Cardinals Chair & CEO Bill DeWitt Jr. believes the current 162-game MLB schedule "has become too long," and he would support a move back to 154 games, according to Derrick Goold of the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. Reports came out earlier this month about an expanded postseason format, but DeWitt said, "I personally am in favor of a shorter season regardless of what the playoff structure is. ... It's a grind. There's a lot of travel. So, I'm probably in the minority of that (thinking). But when I have an opportunity to speak up about it, I do speak up about it. I prefer a shorter schedule." The current 162-game season has been in place since '61, but the "approaching expiration of the CBA has stirred talk again of how baseball could modify its schedule." DeWitt said that team owners "saw a presentation from the commissioner's office on a new playoff format and that officials left the meeting 'very enthusiastic -- maybe not about every last element of it, but in general." Goold notes a "shorter regular season would open up the week needed" for the additional playoff games in the proposed format "without plunging the season into November, or wedging it even earlier into March." DeWitt said, "I don't think it's about to happen, but it's worthy of discussion and thinking through" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 2/21).
