Baseball, Big East have issues

Major League Baseball was five outs away from what I would consider a major league embarrassment: having a World Series contested by two wild card teams.
You can call me a traditionalist (and if you do, thanks) but to me it's ridiculous that teams that don't even win their division can play for the world championship.
Baseball isn't like the other major sports, because the season is six months and 162 games long. Doesn't it stand to reason that a team that can't prove to be the best over a marathon season should not be given the chance to advance in October simply because it's pitchers and/or hitters get hot over a one- or two-week period?
Second time
This is the second time in the Florida Marlins' 11-year history that they've advanced to the World Series, and in neither instance did they win their division.
(In 1997, it was particularly embarrassing that the Marlins, as the wild card, not only got to the Fall Classic, but had home field advantage because of baseball's then-antiquated system of alternating it to the leagues on a yearly basis. The absurdity of awarding it to the league that wins the All-Star Game has already been discussed in this space.)
Major League Baseball has a lot of problems and it's unlikely that we'll ever see a return to the "two-division, advance only if you're in first place" system.
As long as MLB allows wild card teams in the playoffs, why not just do away with the regular season altogether. Instead, have a tournament, starting in April, and eliminate teams to the final two in October.
I realize I'm banging my head against the wall with this argument. And I'm probably in the minority. Most of you probably like the playoffs now.
But if I was king of the world for one day, I'd send Major League Baseball back to the two 10-team leagues in the '60s.
Big East's big mistake
The defection of Boston College to the ACC leaves the Big East with five football playing schools.
Once Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Syracuse, Rutgers and Connecticut (who replaces Temple after this season) get over their feelings of hurt and anger, they need to make some cautious and delicate choices.
The feeling today is that Cincinnati, Louisville and South Florida are the front-runners to replace B.C., Virginia Tech and Miami. No disrespect to the three newcomers, but that's what I would describe as replacing Cadillacs with Yugos.
In the 1980s, before Penn State joined the Big Ten, football coach Joe Paterno campaigned for the Eastern independents to form a conference. The Nittany Lions regularly played all of the current Big East schools except for Miami and Virginia Tech, so it seemed that forming a league would soon be a reality.
Failed by one vote
Except that, a few years later, the Big East schools failed by one vote to extend an invitation to Penn State.
That's when the Nittany Lions made the move to the Big Ten.
One vote. That's what the athletic directors of the Big East Five should really be upset about. Having Penn State as part of their conference would have solved a lot of the problems the Big East is about to face.
For one, the Big East is going to have to do some major campaigning to remain a member of the Bowl Coalition Series (the BCS) if and when the three aforementioned schools from Conference USA join up.
I don't know how the BCS could allow the Big East to remain part of the coalition and continue to snub its nose at the Mid-American Conference.
There is one good thing that might come out of all this, though. There is the possibility, if Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese can lead the charge, to revamp the current BCS setup into one that essentially becomes a playoff and would include the champions of all the conferences.
XRob Todor is sports editor of The Vindicator. Write to him at todor@vindy.com.