So I guess there are sacred cows, and the name of one of those hallowed cows is Bud Selig.

In case you missed it, and I’m sure most of you did, Major League Baseball announced that they will be eliminating the off day between games four and five of each league championship series. In a week which saw health care reform pass and the NFL change overtime rules, Major League Baseball decided to waste a pitch.

What should be the most newsworthy portion of this story is that it took a special committee appointed by Bud Selig to advise him to make this decision. Never mind the fact that the World Series will not start until October 27th this year pushing the games into November for a second straight year.

The Special Committee for On-Field Matters was formed by Selig in December to “review all on-field issues” in baseball. It was said at the time that there would be “ no sacred cows” and that the committee would be “open to talk about anything.”

The committee includes none other than Selig’s favorite committee member George Will, who always defends his favorite commissioner . Will is joined on the committee by owners, managers, and GM’s from major league clubs who meet to think of ways to improve the game. So l guess they forgot about the ever increasing length of games, the designated hitter, and the lack of balance in scheduling.

If Selig really wanted to improve the future of baseball maybe he should take into consideration what the fans think, possibly even have a few of them on the committee, or better yet form a committee of fans that have lost total interest in the game and hear what they have to say. Why did they abandon the game from their childhood and what would it take to bring them back?

Surely there is more that the Selig brain trust could have come up with than the elimination of one off day in the post season. Baseball has several issues that need to be addressed sooner rather than later, some of which are:

The Games are too long – The average length of regular season game usually approaches two hours, forty-five minutes if not more and postseason games are marathons when television timeouts are added to the mix. Several time hogs could be eliminated. They could eliminate the mound visit rule and make it to where the pitcher has to be pulled if a visit to the mound takes place. This might make committee member Tony Larussa unhappy, as he loves to delay the game for his benefit. This is only one suggestion in a list that includes batters staying in the batters box, time limit on pitchers to deliver pitch, and the elimination of the microscopic strike zone that major league umpires enforce which would reduce the amount of walks.

The Season is too long – The actual games themselves are long but the season itself could be shortened and the schedule shifted. This is unlikely to happen as the owners would balk at a reduction in the amount of games because of decreased revenue, but baseball should not be played in November which will be all to apparent if the Twins make it to the World Series with their brand new stadium. Spring Training could also be shortened, as no modern day athlete needs as much time to get ready for the upcoming season.

Day Baseball – Day baseball is an attraction of the game, there is a reason why Cubs fans protested the Cubs putting lights on Wrigley Field. The majority of games are played at night, understandable for during the week, but not on the weekend. Playoff games have the unenviable task of going against the football, but a late afternoon start might slot them perfectly between marquee football games. The amount of viewers shouldn’t be a problem and could possibly increase, just look at the recent success of Olympic hockey and the Final Four.

And there is the greatest sacred cow of all as far as Selig is concerned, himself. Selig has been at the helm for 18 years and presided over the games darkest days since the Black Sox scandal of 1919, which birthed the commissioner position by the owners to restore the reputation of the game. The game could benefit from a new commissioner, one that truly has the games best interest in mind and not that of the owners.

For the first commissioner, the owners sought someone who was outside of baseball to help the game. This could be the solution for the new set of challenges that the sport faces.