Bud Selig Passing New Rule: Postseason Games Must Be Completed

Remember Game 5 of the World Series? Both parts of it? There was major fallout after the game was suspended, because it seemed convenient of the game to get called immediately after the Rays scored the tying run. On the flip-side, had the game been called before the Rays scored and the rulebook was explicitly followed, you would have had a champion crowned after only playing half of a game. Today, Bud Selig revealed that baseball is doing the right thing:

"All postseason games, All-Star games and that, will be full-length affairs, and the rule will be so written," Selig said Thursday following an owners' meeting."

That's a good move, because I'm pretty sure no baseball fan wanted to see that game end after 4 1/2 innings.

Of course, in true Bud fashion, we're left with questions. It was asked if regular season games in late September would be covered in this rule.

"Any game that has significance for the postseason," he said. "It will be very clear now. Everybody will know exactly."

Let's hope it's clear. I immediately question what you would call "significant" to the postseason.

Let's say a team is trailing by four games in their division with two weeks left in the season. They are losing by one run and there's an extended rain delay in the seventh inning. I'd have to assume this game is not covered in the rule, but -- if you were that team's manager -- wouldn't you argue this game was significant to deciding the postseason? I sure as hell would.

What if a team ends up one game out of the playoffs after having this situation happen to them in April? Would they then be allowed to petition the league so they could play the last few innings and try to turn that "L" into a "W?" Definitely not, but how is that fair, when you are allowing games in late September finish?

I like the rule for the postseason, but I don't think you can start placing more significance on different regular season games. You can't just arbitrarily say that September 28th means more than April 15th. Every team should play under the same rules for the entire 162-game regular season.