First posted on Tuesday, July 26

With most teams having played around 100 games on their 162 game schedule, we still have about 16 or 17 teams that have a shot at the last two playoff spots. To me, That's AWESOME.

My last full season in the Majors was 1995, and I was more worried about what I was going to do at 32 then Commissioner Bud Selig's plan to bring back the fans and give hope to Major League teams that were out of the playoff race by August.

Now some 10 years later, I see that this may be the best thing Bud has ever done for the game. First, I think it makes teams like the Oakland Athletics and the Houston Astros play hard every game because even with their bad starts, they knew they were never really out of the playoff race.

How bad were their starts? Lets see ... The A's got off to a smoking 17-32 start, then found out the season had started without them and they have gone 37-13 since. Good enough to be leading the wild card race and only 5 games back of the division leading Angels in the AL West.

Now that's some great baseball. And how about those pesky Astros. Lets just say, injuries and a playoff hangover stood in their way, they started 19-32 and were thinking of trading Roger Clemens.

No, they wouldn't give up that easily, not the way they won the wild card in 2004. They have put up a 33-15 spot since the end of May and are three games back in the Wildcard race. But like I said, 16, maybe 17 or even a few more teams if they finish strong are still in the hunt for postseason play

What a game. Now I hope we never get to be like other sports where you have 16 teams in the playoffs, but what comissioner Bud Selig has done, has made the greatest game even better, and has made the longest professional season more competitive from start to finish.

Now, if we could only get rid of those interleague games and raise the mound back up to 15 inches. Ok, lets not get crazy ...