World Series ratings are great, when the weather is fair and the Yankees play the defending champions.  But, last year was so bad we were seriously discussing abominations like the neutral site series.  Baseball’s playoffs need to be revamped.  Here are a few ways to do it.

Two Wild Cards: The Twins-Tigers playoff was the most exciting baseball moment this season. Fans without a rooting interest were texting and tweeting.  Every at bat was crucial.  Why not do that every year?

The Wild Card as constituted does not create pennant races.  It kills them.  There’s no genuine penalty compared to winning the division.  Home-field is not enough of an incentive.  Teams with the wild card secure are complacent.  Even if there is “a wild-card race” it’s not exciting because unbalanced scheduling means these teams don’t play each other.

Have two wild cards every year.  Force them to play a one-game playoff to enter the division series.  The better team may not win a one-off game, but that’s the point.  It forces teams to try to win the division.  This would enliven pennant races.  It would be entertaining.

Get Out of November: The World Series is an American institution, in October.  The playoffs should be self-contained within the month.  Every day later increases the possibility of bad weather.  There could easily be snow the first week of November in the Northeast.

Shorten the gaps within and between series.  Baseball is an every day sport.  The Yankees played 18 games in 35 days.  Time off disrupted rhythms and affected outcomes.  Teams were dropping to three man rotations and potentially going more than a week without using their bullpens.  There’s no reason to set the dates in advance and have four day layoffs, except scheduling convenience for FOX and TBS.

Begin the playoffs earlier, by shifting back to a 154 game schedule.  It’s not radical.  It’s riverting to tradition.  The eight extra games won’t be missed.  Start the playoffs on Oct. 1 rather than Oct. 7.

Video Replay: Baseball’s primary concern should not be the human element.  It should be getting the calls right.  HDTVs, slow-motion replays and video technology have proven that umpires are woefully inadequate and affecting the outcomes of games.  One team should not make the playoffs over another, because an umpire blows a call at home plate.

Slippery slope arguments are a false refuge for the stupid.  Don’t let managers challenge.  Set defined circumstances where replay would be more helpful than a nuisance.  It won’t descend into illogical, stultifying anarchy.

Replay won’t make the games longer.  When there is a controversial call, the umpires huddle.  Both managers waddle out of the dugout to create a nuisance and receive clarifications.  That takes more time than it would take the home plate umpire to walk over to a TV monitor.

The time could be further reduced by having a video umpire, in contact with the other umps through the magic of wireless communication.  It could be even further reduced in a few years when high-quality TV feeds can be streamed to a hand-held device.

Video replay should not add significant game length.  It could potentially reduce it.  Even if it added an extra ten minutes to games, that could be accounted for by stringent delay of game rules (should have these anyway).

There’s no reason everyone watching at home should have a better vantage point on a controversial play than those responsible for the decision.