Baseball Has Gone Astray.

• Author: BARRETT, WAYNE M.

"THESE ARE THE GOOD OLD DAYS" go the lyrics to a popular song. Don't you believe it--at least where major league baseball is concerned. Now let's be clear. Baseball is still our national pastime, deservedly so. It remains a wonderful athletic endeavor, able to soothe the soul with its storied traditions, languid pace, and seemingly effortless ebb and flow of action, although a big spot in a big game also is a conductor of frayed nerves, gray hair, and gut-wrenching, ulcer-causing tension. "Pitching in a pinch," Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson called it. The cauldron of emotions that is sports in general, and baseball specifically, thrives on America's green pastures and timeless diamonds. Yet, the old gal ain't what she used to be. Things were different when I was growing up:

* Teams had just two uniforms: white at home; gray on the road. Those uniforms remained unchanged season after season. Somehow it was comforting--a sort of safe, secure knowing feeling--to see the same cap, jerseys, and pants year in, year out. Today, with the introduction of third (and even fourth) jerseys, alternate caps, and the suddenly ubiquitous color black, players more resemble softball has-beens than classy professionals. The New York Mets, for example, rotated through seven different uniform combinations last year.

* To be in the World Series, a team had to finish in first place. During my grade-school years, the American and National Leagues each had 10 teams (after six decades of eight clubs apiece). The Fall Classic featured the regular-season winner of the A.L. vs. its counterpart in the N.L. Simple, fair, and quite appealing. Even when the leagues expanded to 12 teams apiece in 1969, the revamped system remained just. Each circuit had two divisions of six teams. The two first-place clubs in their respective leagues met in a championship playoff to determine the World Series representatives. The regular season featured a division-based schedule, as each club played its division foes 18 times apiece and its nondivision opponents 12 times each.

Today, with three divisions in each league and a fourth club chosen via the wild card, there not only is an extra round of playoffs, but the best four teams aren't even assured of making the postseason since a second- or even third-place team in one division may have a better record than one of the other two division winners. For example, a few seasons ago, the Mets (third place, East Division) and Los Angeles...