Rules and Myth

As an expanding and prosperous business, MLB represents the epitome of what baseball is.  It is a game with a familiar atmosphere and with familiar numbers.  The myth of baseball is created through these facets of the game, each individual player and coach add to this, but what happens when parts of the game are manipulated and changed.  One of the proposed changes to the upcoming MLB season is the addition of one more wild card spot.

            A new wild card spot represents a chance, a chance for teams to get into the playoffs when a game or so would normally leave them out.  But, this extra game means so much more to baseball then just having an extra chance to move into the world series.  It would seemingly create a more mythologized situation in the mind of the patrons.  The myth would undoubtedly be fantastical if the team were to be the winning underdog, but it would not mean as much if the original post league were to remain the same. 

            Although the rules often take a backseat, they are the basis of any baseball myth.  Without the rules there to dictate what could happen, nothing would happen.  But, with the addition of more and more rules, it leaves room for more and more things to happen, and therefore more to be mythologized. 

            Baseball is about the myth, it is what makes it different and unique, when we can speculate and dissect every aspect of the game, and then have anomalies to make us excited to tune in everyday, it is a constant story.  But the addition of some rules and regulations detract from the myth of baseball, by either enabling it, such as this, or destroying it.  Myth will always be apart of the game, it is difficult then to determine when enough is enough, and when the game as evolved enough to keep the myth alive during every season.