Restructure baseball along traditional lines.

• Author: Barrett, Wayne M.

Even staunch traditionalists know in their hearts that there's nothing wrong with modernizing baseball. Trouble is, the game's architects don't even begin to grasp the simplicity of their task. Our Plan A is the gem that can reinforce the game's structure and integrity. Of course, it will never be implemented. Plan B is a worthy fallback idea that should appeal to the post-season modernist. It will never happen, either.

Plan A: With the addition of this year's expansion franchises, the Arizona Diamondbacks of the National League and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays of the American League, the major leagues are bulging with 30 teams. No matter, two more will be added by the new millennium. Actually, that's perfect, since 32 divided by four divisions -- two in each league -- is eight.

From the turn of the 20th century until the 1950s, the National and American leagues each had eight teams that remained in the same 10 cities for the duration. Real baseball fans knew all the teams in their league, inside and out, from the backup third baseman on the last-place team to who was pitching tomorrow for the hometown club. And since some municipalities hosted both leagues (Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, Philadelphia, New York), a fan knew plenty about the "other" league as well.

Then came expansion, free agency, franchise-shifting. So many new teams, new names, new players, new alignments, new uniforms, new stadiums. Two of baseball's most endearing traits, stability and serenity, were lost. These are not baseball's greatest crimes, however. The road to the World Series must be reconstructed so that second-place wild-card clubs and winners of four-team divisions produced by a balanced schedule have no place in the post-season picture. The playoffs will be best four-of-seven -- no three-of-five in the first round. The World Series, as it was way back when, will be best five-of-nine. Two rounds; that's it.

The regular-season schedule will emphasize division play. The division champ, unlike today, will have played more games within the division than outside it. Traditional geographic and competitive rivalries will bubble anew. It's impossible to follow all 32 teams, so fans will get to know the eight teams in their division, just as they knew their league during the first half of this century.

Plan B: Two leagues, 16 teams apiece. As for the modern touch. think of these leagues as conferences, similar to those of the National Hockey League and National Basketball...