Baseball Playoffs 2014

The first round of the playoffs is over; the next round, for the league pennants, starts tomorrow, with the Orioles vs. the Royals and the Cardinals vs. the Giants.  I do think having 10 teams in the playoffs dilutes the daily pleasures of the season and ends up making the World Series often rather anti-climatic and tedious; the beauty of the game is getting lost in the shuffle of who wins and who loses.
About the playoffs:

1. The games start and finish too late and go on too long, most of the games ending at one or two in the morning.  The various networks are simply too busy avoiding conflicts with football to give baseball the care and attention it deserves.  At least, one would think, week-end games could be played during the day and commercials and promos could be limited, though of course that would mean limiting revenue.  My radical suggestion is to start football, hockey and basketball only after the baseball season is completed.

2. The networks have stated repeatedly that showing too much of the game on the field is boring.  So we see endless shots of the crowds, the executives, the dugouts, as well as conversations with the players and the managers while the game is going on!  They at least could show the whole field occasionally, though showing just the distorted images of the pitcher and the batter through telephoto lenses maximizes revenue, with advertising images shown behind them.

3. What is the function of the mushmouths and illiterates hired for both TV and radio?  When they are not mangling the English language and being as comatose as Cal Ripken (who was repeatedly asked about his career by Ron Darling and usually replied "I don't remember.") they have little to add.  Their inability to give the score or the count  or tell us who is on base has necessitated little boxes on the screen, so they are free to do what?  Tell us statistics even they don't understand and can't usually explain?  The radio announcers could do the kind of job Vin Scully but few others do:  paint a picture and evoke a feeling.  But the radio announcers don't even do the minimum -- such as tell us whether a player is batting right-handed or left-handed -- to allow us to visualize what is happening