Happy Labor Day, wage slaves!

Where is that pic-a-nic basket?

Think we’ll do a picnic in Olin Park on the shores of Lake Monona today. Haven’t done a picnic since … forever. Growing up, dad would pile the tribe into the red & white Chevy Nomad station wagon, mom would pack the hamper, and we’d drive a couple miles east to Marshall to picnic on the shores of the Maunesha River millpond.

Burma Shave signs still dotted the highway back then. Speed limit 65 day/55 night. On bias ply tires and no seat belts.

 Align this, Mr. Commissioner!

Major League Baseball wants to add two more teams; Nashville and Salt Lake City being the leading candidates. But also under consideration: Raleigh NC, Orlando FL, Portland OR, Austin TX. (MLB may also want to put a major league team in Denver. Just sayin’.)

Like my 2012 Fiat 500C, expanding to 32 teams requires realignment: 8 divisions of 4 teams or 4 divisions of 8 teams, two sets in each league. Some thought is going to purely geographic groupings and screw the league concept, especially now that the DH is universal.

• This scenario would create a single division of 8 teams from Milwaukee to Houston to Denver (but not Minnesota) – screw the leagues. 

• This plan lumps the Brewers into a 4-team division with the Twins, Detroit, and the Blue Jays. Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Viking and Packers are great rivals but Brewers and Twins were ho hum even when the Brewers were in the AL. Toronto? Isn’t that some place in Canada?

• This one is worse yet! Puts the Brewers and Cardinals in with the Blue Jays and Orioles! How does that reduce travel, the stated goal?

• We like this 8 of 4 because it keeps the Brewers with the Cubs, Reds, and Cardinals.  

 More weepy nostalgia

We remember taking The Sporting News as a kid when major league baseball was 2 leagues, 8 teams each and never the twain shall meet until the one and only playoff: the World Series. All day games. AL umpires protected by big flotation devices. No helmets, shin guards, or basepath mitts. No bullpen games or sabermetrics. Baseball cards in the spokes. Pick-up games on a hayfield hillside. Backstops, not soccer nets! And we liked it that way! (We DO like wild cards.)

July 2, 1963, 43-year-old Warren Spahn lost a 0-0 pitching duel with Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants when Willie Mays hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 16th inning to beat Milwaukee, 1 to 0.

Blaska’s Bottom Line: Brewers and Phillies today. Where’s my transistor radio?

What is YOUR scenario?

or do you even have one?