In praise of a 348 game schedule

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY SportsNew commish Rob Manfred is open to going back to a 154 game schedule, but he's looking in the wrong direction.

The new baseball commissioner, Rob Manfred, has been connected to a lot of speculative stories about changes that might be coming to MLB. DH in the NL? Going back to Montreal? Banning defensive shifts? One he's been connected to a couple times is shortening the season back down to 154 games, and of the above suggestions, it's probably the least controversial.

As anyone who has seen Billy Crystal's classic 2001 film, 61*, knows, MLB used to have a 154 game schedule prior to 1961*. Both leagues had consistently used the 22 games * 14 teams formulation…