Some baseball and World Series thoughts …..

DODGERS VS. RAYS: After some reflection, my heart is in the Dodgers to win the World Series, which would allow manager Dave Roberts to lead LA to its first World Series in 32 years after he lost the 2017 series in seven games to the Houston Astros and the 2018 series in five games to the Red Sox. 
But I won’t be too upset if the Rays win, although their fans have been less than loyal over the years. Even in the Rays’ good years, the “The Trop” was rarely packed, and for years, Red Sox fans found it cheaper to fly to Florida for a weekend series than it was to get tickets to games at Fenway. 
OPENERS vs. STARTERS: I may be sounding my age, but using an “opener” on a regular basis, as the Rays do, is especially lame in big games. The Rays did that in the ALCS. Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy criticized the Rays for that in a column on Tuesday, and I’d have to agree.
Baseball has strayed a long way from its roots when it uses “openers” in post-season play. Compare using openers to the 1960s and 1970s when power pitchers routinely pitched complete games.
Jim Lonborg of the Red Sox and the Cardinals’ Bob Gibson pitched their hearts out in the 1967 World Series and Gibson, who recently died, was such a dominating starter in 1968 that Major League baseball had to lower the mound to help the hitters. Then in the 1975 World Series, Red Sox legend Luis Tiant hurled complete-game wins in Games 1 and 4 and threw more than 200 pitches in a losing effort in the legendary Game 6 (which was rained out for a few days, allowing Tiant to pitch again so soon.) 
I realize change is a constant in baseball, but overusing the bullpen is contributing to the long games, and is in the long run hurting the game by putting less of an emphasis on starters. There’s probably an economic factor in that shift, too, as starters make far more money than relievers. 
EARLIER STARTING TIMES: I sound like a broken record, but World Series games --- especially with 3 ½ hours being a “short” game – have to start earlier. The Dodgers-Rays first two games drew a considerably smaller TV audience than in the past, and yet the games last longer than ever. I don’t expect them to revert to afternoon games, like they were in the 1960s when I'd come home from school and watch the games, but how about starting the actual game no later than 7 p.m. and playing at least one weekend game in the afternoon?
MOOKIE BETTS: I’m glad Mookie had a solid Game 1, but let’s not revise recent history. Betts wasn’t going to sign in Boston, and he might have gone to free agency instead of signing with the Dodgers for 12 years if the pandemic hadn’t delivered an economic blow to MLB. David “Big Papi” Ortiz was being disingenuous when he, during his postgame gig on FS1 after Game 1, quipped that he wasn’t the GM and couldn’t say why Mookie left. In February, Ortiz defended the trade, which was both a salary dump and a way to make sure that the Sox got something for a player who from all reports, was going to walk after the season. Don’t get me wrong: I would have loved to see Mookie remain with the Sox, but since the Sox weren’t willing to pay a high luxury tax to afford him, they traded him. I just wish the Sox hadn’t shamelessly defended the move as a baseball move; that, it most certainly, wasn’t.
2020 CHANGES STICKING AROUND IN 2021? Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred told the media at the World Series this week that he hopes to keep the extra-innings and playoff changes alive for 2021. His recommendations were:
* On the extra innings, that entails beginning each extra inning by having a runner on second base, as had been done in Triple A since 2018.
Recommendation: The change did cut down on the length of games, so I’d endorse keeping it in 2021.
* The playoffs were extended to allow eight teams from each league – the first- and second-place finishers of each division and then the next two teams with the best records to qualify as wild card teams. That created a situation where the Houston Astros, at 29-31, were a Game 7 win away (they lost) in the ALCS from becoming the first team in MLB history to move on to the World Series with a losing record. Manfred said he’s inclined to propose allowing more than the five teams from each league (three division winners and two wild cards, which had been the case before 2020), but not the 16 teams that made it this year. 
Recommendation: Don’t add more than two more teams from each division or keep it the way it’s been. If the season is close to 162 games in 2021, the last thing baseball needs is a much longer season.
ONE MORE CHANGE/ A PITCH CLOCK: Implement a 20-second pitch clock in the Majors ASAP. It’s worked for the last several years in Triple A and is desperately needed to get a lot of pitchers to work much faster.