From a recent Lloyd Garver column on Sportsline.com:

“The cold weather on the East Coast during the World Series is always a great comic reminder of how absurdly long the playoffs are.”

If that’s humor, then it’s good humor.  If that’s a serious statement … well, then it’s good humor.

MLB regular season: 162 games.  MLB playoffs: absolute maximum 19 games (best of 5 division series, best of 7 conference series, best of 7 world series).  Whether he meant it as humor or as serious commentary, Garver helps make a fine statement: the MLB regular season is far too long.

NBA regular season: 82 games
NHL regular season: 82 games
NFL regular season: 16 games

I don’t see why the MLB regular season needs to be nearly twice as long as the NBA and NHL regular seasons, particularly when its longest possible postseason is nine games shorter than the longest possible NBA and NHL postseasons (four best of 7 series).

As far as the NFL … well, they got it right.  Even those with short attention spans can follow a 16-game schedule.