Sometimes you wonder if baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has ever watched a baseball game.

Yesterday, his office floated out changes they are considering for the playoffs, starting in 2022. (For Rangers fans, the playoffs are the games good teams get to play after the season ends to determine the champion.)

Baseball would expand to 16 teams in each league. Seven teams in each league would make the playoffs.

The team with the best record in each league gets a first round bye.

The remaining six teams in each league would be the first round of playoffs. The first round would be a best of three, all three games to be played at the home park of the team with the better record.

Plus, the teams with the best records would get to pick their opponents, choosing them on a live TV selection show before each round. 

After the first round, the three winners of each round, and the number one seed, make it to the second round. That will be a best of five to narrow it down to the top two teams in each league. Before the second round, the top seeded team, the one that had the bye, gets to choose its opponent from the bottom two seeded teams. 

Then, when it’s narrowed down to two teams per league, they play a best of seven, the winners playing in the World Series.

Honest to baseball god, this is not a joke. This is not satire. This is the trial balloon the commissioners office floated out yesterday.

It was met with immediate disdain. In fact, Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer, who’s active on Twitter, tweeted this:

“No idea who made this new playoff format proposal, but Rob is responsible for releasing it, so I’ll direct this to you, Rob Manfred. Your proposal is absurd for too many reasons to type on twitter and proves you have absolutely no clue about baseball. You’re a joke.”

Okay, then. That’s one player heard from. It will be interesting to gauge reactions today.

One thing is certain. They keep messing with the game. One can only hope that it does not eventually fall to pieces.