College Football Non-Conference Power Rankings: Week 14

COAS is back after a holiday break. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving wherever you spent it. In my case, a trip to the frigid north was in order, but I enjoyed time with family up in North Dakota (and I did get to see sizable chunks of all 3 Thanksgiving NFL games but not much else) and getting to show my fiancee around my parents' hometown.

But while I was adventuring through the frozen tundra and enjoying adventures with her and a certain adorable alpaca, college football went on. While at the D-III level my North Central Cardinals saw their season come to a close (the lesson: you usually don't win turning it over 7 times), the D-I level brought continued excitement and sealed a couple of undefeated seasons. But there are still some games left on the docket this week and with the exception of a makeup game from the opening week all are in conference, so here's one final look at how each conference scheduled their seasons out. I will also include any major games being played that have playoff implications.

1. WAC (7.57)- No change.
2. Sun Belt (7.2)- South Alabama visits Hawaii.
3. Conference-USA (6.75)- No change. UCF visits Tulsa for the C-USA Championship Game.
4. MAC (6.62)- No change. NIU plays Kent State for the MAC Championship Game.
5. Big East (6.5)- No change. Louisville visits Rutgers for a de facto Big East Championship Game. (A Rutgers win guarantees the Knights the conference title and a playoff berth. A Louisville win forces a 3-way tie with Rutgers and Syracuse, which I believe would be settled by the BCS standings.)
6. Mountain West (5.6)- Hawaii hosts South Alabama. Boise State visits Nevada for a possible MWC title game. (A Nevada win guarantees Fresno State the conference title and a playoff berth. A Boise State win forces a 3-way tie with Fresno State and San Diego State. The exact tiebreaker for this scenario is unknown.)
7. ACC (4.67)- No change. Florida State plays Georgia Tech for the ACC Championship Game.
8. Big Ten (4.58)- No change. Nebraska plays Wisconsin for the Big Ten Championship Game.
9. SEC (3.64)- No change. Alabama plays Georgia for the SEC Championship Game.
10. Pac-12 (3.17)- Oregon State hosts an FCS team (game scheduled for the opening week made up this weekend). UCLA visits Stanford for the Pac-12 Championship Game.
11. Big XII (2.6)- No change. Texas visits Kansas State and Oklahoma visits TCU. (A Kansas State win or Oklahoma loss gives Kansas State the Big XII Championship. A Kansas State loss AND Oklahoma win gives Oklahoma the Big XII Championship.)

These conference title games will shore up all the uncertainties that have been in play for the last several weeks. I've had several weeks where teams have been in and out just due to ties and varying ways of how to break them, or teams in the lead losing to let other teams in. This week will put all that to bed and the 16 team field that will battle it out online (since they won't match up on the field due to greed and stupidity) will come to completion.  But if the season ended today, with conference records currently deciding champions even in conferences where title games are played, here's how the 11-champion, 5-at large team field would be filled. Last week's rankings can be found here.

College Football Non-Conference Power Rankings: Week 13

This should be one of the final weeks of writing up about the rankings for these teams, as for most the regular season ends this weekend. There are still conference title games to be played that settle bowl game matchups, but more importantly and more fairly, it helps decide who will be involved in the Death to the BCS Playoffs. The whole thing is becoming a mess now. I see why fans of the BCS or even college football in general love this regular season over everyone else's, but with the headache at the top it's not entirely fair to just pick 2 teams to go at it. And what happens if Notre Dame loses this coming weekend? How do you pick a pair of 1-loss teams out of a crowd, many of whom haven't faced each other, and dare to call it a national championship game?

So before we go into one final look at the playoffs before the conference title games when I have to set everything in stone, here's where all of the conferences stand in terms of how they scheduled as we conclude the regular season.

1. WAC (7.57)- New Mexico State hosts BYU. (Note: this score is somewhat inflated since it's a 7-team conference and they play 6 games out of conference, so this is one conference that weakens my formula)
2. Sun Belt (7)- No change.
3. Conference-USA (6.75)- No change.
4. MAC (6.62)- No change.
5. Big East (6.5)- No change.
6. Mountain West (5.5)- No change.
7. ACC (4.67)- Georgia Tech visits Georgia, Wake Forest hosts Vanderbilt, Florida State hosts Florida, Clemson hosts South Carolina.
8. Big Ten (4.58)- No change.
9. SEC (3.64)- Georgia hosts Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt visits Wake Forest, Florida visits Florida State, South Carolina visits Clemson.
10. Pac-12 (3.25)- USC hosts Notre Dame.
11. Big XII (2.6)- No change.

The SEC increases their score and goes up a bit with those 4 ACC contests. Really, some of these conferences should do more play between each other, especially where natural rivalries could come into play. Meanwhile, in the chaos from this weekend, there might be some changes to conference "champions" (determined right now by who has the best in-conference record for each conference) so teams that have been in and out might keep bouncing around. Conference title games will solve those issues in bigger conferences and can help decide who deserves the 5 at-large berths up for grabs. Last week's rankings can be found here.

Game Notes: Alma College @ North Central College (11/17/12)

Final Score
NCC 70, Alma 67

Game Summary
In a pretty entertaining game, the Cardinals (1-1) got off to a good start with a 7-0 run, though the Scots (0-2) would stick around. The Cards led by anywhere from 4 to 10 points for most of the first half before catching fire at the end of the half to take a 40-26 lead to the locker room. They led by 19 just a few minutes into the second half at 49-30 before Alma started making a comeback with defense and rebounding. The Cardinals would maintain a double digit lead until the final 4 and a half minutes when Alma picked up the pace. But the Cardinals hit some key free throws at the end to escape with a narrow win.

Key Stats

• Alma College: Outrebounded NCC 81-48. I thought last year this Cardinal team's strength was rebounding combined with defense. But... good Lord. This includes a jaw-dropping 37 offensive boards by the Scots. The Cardinals had 22 of their own, but still! I looked at second chance points for this game, and it was closer than you'd think (22-15 Alma). NCC is incredibly lucky to have won this game last night.
• Mary Schlicher (ALMA): 10-14 FG, 20 pts, 14 reb, (10 ofr). I would have put Danielle Hicks here, but the Demon Rim just killed her last night (0-11, 0 pts, but 17 boards, only 4 offensive). Schlicher really took advantage of the system NCC had in place and got a ton of easy layups.
• Sophie Newson (NCC): 1-6 FG (0-3 3pt), 2-5 FT, 4 pts, 11 reb (5 ofr). Sophie didn't have much of an impact offensively, but impressed me with her defense last night. She took a charge early on, and was excellent in helping down low. The Cardinals will need that as the season goes on.

North Central System Watch
I'm changing this from last year's Turnover Watch, though that is still a bit of a problem with 22 giveaways last night, but through 2 games I'm still watching this new system installed by Coach Roof (and I think assistant Doug Porter might have had a hand in it).

• 40? "line changes": I don't know the exact number even from looking at the box score, but this is the staple of Coach Roof's new system. With pressing everywhere, she subs everyone out all at once. The first new group checked in at the table 50 seconds in and that was the pattern for the night. The number here might be inflated, but it was a lot either way.
• 7-48 3pt (14.6%): Holy 2005 Illinois team, Batman. Coach Roof told me when I talked to her before the season she wanted this team taking 45 threes a game. Well, through 2 games... the Cardinals have shot 89 threes, so she was only off by 1. The problem is, this team is only shooting 21% from out there. I know they can shoot; I rebounded for Jenny Swanson during shootarounds the past couple days and she was hitting pretty much everything she shot (including me picking up a couple assists passing backwards to her over my head). It just hasn't translated to the floor yet.
• Alma: 38 turnovers. That is what NCC is looking for with this. They scored 29 points off of those turnovers as well, so that part of the system is working.

Final Thoughts
I still think this system needs some tweaking. Obviously it is causing turnovers and this team can run really well. I still think there is too much of an over-reliance on the 3 (even though I love announcing it) and not enough attacking the basket. I also fear that the trap is overused; while it is obviously forcing plenty of turnovers, it's also giving opponents a lot of easy layups in transition. The Cardinals got away with it last night; hopefully Coach Roof can make the adjustments needed to keep this team going. It's early enough in the season that this team can still improve.

Bonus Thought
Yesterday was a REALLY good day to be a Cardinal. Not only did this women's game result in a win, the men's team knocked off #7 Hope 60-49 to likely get a rankings boost, the football team went out to California and picked up a win while Nick Kukuc was getting compared to NFL backs as well as "a Himalayan cat running through the snow" (apparently), and the men's cross country team won its 15th national title and gave the school an even 30 in its history. Congratulations everyone! I'm proud to be a Cardinal for life!

Game Notes: Olivet College @ North Central College (11/16/12)

Final Score
Olivet 96, NCC 84

Game Summary
In what really was a pretty entertaining season opener, the Cardinals (0-1) got off to a pretty good start in a see-saw battle with the Comets (1-0), where the Cardinals eventually took a 38-37 lead. It was tied at 39 in the 1st half when the Comets went on a 13-0 run to take a commanding lead and never looked back. The Cardinals fell further behind in the 2nd half thanks to a Comet 12-0 run to start the half before making the game look closer than it was in garbage time.

Key Stats

• Olivet Bigs: 24-38, 58 pts, 25 reb: Sydney Radde, Stefanie Lang and Kaleigh Hill looked all but unstoppable last night as the Comets broke the press NCC was testing out constantly and the Cardinals unfortunately had no answer for them. With about 5 minutes left the Cardinals fell back into a 2-3 zone which stifled any further outbursts, but they left their mark... and then some.
• NCC Shooting: 26-75 (12-41 3pt), 20-39 FT: This was the new offense on display. Coach Roof told me a couple weeks ago she wanted the team to shoot about 45 threes a game and they came pretty close, those shots other than early in the game just weren't falling. Those free throw numbers scare me though. Lauren Hernandez in particular (6-13) struggled a bit last night, but missing 19 free throws as a team in a 12 point loss... you do the math.
• Kim Wilson (NCC): 5-9 FG (4-8 3pt), 6-6 FT, 20 pt, 4 ast: When I was looking at the roster before the season, Kim caught my eye as a 5'9" guard and hoped that she would have a good blend of skills. Turns out she can shoot pretty well. That was a bright spot along with Emily Murphy (13 points on 6-10 shooting).

Final Thoughts
Without totally overreacting to just one game, I think the Cardinals weren't too bad in their opener given that they were probably working out some kinks in the system. For a while the press was working and there seemed to be fresh bodies always out there. This team can run and gun a little bit, but there will be struggles when shots aren't falling (live by the 3, die by the 3) or when facing an opponent with some talented bigs who can run a little bit like Olivet has. I think Coach Roof can make the adjustments needed as the early part of the season goes on.


Bonus Thought
A big credit to the College of Faith, which just opened its doors this year. They started programs for football and men's basketball in their opening year just to get started, and for their first ever game made the trek up from Tennessee (or Arkansas, I'm not positive) to Naperville and apparently didn't get much, if any sleep before taking on #7 Hope in their first game. Posted to the left is the final score from that game, because people might think there was a typo if I just put the score in. Hope got a dunk off the opening tip and that just seemed to be the way things went yesterday. Credit to COF though for not giving up, making the trek, and being willing to play for 40 minutes against extremely tough odds. Good luck to them today against Illinois Institute of Technology.

COAS/SSLYAR Pigskin Pick 'Em Week 11

We're down to the last week of byes finally, and I may do a playoff picture general post following next week's NFL games with thoughts on the playoffs and possibly awards and such. No reason to let Nathaniel have all the fun.

Speaking of Nathaniel, we're both on a bit of a roll, having been even over the last 2 weeks and both going 18-10 during that span. Nathaniel also reclaimed his spot in 2nd in Week 9 and padded his distance last week as well. Even looking at the standings though, we're all doing pretty well with out picks, beating more than half the ESPN field. How many of those are people who aren't filling out picks, I'm not sure. Let us have our glory, dang it!

Either way, here's what we're picking for Week 11.

Miami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills (-1.5)
Lucas: Bills. I don't know what to make of this game, other than this is why the NFL shouldn't do so many Thursday night games. Buffalo came up just short against New England, with poor playcalling at the end, but Miami just got killed by Tennessee, who a week before was annihilated by the Bears' defense. I'd say this game would end in a tie, but San Francisco/St. Louis just ended in one and everyone would probably still be confused as to how a game ends in a tie so I don't see another one happening. A man can dream though. Also, Miami is due some bad sports karma.
Nathaniel: Bills. You know, the Bills still have five home games left and they've gotten the Patriots, 49ers, and Texans out of the way. May there still be a chance we see them in the playoffs? ...(thinking)...No, that's completely insane. They'll probably win this game, though.

Arizona Cardinals at Atlanta Falcons (-9.5)
Lucas: Falcons. The Saints provided the blueprint for beating Atlanta in that their run defense is somewhat suspect. Arizona's starting running back is LaRod Stevens-Howling. Have fun.
Nathaniel: Cardinals. Arizona will lead by five with three seconds left, but then the Falcons will perfectly recreate the Cal-Stanford Band play and return the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown thanks to seventeen laterals and an illegal block from Tony Siragusa, who comes out from his sideline man cave to join the action one last time. I'm telling you, the Falcons can't lose at home.

Cleveland Browns at Dallas Cowboys (-7.5)
Lucas: Cowboys. Look at Brandon Weeden, now to me. Now back to Brandon Weeden, now back to me. I am not Brandon Weeden. I at least know not to get hit by an American flag or throw on the same play as a pass was batted down. I just threw a back shoulder touchdown to Nathaniel. Brandon Weeden can't do that.
Nathaniel: Cowboys. Only if Morris Claiborne commits less than seven penalties, though. This will be a harder feat for Morris than you realize.

Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions (+3.5)
Lucas: Packers. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned about Green Bay's massive injury bug, but Detroit's defense is terrible and Aaron Rodgers is indoors. And Ndamukong Suh hasn't been suspended yet. It's against the Pack. He's due.
Nathaniel: Lions. If the Lions don't win this one, their battleship is COMPLETELY SUNK. Metaphorically, of course; as far as we know, the NFL doesn't rely on any actual use of the game Battleship to decide game outcomes. Although if they did, I think we can all agree the Eagles would lose every game. NEVER CLUSTER ALL YOUR SHIPS IN THE SAME AREA, ANDY!

Cincinnati Bengals at Kansas City Chiefs (+3.5)
Lucas: Bengals. Was that really Romeo Crennel on the sidelines on Monday? His team actually looked halfway decent. Granted it was against a Steelers team that was without Big Ben for half the game. The way Cincy looked against the G-men? I'll take it.
Nathaniel: Bengals. I'm sorry, it's going to take more than one week of Kansas City looking like an actual NFL franchise before I'm convinced to take the points with them. And to follow up on my answer to the previous game, the Chiefs would be equally, if not moreso, boned than the Eagles if winning at Battleship were the criteria for success. I would give almost anything to watch Romeo Crennel and Andy Reid play against each other. It would be utterly mind-blowing.

New York Jets at St. Louis Rams (-3.5)
Lucas: Rams. Jeff Fisher's team played a very tough San Fran team to a tie, though they should have won that game in overtime twice. Then again, it's the Jets this week. There are few teams I'd pick Rex Ryan against. The Rams are not one of them.
Nathaniel: Rams. I actually think Rex Ryan is a pretty good coach, but don't you kinda have to fire the guy after basically half his players gave disparaging quotes anonymously about Tebow? Doesn't matter that they're right. IT'S THE PRINCIPLE OF THE MATTER.

Philadelphia Eagles at Washington Redskins (-3.5)
Lucas: Redskins. I should have known Vick would go down with an injury before getting benched. Even if he is healthy Sunday, I don't see the Eagles doing anything about it. Too much ineptitude.

Nathaniel: Redskins. At some point this season, Michael Vick will walk into Andy Reid's office and say, "Great news, coach, the doctors cleared me to play and my concussion symptoms are all gone. When do you want me to start back up-" Then. Out of nowhere. With surpising speed. A large hand will cover Michael's mouth with duct tape and Michael will be tied up and thrown into a storage closet as a large man with a walrus moustache cocks his ear and says, "What's that? You've still got a terrible headache from that hit you took? Oh well. Guess we'll have to go with Nick again..." and then walk off with an empty expression on his face. All of this will most certainly occur. You watch.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Carolina Panthers (+1.5)
Lucas: Buccaneers. I know it's largely been Doug Martin, but you have to give some credit to JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH FREEMAN! (copyright: Bill Simmons)
Nathaniel: Panthers. Remember how bad the Buccaneers' offense looked early in the season? They could barely get a first down against the Cowboys. Now they're rolling up and down in the field in a glorious fashion and making Greg Schiano chortle with glee. Naturally, I must take the Panthers.

Jacksonville Jaguars at Houston Texans (-15.5)
Lucas: Jaguars. I knew the line would be big, but this big? I've gotten burned by quite a few big lines this year. Not chancing this one. And if Arian Foster turns into Tecmo Bo to beat the spread, so be it.
Nathaniel: Jaguars. Look, I know this is going to blow up in my face, but...15.5 POINTS!!! That's enormous! That's a bigger spread than the Thanksgiving feast that gets served at Dan Jiggetts' house every year. I...I just can't do it.

New Orleans Saints at Oakland Raiders (+4.5)
Lucas: Saints. Let's see: two good passing games with Drew Brees and a surprisingly gaudy Carson Palmer against two BAD pass defenses? And the over/under is only 54.5? Palmer will likely make more mistakes than Brees and swing the game, but still.
Nathaniel: Raiders. Probably the closest thing we will ever see to two offenses just playing against air. First one to force a third down wins.

San Diego Chargers at Denver Broncos (-7.5)
Lucas: Broncos. I think last week's press conference was the closest Norv Turner got to turning into the Incredible Hulk, though he was still far off. Peyton throwing for 4 touchdowns in the 4th quarter to come from behind? That might do it.

Nathaniel: Broncos. I love the Broncos in this game. However, I will have to turn the channel any time they punt and Britton Colquitt comes on the field. IT'S TOO SOON! IT'S JUST TOO SOON!

Indianapolis Colts at New England Patriots (-9.5)
Lucas: Colts. While yes, Andrew Luck doesn't have the same prowess on the road as he does at home (or in Jacksonville), with the Pats defense, there's no way they don't give up their fair share of points. They'll still score plenty, but 10 points is a lot to shoot for. Then again, maybe I'm still all in on #Chuckstrong. Speaking of which...
Nathaniel: Patriots. If there's any coach in the league who will be wholly unsympathetic to the message of #Chuckstrong, it will be Bill Belichick. "It's very sad that Chuck is sick and we're hoping and praying that he gets better as soon as possible. Now let's run the no-huddle and beat the Colts by 50."

Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers (-3.5)
Lucas: Ravens. Big Ben's shoulder is a hefty price to pay for those bee jerseys Nathaniel and I both decried a couple weeks ago. Time to resurrect the Ravens/Bane parallel.

Nathaniel: Ravens. Byron Leftwich may not be much of a quarterback, but he's got a heck of a last name! I've always thought after he ends his career, he should create a copycat sloppy joe recipe that apes Manwich and start up Leftwich Sloppy Joe Sauce: An American Tradition Since 2013! (I'm assuming that's the year he retires.)

Chicago Bears at San Franciso 49ers (-4.5)
Lucas: Bears. Alex Smith is likely to play on Monday, but what about Cutler? These teams are about as even as it gets, especially between Alex Smith and Jason Campbell, but I take the Bears defense over just about anyone.
Nathaniel: 49ers. Honestly, it might be for the best if Jay Cutler doesn't play. I still have nightmares from the last time he played at Candlestick. NO, JAY! JUST BECAUSE DESMOND CLARK IS IN THE END ZONE DOES NOT MEAN YOU SHOULD THROW IT TO THE FOUR 49ERS WHO ARE STANDING IN FRONT OF HIM!

Should be a fun week of games once again. I worry about Nathaniel and I after we played a tough round of football today, especially given this note he gave me with his picks.

I fear I may not be able to move at all tomorrow. They'll have to wheel me into work in a wheelbarrow and then prop me up at my computer Stephen Hawking-style. How do actual football players do it?!

Records so far
Lucas: 77-69, 10-4 last week
Nathaniel: 69-77, 9-5 last week

North Central Basketball Preview

Ah, it's good to have that logo back in COAS. We're into November, the NBA is underway, and I'm gearing up for another season of Cardinal basketball. This will be my 6th season participating in some capacity with the program, since I called my first ever game in February of 2008 with Nick Shepkowski, now with 670 The Score in Chicago, and my second year as the full time public address announcer for the North Central women's basketball team.

Women's Basketball
Last Year: 7-18 (1-13 CCIW, 8th) (Stats)

As you can tell from just the record above, last year was not a good year for the Lady Cardinals. If you read any of last season's game recaps, the consistent problem was that despite pretty good defense and rebounding, the offense consistently struggled due to a lot of turnovers, missed layups, and the like. But to be fair, last year was something of a rebuilding year with Jackie Errico, one of the best players in NCC's history lost to graduation (though she's back again for her second year as a grad assistant coach) and a large group of incoming freshmen that had to contribute right away. Really, there was a lot of potential from this group going forward, and they ended last year on a high note with a win on Senior Night.

This year that group of freshmen returns intact with a year of facing the CCIW Gauntlet under their belts. The keys obviously are the senior leaders in three point specialist Jenny Swanson, strong defender and slasher Sophie Newson and low post presence Emily Murphy, three pillars from last year's squad. Bobbi Johns will probably take over the point guard role, and there's a plethora of perimeter sophomores she'll have the oppotunity to pass to including Callie Rezin, Kelsey Cooling, and Lauren Hernandez.

I stopped by Merner Fieldhouse on Halloween to say hello to head coach Michelle Roof, and we both share an optimism about this season with so many key players returning, many of them young. Hopefully the new class can come in and contribute, and I'm sure they will. Coach Roof told me there will probably be a pretty deep rotation of players and ball movement around the perimeter. A lot of these girls can shoot from deep, so I'm already preparing my voice for a lot of work. Someone get me a giant pack of Gatorade. and if late on a Wednesday night you here a loud yell of "THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!", don't worry; I'm just trying to swing momentum to get the crowd involved and help this team get back to the CCIW Tournament for the first time since 2009. The coaches' poll has them slotted 6th out of 8, with defending national champion Illinois Wesleyan at the top.

It's hard to go down from where they were last season, but with the talent and experience on this squad, they'll be a pretty good team this year. Hopefully I can see the pleasant surprise of a tournament berth.

Lucas' Prediction: 11-14, 5th in CCIW

Fixing Our Pasttime

This has been a post that I've been holding in my back pocket ever since I started doing Confessions of a Sportscaster. Given the news today, I figured today was the best opportunity to write it.

While I think football is easily now the #1 sport for most people in the United States, baseball remains an old classic that a lot of people love. But I have had a couple rule changes in mind to help improve the competitive balance of the game. I think one or two of these are no-brainers, but there's one that's definitely a controversial one.

Institute a salary cap
This has long been an argument that I think a lot of fans have been pushing when you look not only at how much it costs to go to a ball game nowadays but what baseball salaries are escalating to. Here is a list of the 25 highest paid players from this past season. There's a lot of great players on this list, but also a lot of overpaid and/or overrated players. Avoiding these sorts of backbreaking contracts can help keep you from crippling your franchise... or at least make your GM think twice before offering a 32 year old first basemen with bad knees a 5 year, $80 million deal. But this is just part of the deal.

Institute a salary floor
Here's one that kind of gets overlooked, but gave me the idea to write this post. Today Twitter blew up with reports of a massive trade between the Blue Jays and the Marlins that gets rid of 5 of Miami's highest paid players. When you consider that a couple guys on that list were already gone... there's virtually no one left on their payroll. That's ridiculous. From a business standpoint, I get that the idea is to maximize your profits (accomplished with their new ballpark). But if you're the owner of a sports franchise, the product you're selling is the team on the field. At least make it seem like you care. Spend money on your roster. With the combination of the cap and the floor, you can try to guarantee a distribution of the talent fairly evenly amongst the majors. Parity hasn't been a huge issue in baseball, with only 2 teams winning multiple World Series titles since the 21st century began and all but 3 teams have even made the playoffs over the past 12 years. The idea here is just to make sure one team isn't stockpiling talent and trying to buy a title while other teams aren't trying to put a sham on the field for the fans.

Obviously money doesn't tell the whole story. Looking at how much each team spent in 2012, spending tons of money didn't necessarily equate to a playoff spot, but you were much less likely to make it if your team didn't spend money (Oakland was the exception of teams that spent less than $80 million on players). Miami's trade here is a disgrace unless you're a Blue Jays fan.

Abolish the designated hitter
This is my controversial argument, but hear me out. With the 2013 season bringing a balance of 15 teams in each of the 2 leagues, interleague play will span the entire regular season. While I can take or leave that prospect, if you're playing between 2 different leagues more, the rules need to be uniform. The AL and the NL are like 2 separate professional leagues as it is right now.

So why get rid of the DH? My first reason is more of a fan intrigue perspective. You normally assume that when your pitcher is facing the bottom of the order, that includes the pitcher and is usually an automatic out. Given that pitchers normally don't hit well, that's usually a safe assumption, but some pitchers actually hit well. Carlos Zambrano comes to mind (of course, when he wasn't being an absolute headcase), but I went to a game in Milwaukee between the Twins and Brewers, and I think both starting pitchers got base hits in that game. It happens, and it can be a major momentum swing if your pitcher can hit. (I also saw Kerry Wood hit a home run at a game in 2003, so maybe I'm a tad biased).


The bigger reason for it is purely strategic. Managers in the American League now barely have to do anything other than decide when to take pitchers out, and that is based solely on how they're pitching. I love how in the National League, much more strategy is involved with how you use your bench and when a good time to double switch would be. It puts a lot more weight on these decisions and how long you want a pitcher to go and how quickly you want to empty your bench while thinking about future scenarios. It's a much more mental game in the NL, and I think makes the game more intriguing.

Someone get this man out of baseball. Now.

Obviously with all these issues, given the nature of the sport and how much money is involved, this is not something that can be instituted overnight. You'd probably be looking at 2 or 3 years down the road, but Major League Baseball should at least consider this now and announce that it will happen down the road so teams have time to prepare for it. You have DH's on American League rosters that would need to have their contracts come off the books so you don't completely screw those teams over. The other problem is that it would shorten careers of some guys, but I think having an impact in more ways than just stepping up to bad a couple hundred times a year without taking the field is important. More importantly, don't let a greedy owner ruin baseball in your town. Or just contract the Miami Marlins, since their entire history is based around fire sales anyway, 2 World Series titles be damned.