Selig talks playoff expansion, other issues

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig visited Wrigley Field on Friday.

In the wake of the Cubs' Tyler Colvin being speared in the chest with a piece of a broken bat, Selig said Major League Baseball continues to study the problems with maple bats.

His most interesting pronouncement, however, may have been that he is willing to discuss expanding the playoffs from four teams in each of the American and National Leagues.

"As a guy who brought the wild card and took a lot of abuse... two or three years ago, we had a special committee of a lot of broadcasters," Selig said. "I really felt we were going to increase it then, but the more we talked about it, the less desirable it became for a lot of reasons. However, this winter, it's time to revisit that again, and we will.

"Remember this: We have less teams (in the playoffs) than any other sport. We only have eight teams that make the playoffs, one wild card in each league. So we certainly haven't abused anything."

In a rapid-fire session with reporters, Selig touched on these issues:

• With bats, he noted a decrease in breakage.

"Two years ago, when this really came about, we retained people in the forestry division at the University of Wisconsin and at Harvard," he said. "They have really helped us. We have cut down on broken bats by about 50 percent. That's a lot of progress in a short period of time. Is it enough? No, we've got the remaining 50 percent to do.

"When you watch something like the Tyler Colvin incident, it's scary. But we're making progress. All of our experts - and we have a lot of experts - think they may have some solutions. So hopefully this off-season, we can really finish solving the problem."

• Instant replay remains a hot-button issue, but Selig says he wants to take it slowly and keep the rules consistent for regular-season and postseason play. There currently is limited use of replay.

"When I talked to Ron Santo, I got the answer that I get from most current players and retired players who don't want more instant replay and are very emphatic about it," he said. "It's worked well so far. You guys know this from covering every game. It's a game of pace. So you have to be very careful not to disturb this.

"On the other hand, I have this special committee which I use just so that I can hear from a lot of people. Everybody has interesting and different opinions. I know some of you would like us to (expand) it for the playoffs. But if we're going to do anything, we're going to do it permanently. I have a theory that if you play all year, 162 games and you play six months, you ought to play by the same rules when you get to the playoffs. We'll take a look at again."

• With empty seats at Wrigley Field for a Cubs-Cardinals game and attendance hurting in other places, Selig attributed it to the sluggish economy.

"Oh, there's no question," he said. "Look, here we are in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. We are at attendance numbers that six or seven years ago nobody dreamed about. This year, and I've been trying desperately to hope that we were going to break last year's attendance record, we're either going to just make it or just miss it. We're going to be 73-plus million people.

"I know there have been empty seats in some places, but overall, the game has never been stronger than it is today."