingness to deface itself in the name of maximum profits came in 1887 when, in an effort to boost attendance for the upcoming season, the joint major-league rules committee decided to allow the batter four strikes instead of three. Chaos ensued, predictably, and they changed the rule back for 1888.

Indeed, the blight of greedy owners content to muck with the formula and squeeze every possible dime out of the enterprise at the expense of what makes baseball good is hardly a modern phenomenon. History suggests there may be no American institution with a more decorated tradition of fixing things that aren’t broken. But the fundamental changes to Major League Baseball that have been under consideration in recent days represent a new low.