Only one home game for the wild card team?

Scrap the division format and go back to World Series-only post-seasons?

I still think its pretty difficult to say who is the best team though.  I'm gonna bet run differential doesn't tell you that all the time.  How do you feel about using RPI instead where RPI is 25% team winning percentage, 50% opponents' average winning percentage, and 25% opponents' opponents' average winning percentage or something like that.  I am a little surprised to see the other sports playoffs worked so much better.

But at the same time, I want to see as few off-days as possible, so I wouldn't be too crazy about teams not playing while they wait for an entire series to play out.

If a 7-game series is a coin flip, how are 2 more games going to make any difference?  How about 3?  5?  7?

Unless we're prepared to go to a 19-game series, the only possible way to give a concrete advantage is to give the team with the better record some form of advantage...  a free 'run' in every series game for every additional 3 wins in the regular season, or a series 'win' for every additional 5 or 6 wins in the regular season.  Some garbage like that, which would have purists and everyone else up in arms.

This may just be part of the game.  If it's something solvable, we're going to need more research to find out why the difference in MLB as opposed to NFL/NHL before we can fix it, unless we're prepared to do something totally arbitrary that could ruin a few team's legitimate playoff runs.

Let's face it. The current playoff format is inordinately encouraging the Red Sox, on their way to a second World Series in four years. We know what that means. Insufferable jackassery. This must not happen.

Let's think outside the box here people.

1. As soon as a championship is awarded based on an elemination tournament, the question which team played best over the whole season becomes irrelevant. Most of us agree that the Mariners were the best team in 2001 but because MLB determines its champion in an elemination tournament, that fact is not relevant. Most European soccer leagues award their championships by looking at the season record and that has a lot of merrit. And it provides for some drama as well (just ask fans of Schalke 04).
2. Rather, in an elemination tournament, the question is whether the team that wins is the team that played best in the tournament. This is where baseball's randomness comes into play. I've heard of a study (I don't have a source, unfortunately) according to which baseball is by far the most luck-dependent as compared to football, soccer, basketball, hockey and tennis (tennis is the least luck-dependent, btw). You can see this in the regular season records: If I am not mistaken, no MLB team managed to win 60% of its games this year. In football, winning only 60% of your games might not even get you to the playoffs. There has been one perfect season in football (Dolphins in the early 70s) and the Patriots might have another one this year.
3. In spite of baseball's randomness, my recollection of the most recent world series (04, 05, 06) suggests that they were won by the team that clearly played better. We'll see whether this year's world series will become a close contest. So far, it seems that Boston deserves to be in the lead, having outscored Colorado by a factor of five.
4. Having said this, I agree with your point about the scheduling.

With that in mind, even compressing the schedule doesn't change the luck factor; in might in fact create more randomness, if you presume that the lower-rotation pitchers are more likely to be 'who knows?' in a game.

If performance numbers are based on hefty sample sizes, then it seems that the best way to make playoffs correlate is to increase that sample size such that the 'truth' of those numbers come out, regardless of the days off.

LDS WC vs Division Champ - 4 best of 7 series, 2-3-2, with two afternoon games and one day of rest after a game 5.  Half start 10/2, other half start 10/3.  Two have travel day after game two, two after game 5
10/2 at DC
10/3 afternoon game at DC (travel day)
10/4 at WC
10/5 at WC
10/6 afternoon game at WC (travel day)
10/8 at DC
10/9 at DC

LCS starts 10/11 (best of 9) (2 best of 9 series 3-4-2, with two afternoon games and one day of rest after game three or game seven)

WS starts 10/22 (best of 9) same format as LCS

Yes, even the World Series has games that my kids could actually watch.  More games in less time, means the whole pitching staff and bench becomes important, and how the manager picks and chooses. TV gets more games to show for the same price.  Rest is reward for winning quickly, but even if you sweep, you don't have to wait more than 5 days for a best of 9 to finish and the next series to start.

1. Do away with divisions.
   
2. Do away with playoffs.
   
3. Team with the best record in their league is crowned "League Champion"
   
4. The two League Champions meet at the local arcade and play "Dance Dance Revolution"
   
5. The winner of "Dance Dance Revolution" is crowned "World Champion"
   
6. ????
   
7. Everybody is happy.

There are trades, there are people who "late bloom" (Sexson is supposed to be one of those people)... Could that account for some of the reasons the "underdog" wins the WS? They could actually, at that time, be the better team, right? Even if they weren't a better team over the course of the year.

Who wants to watch play-off game where some of the best players get the day off? Or some replacement level scrub reliever comes in to eat innings after the starter gives up 7 runs in the 2nd inning?