Making the perfect CWS more perfect

Published 4:20 pm Wednesday, July 4, 2018

College World Series artMGN Online

<p class="p1">When Kyle Peterson speaks, the NCAA should listen.

<p class="p1">Those all-powerful powers that be probably won’t, but they should.

<p class="p1">The college game has never been better, never been more popular, even profitable in more locales than ever.

<p class="p1">The recent College World Series in Omaha had a hard act to follow after the hand-wringing super regionals set the standard.

<p class="p1">And yet Omaha almost pulled it off.

<p class="p1">It was good enough as it was, exciting television from start to finish even as it was plagued by rain.

<p class="p1">In the end, you had a CWS that will be remembered for the way Arkansas lost it — three heads were not better than one while descending on that Bermuda Triangle foul pop, but you can’t fault the hustle — than the way Oregon State won it.

<p class="p1">Still, it was good stuff from a sport that, although you wouldn’t know it living in Louisiana, doesn’t really take center stage nationally until June.

<p class="p1">Still, the game seems to take off a little more every year.

<p class="p1">That’s not particularly good for LSU — reality check, Tigers fans, it’s a lot harder to win this thing now than it was when Skip Bertman was stockpiling trophies like he was last-minute Christmas shopping.

<p class="p1">But it’s good for college baseball.

<p class="p1">The sport basically succeeds in spite of the (lack of) support it gets from the Great Oz of college sports back behind some stubborn curtain in Indianapolis.

<p class="p1">They’re too worried about acting like they care about women’s field hockey.

<p class="p1">Well, make Peterson, ESPN’s lead analyst on the sport, the commissioner of same.

<p class="p1">If it has to be unofficial or de facto, then so be it.

<p class="p1">Peterson is to college baseball what Kirk Herbstreit is to football — as knowledgeable about it as he is passionate.

<p class="p1">Actually, Peterson has several good ideas to improve the game.

<p class="p1">No. 1 would be increasing the paltry 11.7 scholarships a team gets to make up its roster. It is the only college sport that recruits against its pro counterpart for the bulk of its players. In effect, they bring a pop gun to a tank battle.

<p class="p1">That’s the biggie.

<p class="p1">But good luck with that one, Kyle.

<p class="p1">College coaches have only been howling at the moon about that for 30 or so years now … still waiting for a reasonable explanation.

<p class="p1">More doable is Peterson’s suggestion for the CWS itself — which, partly due to Omaha’s input, is already the best-run championship of anything the NCAA attempts.

<p class="p1">Not to say it can’t be tweaked.

<p class="p1">Peterson would move the start up a day — a Friday, instead of Saturday. It would then end at least two days earlier, depending on whether the best-of-three championship round went the distance.

<p class="p1">The current Monday-Tuesday-possibly Wednesday finals would Saturday through Monday (or Sunday, if it was a sweep).

<p class="p1">A little thing. But an excellent idea, Kyle.

<p class="p1">The alert mathematicians will note that it’s at least one less day total.

<p class="p1">That’s OK. At present there’s a lot of downtime built into the bracket. As great of a spectacle as it is, sometimes it seems like the CWS meanders along at the pace of a Louisiana legislative special session.

<p class="p1">Omaha never schedules more than two games a day. So it can handle a little rain without getting hopelessly backlogged.

<p class="p1">Currently, it’s possible that you can win the championship, spend the better part of two weeks in Omaha and almost never see the inside of TD Ameritrade Park.

<p class="p1">The upside to the Peterson Plan is getting rid of what can be an entire dead weekend of the CWS before the start of the finals.

<p class="p1">If there are no “if-necessary” games in either of the dual brackets, the ballpark sits empty Saturday and Sunday — Sunday for sure.

<p class="p1">His plan would be to start the finals Saturday in prime time, play the second game Sunday afternoon (as a lead-in the ESPN’s Sunday night Major League game), and if it goes a third game it would be on Monday night like the NCAA’s other major championships.

<p class="p1">Friday would be the dead day.

<p class="p1">It’s better for TV viewers, and far better for fans trying to attend (some of whom may have actual day jobs).

<p class="p1">I hear the bracket purists kicking and screaming and demanding the floor right now.

<p class="p1">To do it, yes, one of the two brackets’ survivors could have to play four consecutive days. Or else you make the other bracket play its if-neccesary game on Friday, which wouldn’t give it a day off before starting the championship round the next day.

<p class="p1">That would have been Oregon State’s plight this year.

<p class="p1">Well, tough. Life isn’t always fair.

<p class="p1">Peterson didn’t address this, but I’m here to help.

<p class="p1">Seeding could come into play to decide it. Right now, seeding doesn’t mean squat once you get to Omaha.

<p class="p1">If you make the bracket with the No. 1 seed in it the one that wouldn’t ever play four straight, then all you did was reward the No. 1 seed (or whoever beats it).

<p class="p1">What’s wrong with that?