Alex Rodriguez makes nearly $34,000 each time he steps up to the plate for one of his 600 regular season at bats.

The man gets paid whether he strikes out or blasts a homer. If you made that kind of dough regardless of result, would you take a night, or three, off?

The Major League Baseball season is, an excessive, 162 games long. Only eight teams out of 30 make the playoffs.

This format allows a maximum of only 41 post-season games as opposed to the 2430 played in the regular season, a ratio of almost 60 to one.

The length of the MLB season lessens the importance of each matchup, and as a result, players don’t put forth the effort they are capable of.

In contrast, NBA players only suit-up for 1230 games, 82 per team. 16 out of 30 make the playoffs leaving a possible 105 games of post-season excitement, a ratio of 11 to one.

Lets condense that barrage of stats. Regular season games versus playoff games: 60 to one in the MLB as opposed to 11 to one in the NBA.

Shortening the MLB schedule and extending the post-season would only boost waning interest in a sport no longer bolstered by steroid-induced 70-home run seasons.

With the reign of mutant record busters thinning out in the MLB, viewers should focus on what is actually important: Elimination games, win or go home.

Although ancient and relatively slow paced, baseball is unparalleled in its authenticity and history. Stats are glorified almost as much as championships.

An alteration in season length would result in an asterisk next to all statistics kept after the change. In an age-old league predicated on individual stats, this adjustment would no doubt stir up purest perspectives on figures booked over several decades.

I say it’s time for some fresh augmentation of America’s favorite pastime.

Now that baseball is limping away from the ‘roid era, why not make some novel improvements?

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has recently announced he is considering expanding the playoffs.

The most popular scenario includes allowing an additional wild card team from each league into the post-season tournament, forcing a best-of-three or best-of-five series between two wild card squads.

Like professional football, the top seeds would get a by week while teams on the bubble battle it out for a chance a to compete for a World Series title.

It would introduce an opportunity for smaller market teams to have a better chance to make a run, in baseball in only takes a hot streak at the right time.

Take the San Francisco Giants for example. The team was decent during the regular season but with superior pitching and timely hitting they ended up hoisting the commissioners trophy.

There is nothing that beats playoff excitement in all sports. If a lucrative 275 million dollar contract doesn’t make “A-Roid” perform like he used to, the sheer electricity of a capacity October crowd will, and did.