Sigh...

Thanks to Bud Selig, the Cubs can full expect to be 10+ games out of first place by Sunday. See, Selig, and his "regional rivalry" approach to interleague play, is not just hucksterism, it is simply lacking in sportsmanship.

In a true competitive system, each team that competes for a specific title would play as close to an identical schedule as possible. The NFL is as close to perfect as it comes. Each year, the only difference between the Bears, Vikings, Packers and Lions schedule is the location of the non-conference games, and two of the non-division conference games.

With Selig-style baseball, we get drastically unequal schedules. The pinnacle of this starts this week. The Cubs get six games against the White Sox, while the Cardinals get to play the Royals for six. With the Royals behaving like a bad AA team, that should be at least 2 wins this weekend for the Cards if not three.

The schedule demands equity. There is a system in which equity is not only possible, but also actually desirable. It would enliven some of the rivalries that have lost luster over the years and make new ones by making them occur on a regular basis.

It's time to go to 15 team leagues, make each division the same size, make the schedules of divisional opponents identical, and make interleague play part of the natural order of business as it is in the NBA, NFL and NHL.

Until then, it's 10 back and the end of the division chase by Monday.

Then again, if the rumors are true that a White Sox sweep leads to the exit of Dusty Baker, perhaps the Cubs are in a win-win situation. If so, let’s hope the Cubs can actually win by losing.