Bailey made his Major League debut on April 6, 2009 for the Athletics after struggling during the 2008 season with Double-A Midland of the Double-A Texas League. He went 5-9 with a 4.32 ERA in 37 games. But Bailey made the A’s roster out of Spring Training in 2009 and caught on quickly with the big club. He posted a 6-3 record with a measly 1.84 ERA in the Majors in 2009 in 68 games with 26 saves.

Coghlan debuted with the Florida Marlins on May 8, 2009 and never looked back, tearing through National League pitching staffs. Coghlan recorded a .321 batting average with nine homeruns and 47 RBIs in 128 games for the NL East club. Coghlan primarily was the club’s left fielder for the 2009 season but did play one game (seven innings worth) at second base for the Marlins.

On Tuesday, the American League Cy Young winner will be announced. Wednesday, the American and National League managers of the year will be announced. Thursday, the National League Cy Young winner will be announced. Monday, November 23, the American League MVP will be announced and Tuesday, November 24, the National League MVP will be announced.

The League Championship series was added to baseball’s post-season play in 1969. That meant that the top two teams in each league had to play a best of five series before advancing to the World Series. Since the addition of the Wild Card team in each league the Championship Series has been changed to a best of seven format and the Division Series was added to the playoff roster. This new round (in 1995) is a best of five series.

What does all of this mean for the sport of professional baseball? Well, for one, it gives more teams the opportunity to continue playing baseball once October rolls around and it creates more revenue for the sport in general. Since the addition of the Wild Card team and the Division Series to post-season play there have been more than enough sweeps in the first round of play. Has the Wild Card Era lessened baseball with all of these first round sweeps? Or, has the Wild Card Era provided enough thrill and excitement towards the end of the regular season to keep baseball fans happy?

Since the advent of the Wild Card team in postseason play and the onset of the Division Series in each league, first round sweeps have become all too common and many baseball experts and former players claim that the first round should also be a best of seven format, not a best of five format. I tend to agree. As much as I like to see certain teams swept out of the postseason in the first round, if you play a 162 game season you should have more of an opportunity in the first round with a best of seven series. A best of five series is not the greatest measure of a ballclub. A best of seven series is the best measure of a ballclub.

Since 1995 there have been 60 Division Series to take place, two in each league. A handful of those series ended in a sweep, more often then not, for the same team. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have been swept from the first round of the MLB playoffs twice, both times by the Boston Red Sox.

Other sweeps, but not all of them, in the first round have come at the expense of the Red Sox, the Padres, the Dodgers (1995 and 1996), the Giants and the Astros. The Chicago Cubs, including 2008, have been swept in the first round of the postseason a total of three times. This season they were knocked out by the Dodgers, last season by the Diamondbacks, and in 1998 by the Braves. The first round of the playoffs needs to be expanded for the sole purpose that there have been too many sweeps in the best of five format.

The Major League Baseball playoffs have lacked excitement for at least the last few seasons because of the sweep. Seeing a team sweep another team during the regular season is nice, especially when the sweeping team needs every win they can get during a pennant race. But all of these sweeps during the postseason are becoming a little old.

Take for instance the 2007 playoffs. The first round saw three sweeps and only one series went four games when the Yankees lost to the Indians 3 games to 1. Then, in the League Championship round, one of the two series ended in a sweep. To make matters worse, the World Series ended in a sweep for the third time in four years. A total of five sweeps occurred during the 2007 playoffs out of the seven series played.

The 2009 playoffs were not much better, especially in the first round, with three of the four series ending in sweeps once again. The only series that did not end in a sweep was the Phillies and Rockies, which went four games, with the Phillies winning the series 3 games to 1. The other three series saw the Dodgers sweep the Cardinals, the Yankees sweep the Twins, and the Angels sweep the Red Sox. The League Championship Series were a little bit better this time around, most notably in the American League, as the Yankees knocked off the Angels 4 games to 2. The NLCS was exactly the same for the second consecutive year as the Phillies eliminated the Dodgers 4 games to 1, this time in Philadelphia instead of Los Angeles.

With the debacle of the 2008 World Series looming large over the heads of Major League Baseball, changes need to be made to the playoff format. World Series game five was suspended because of inclement weather and resumed two days later. The Phillies eventually won the game, 4-3, and took the World Series 4 games to 1 over the Rays. But other than the late-inning dramatics of a continued game five, there wasn’t much excitement outside of Tampa Bay and Philadelphia during the playoffs. Bud Selig and the rest of baseball’s administration need to figure out how to bring the excitement back into the game. Now, with the World Baseball Classic causing the 2009 season to begin a couple of weeks later than normal, the World Series was played into the month of November for the first time since 2001 (9/11 attacks suspended the sport).

We haven’t seen a thrilling (all seven games played) World Series since 2002, when the Angels beat Barry Bonds’ Giants 4 games to 3. The 2009 World Series, between the Yankees and Phillies, went six games, with the Yankees winning their 27th title 4 games to 2. This was the first World Series to go past five games since the 2003 World Series, which saw the Florida Marlins knock off the Yankees 4 games to 2 for their second title in team history.

Baseball is in need of another change, this time to make the playoffs a little bit more exciting, by expanding the first round series to best of seven. If we have to suffer through another first round of sweeps in 2010 the game might lose more fans. Possibly the most exciting game of the season was game number 163 for the Detroit Tigers and the Minnesota Twins. It was a one game playoff to determine the winner of the American League Central, which went to the Twins by a score of 6-5 in 12 heart racing innings.

Mills has been working with the Red Sox as bench coach for manager Terry Francona for the previous six seasons, winning two World Series titles in 2004 and 2007. Mills previously worked with Francona as a member of his coaching staff (first base coach) from 1997-2000. After being fired by then Phillies GM Ed Wade with Francona and three other coaches in 2000, Mills joined the Cubs as an advanced scout in 2001 and then worked as the bench coach for the Montreal Expos in 2003 prior to joining the Red Sox in 2004.

This is Mills’ first Major League managerial position after serving as a Minor League manager for parts of 11 seasons. He managed for affiliates in the Chicago Cubs (1987-92), Colorado Rockies (1993-96), and the Los Angeles Dodgers (2002) organizations. Mills replaces interim manager Dave Clark, who replaced the fired Cecil Cooper on September 21 of the 2009 season. Clark was the Astros’ third base coach prior to being named interim manager. Clark was a finalist for the job and was promised a spot on the team’s Major League field staff for the 2010 season if not hired as manager.

The Astros have not reached the playoffs since playing in and losing the World Series to the Chicago White Sox in 2005. Two of the previous four seasons have been losing seasons for the Astros, finishing fifth in the Central with a 74-88 record in 2009. Mills is the fourth manager hired by the Astros since the middle of the 2004 season. Houston was only one game out of first place on July 22 but went on to lose 42 of their final 67 games of the 2009 season. Roy Oswalt spent the remainder of the season on the DL with teammate Mike Hampton while Russ Ortiz was released in July.

Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins is mobbed at third base after hitting a two-run walk-off double against the Dodgers in Game Four of the NLCS on Monday night.

The Braves performed the same feat in 1991-1992 when they lost in the World Series to the Minnesota Twins in seven games in 1991 and lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in six games in 1992. Prior to the Braves, the Los Angeles Dodgers performed this rare feat in 1977-1978 when they lost back to back World Series to the New York Yankees in six games both times. The last National League team to win two straight World Series titles was the 1975-1976 Cincinnati Reds. The Reds defeated the Red Sox in seven games in 1975 and the Yankees in a four game sweep in 1976.

Unless you live under a rock, you know how the Phillies have put themselves in the position they are in right now. With one out in the bottom of the ninth and the bases empty, Pedro Feliz was scheduled to hit for the Phillies Monday night. Feliz, who is hitting .148 in the postseason (.077 in the NLCS), was lifted for pinch hitter Matt Stairs. Stairs has 19 regular season pinch hit homeruns in his career and hit the biggest homerun in Phillies playoff history in game four of the NLCS in 2008 against Jonathan Broxton. Broxton has said often during the 2009 season that he would like to face Stairs again. This time the Phillies were trailing 4-3 in Philly, not tied at 5 in LA. Stairs dug in against Broxton, who did not throw one strike even remotely close to the strike zone. Obviously, the image of the Stairs homerun was still fresh in the mind of Broxton.

The Phillies mob Carlos Ruiz at homeplate after he scores the winning run Monday night in a 5-4 win over the Dodgers.

After Stairs took first, Manuel sent out Eric Bruntlett to pinch run for the power hitter as Carlos Ruiz stepped to the plate. On the first pitch of the at-bat Broxton threw a 96 MPH fastball inside to Ruiz, who took it off his elbow, putting the tying run at second and the winning run at first. The next batter to the plate, Jimmy Rollins, worked a 1-1 count against the overpowering right handed pitcher when lightning struck again in Philadelphia. Rollins laced a two out double into the right centerfield gap scoring Bruntlett as the tying run and Ruiz as the winning run. As Ruiz crossed the plate, the city of Philadelphia celebrated as the clock closed in on midnight.

The Phillies won the game 5-4 and took a 3-1 series lead with Game five slated to be played at 8pm on Wednesday night in Philadelphia. The reigning League and World Champions will send 2008 NLCS and World Series MVP Cole Hamels to the bump against former Phillie Vicente Padilla. Padilla threw 7.1 innings of one run ball in game two in LA for the Dodgers but did not factor in the decision as the Dodgers took the game 2-1. There is still a slight chance that the Dodgers might make a risky decision and throw Clayton Kershaw in game five, who was roughed up by the Phillies in game one, but they need to win this game. You never know what type of pitching decisions will be made with Joe Torre at the helm. As one of my close friends (a lifelong Yankee fan) said in reference to Torre on Sunday night: “It’s not hard to manage when you are up by 7 every night but when you are in a tie ballgame or trailing he is an idiot.”

Rollins Walk Off Double

Jim Vassallo is the creator of JAV Baseball. He also owns his own Internet Content company, JAV Freelancing. Vassallo coached baseball for three years at the high school level in New Jersey and has since joined the prominent D-III program at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. He can be reached at jim@javbaseball.com for questions and comments.

The company plans to sell the Cubs to the family of billionaire Joe Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade. Tribune Co. also plans to sell Wrigley Field and related properties of the club to the Ricketts family. The Cubs filed for Chapter 11 to protect the club’s new owner from any creditors of the Tribune Co. Tribune Co. filed for bankruptcy protection in December of 2008 but did not include the Cubs at the time.

The Tribune Co. will sell 95 percent of the Cubs to the Ricketts family while keeping the remaining five percent of the franchise, which was purchased from the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. in 1981 for $20.5 million. The Wrigley Co. is a candy maker. The first plans announced for the sale of the Cubs came in 2007 but the recession and the crumbling credit markets put the sale on the back burner. The deal with the Ricketts family will top the record deal of $660 million for the sale of the Boston Red Sox in 2002.

• Matt Purke did not sign with the Rangers and will attend TCU
• The Mariners have signed Dustin Ackley but terms have yet to be disclosed
• Alex White signs with the Cleveland Indians for $2.25 million
• Tyler Matzek signs with the Colorado Rockies for $3.9 million bonus
• Kyle Gibson signs with Twins for $1.8 million
• Grant Green and the Athletics came to an agreement
• LeVon Washington was one of only three first round picks not to sign
• Aaron Crow did not sign with Royals but has until May of 2010 since he has no college eligibility remaining.

It has been reported that the deal for Strasburg is for $15.67 million over four years.

“We have identified a need for athleticism, particularly in the outfield, when playing at PETCO Park,” said executive vice president/general manager Kevin Towers. “In signing Donavan Tate, we have acquired an excellent ballplayer and one of the premier athletes available in this year’s draft.”

The deadline for Major League teams to sign their 2009 draft picks has come and gone (12 Midnight) and Number One pick Stephen Strasburg has reportedly agreed to a deal with the Washington Nationals. He was not the only round one pick holding out as long as possible as the deadline approached. The Detroit Tigers signed Jacob Turner for a reported $5.5 million prior to the deadline. The Giants also flew right under the deadline by inking Zach Wheeler prior to midnight for $3.3 million. Other first rounders yet to sign include the following:

• Dustin Ackley (Mariners)
• Donavan Tate (Padres)
• Tyler Matzek (Rockies)
• *Aaron Crow (Royals)
• Grant Green (Athletics)
• Matt Purke (Rangers)
• Alex White (Indians)
• Kyle Gibson (Twins)
• LeVon Washington (Rays)

Supplemental First Rounders yet to sign with their teams are James Paxton (Blue Jays) and Tanner Scheppers (Rangers).

It was announced earlier on Monday that the Tampa Bay Rays do not expect to sign Washington and second rounder Kenny Diekroger. Many in baseball feel that is Strasburg does sign with the Nationals he will be in the Majors by September 1, when rosters expand to 40 players.

*Aaron Crow does not have to sign by the deadline because he does not have any college eligibility remaining.