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Mazz's Plan To Fix Baseball: Move To A Points-Based System

BOSTON (CBS) - 98.5 The Sports Hub's Tony Massarotti is greatly concerned about the future of baseball, a sport he loves so much.

So concerned, in fact, that he's even emailed members "high up" in the Red Sox organization. Well he's not just going to sit around and let the sport die, so he's come up with a preliminary plan to fix it -- a plan that was unveiled Wednesday afternoon.

(It's the Patriots bye week, what do you expect?)

His plan is not perfect, he admits that, but it's certainly a start.

"I think baseball needs a radical overhaul to make the regular season more meaningful. When I say more meaningful I mean in the short term -- adding another playoff team doesn't do a whole hell of a lot to make a Wednesday night game against Houston more watchable," Mazz said to lead off the discussion. "I, like a lot of people, had trouble watching the World Series and the playoffs. The teams didn't really have any superstars, and there were elements that didn't really entice me to watch from the beginning to the end -- and I like baseball."

I'm sure many of you feel the same way Tony does. But what struck Mazz was how his mindset and perception changed when the World Series went to a seventh and final game.

"Game 7 I was riveted to. It struck me that when something is on the line we are all willing to watch a little bit more. So baseball divides its season into series that mean nothing. They mean nothing! Three-game series with Houston, three-game series with Texas; you win two, you lose one -- great -- and you move onto the next one. Why not make the series worth something? Why not make every series like match play in golf?"

Changing the structure of a regular season in any sport is wild and revolutionary, and even more so for a sport like baseball, whose reputation and penchant for adapting is the slowest and most rigid of all the four major sports in America.

Again, he's not 100 percent there in figuring out the intricacies of this new system, but Mazz is convinced a points-based system will be more appealing to the younger demographic.

"I'm thinking out loud here. Maybe a three-game series is worth three points, you win two out of three games and you get three points. If you sweep you get five points, and every series you start anew. You amass points as you would in hockey, and at the end of the season the standings fall in line accordingly and the teams with the most points make the playoffs."

Mazz's new regular season would also get rid of four-game series'. You have two three-game series' each week with one day off -- beneficial for the teams, but more importantly the fans who could use a break from the action.

Listen below for Mazz's full plan!



Baseball was a big topic of discussion on Wednesday, particularly the Red Sox offseason and free agent hot stove (more like cold stove if you ask me).

Tony Massarotti explained why free agent third baseman Pablo "Kung Fu Panda" Sandoval is a great fit in Boston. Mike Felger and Marc Bertrand also weigh in.

Listen below!

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