The World Series may be over, but a lot of people are still talking about baseball. If owners have their way, two Major League Baseball teams will not exist next season. Baseball owners voted 28-2, with the Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos opposing, to move forward with contraction.

The two clubs have not yet been identified, but the Twins, Expos, Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Devil Rays are teams floating around as possibilities.

Commissioner Bud Selig cited financial reasons. “It makes no sense for Major League Baseball to be in markets that generate insufficient local revenues to justify the investment in the franchise,” he said.

Selig said the teams that would be contracted have a long record of failing to generate revenues sufficient to operate a baseball team.

One question that comes to mind after hearing about the owners’ plan is: What took so long?

Sure, baseball is America’s pastime, and fans in whatever city gets the ax lose the chance to go and watch a game. But maybe if they would have supported the team in the first place we wouldn’t be in this situation.

Just take a look at the teams who may face contraction. Montreal averaged 7,648 per game in 2001. Florida – 15,765; Tampa Bay – 16,029; Minnesota – 22,287. And Minnesota can thank a good first half of the season for that. In 2000, the Twins pulled in only 13,079 per game. Obviously the teams aren’t too important to the cities.

There are far too many teams in Major League Baseball today as it is. Expansion has diminished the pool of respectable players, especially pitchers.

For evidence of this, count how many players hit 60 home runs before 1998 – two, Babe Ruth and Roger Maris.

Now count the number of players to hit 60 since then – six; Sammy Sosa three times, Mark McGwire twice and Barry Bonds once. And two (Bonds and McGwire) have hit 70 in that time.

Now while some might argue that means the quality of players is getting better, it is in fact the opposite. More teams mean less competent pitchers, which mean mediocre and decent batters turn into home-run machines. If you want evidence, Luis Gonzalez hit 57 home runs last year. His previous high was 31.

Eliminating a couple of teams, which in turn eliminates roster spots will make it harder for players to break through to the big leagues. Thus, that competition ensures that those that do make it will be that much better.

Baseball has its problems. Since the strike, the league has been struggling to regain its fan base lost when the players held out. The owners recognized this and have begun working toward improving the quality of the game.

And contraction is a good start.

editorialboard: Andrea Hauser, Tim Paluch, Michelle Kann, Zach Calef, Omar Tesdell