Would Split Seasons Solve MLB's Lockout Problem?

**Craig Carton** (0:00)
You know that song?

**Chris McMonigle** (0:01)
What is wrong with you?

**Craig Carton** (0:02)
I don't do disco.

**Chris McMonigle** (0:03)
Sorry.

**Craig Carton** (0:04)
No, it's not disco. He just said it was their big disco here.

**Chris McMonigle** (0:06)
I don't view it as a... I guess you could dance to it. I guess that by default...

**Craig Carton** (0:09)
That's not a disco. Not my thing.

**Chris McMonigle** (0:10)
I don't really know... I mean, I know... But Stomp was in the 80s. Maybe very early 80s.

**Craig Carton** (0:15)
I'm out of my wheelhouse. I was born in the early 80s.

**Chris McMonigle** (0:17)
I thought disco died in 79, no?

**Craig Carton** (0:20)
All I know is...

**Chris McMonigle** (0:21)
Didn't Bruce Springsteen kill disco?

**Craig Carton** (0:24)
Is he the one giving credit for it?

**Chris McMonigle** (0:25)
He is. That's my understanding. Yeah, my understanding is that Bruce Springsteen gets credit with killing off disco. Because disco obviously wasn't for everybody, but he's right. Brothers Johnson, they wrote Stomp. I did not know that. I thought Strawberry Loaf 23 was their biggest hit.
I still might be right, but I don't know. I don't know what to say.

**Craig Carton** (0:44)
I wasn't in the clubs in the early 80s.

**Chris McMonigle** (0:46)
To be fair, it was written by Valerie Johnson, Rod Temperton, who you know, of course, Louis Johnson and George Johnson.

**Craig Carton** (0:54)
Thus, the Brothers Johnson. The Brothers Johnson.

**Chris McMonigle** (0:57)
There you go.

**Craig Carton** (0:57)
Templeton, who was that?

**Chris McMonigle** (0:59)
Ah, that was Rod Temperton.

**Craig Carton** (1:01)
Rod Temperton. Yeah, you know Rod Temperton. I don't.
The great Rod Temperton?

**Chris McMonigle** (1:05)
It seems like your music knowledge is the Beatles.

**Craig Carton** (1:08)
No, classic rock.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:12)
What were they, the Beatles?

**Craig Carton** (1:13)
No, classic rock. Oh, classic. A lot of classic rock.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:15)
It feels like you're more about the Beatles, right?

**Craig Carton** (1:17)
No, classic rock.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:18)
Beatles, more Beatles guy.

**Craig Carton** (1:21)
Classic rock guy.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:22)
Yeah. You know who the drummer for Led Zeppelin was?

**Craig Carton** (1:24)
No. Of course I know who the drummer for Led Zeppelin was.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:27)
I mean, I'm not going to put you on the spot like you do with me at sports all the time.

**Craig Carton** (1:30)
Yeah, okay. All the time.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:31)
Yeah. Now and then, now and then. What did the Yankees do in 81?

**Craig Carton** (1:35)
Yeah.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:35)
And then what did the Yankees do in 95?

**Craig Carton** (1:37)
81

**Chris McMonigle** (1:38)
Yeah. You think I forgot.

**Craig Carton** (1:39)
Dodgers, Yankees, 81 World Series. I know what happened in 81 What else happened in 81? I know exactly what happened. What do you think about the 1981 season?

**Chris McMonigle** (1:46)
Obviously, the split season.

**Craig Carton** (1:49)
That's right.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:49)
690 Reds won both halves and weren't in the playoffs.

**Craig Carton** (1:52)
And still weren't in the playoffs.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:53)
That's right.

**Craig Carton** (1:54)
I saw John Smoltz put out that he thinks that would be the solution to all the problems in baseball today.

**Chris McMonigle** (1:59)
Two seasons in one?

**Craig Carton** (2:01)
You would stop tanking. You would give teams a legitimate chance, low market teams that could have a good half season, who aren't good enough to do it over once.

**Chris McMonigle** (2:08)
And how do you decide who makes it to the postseason?

**Craig Carton** (2:10)
Are you locked in if you win each half? I think that's...

**Chris McMonigle** (2:14)
Because the Reds didn't win either half, I think, but they had the best record.

**Craig Carton** (2:18)
Right. They had the best overall record, but didn't win either half, so never made it into the postseason. So I think you could guarantee a postseason just by having a good first half.

**Chris McMonigle** (2:27)
Which would be the benefit of doing that.

**Craig Carton** (2:29)
Right. But I don't know how a trade deadline would work, because his point was teams would never give up.

**Chris McMonigle** (2:34)
Because it's only 81 games.

**Craig Carton** (2:35)
You had a bad first half, hey, maybe we'll play good in the second half. You would never give up. There would be ways to...

**Chris McMonigle** (2:41)
Baseball purists would lose their heads over that. But sports gotta evolve. And if we acknowledge that there are issues with the sport, not everybody does acknowledge that. And you're trying to be creative to increase interest, not just keep the level.