MLB 2011

[Paelos]

Baseball really needs to wake up and get rid of about 50 games of the regular season. Three reasons:

1 - There are way too many injuries late in the year that have way too much of an effect on the games
2 - You can dump interleague. It doesn't draw anymore and it unfairly punishes the teams from the NL that draw the AL East that season.
3 - You get out of the way of football. Nobody gives a shit about the baseball playoffs when football starts. The ratings back this.

[Nebu]

I think the MLB needs to do two completely different things:

1) Get rid of the DH.  It's not baseball if every player doesn't have to hit.

2) For the love of God, make pitchers pitch the fucking ball.  The amount of time that pitchers waste on the mound turns a 9 inning game into the length of a cricket match. 

[Paelos]

The MLB playoffs, even with the Yankees are only pulling ~3s in the ratings. Fox had a 1.8 rating on average for it's season of MLB. That's tied for the lowest ever.

Contrast that with the fact that a regular season NFL game pulls numbers in the high teens to low twenties in ratings. CBS SEC games pull numbers in the 4s and 5s.

It's embarrassing that the MLB playoffs are getting blown apart by regular season games. That's why they can't afford to go head-to-head with football. It's like how nobody will notice the NBA is on strike until February.

[stu]

Not to mention the awful baseball weather you get for the World Series in November. Having a long season also means starting while some parts of the country are still experiencing winter (Didn't Cleveland have a snow-out for it's opener?).

Bud Selig needs to retire. The guy has been baseball's largest obstacle since he took over the commish seat. Looks like he'll be back for at least one more season of meandering.

I wouldn't go as far as subtracting 50 games. But a 130 game regular season would be good. MLB is talking about expanding playoffs, so something's gotta give.

I agree that a lot of games take way too long. Part of that is the umpires not enforcing expediency. Getting through an entire Red Sox game is like witnessing birthing labor without the miracles. Greg Maddux used to pitch complete games in under two hours, shit.

[HaemishM]

Baseball wants to get better ratings? They need to start hampering the Yankees ability to buy championships. That means a real salary cap. Yes, the New York market is the biggest TV market. The rest of the goddamn country is sick and tired of seeing them in the playoffs every year.

[Paelos]

Baseball needs to fix the following issues to be relevent:

1 - Length - the biggest obstacle you hear from fans is that the games take too long and are too boring
2 - Too many games - by the time you get to the playoffs, 20 teams have been eliminated for two months prior.
3 - Instant replay - umps blow calls constantly on the bases. There should be a means to correct this like in every other sport.
4 - Salary cap - the Phillies, Red Sox, and Yankees are assured a playoff spot unless they totally fall apart due to the free agent money.
5 - Too many teams - certain franchises haven't been relevent in three decades. Others can't draw dick in their towns even when they are winning. Get rid of the teams in Florida. Put the Orioles out of their misery. Dump the last team left in Canada. Take it to 26 teams, 14 in the NL and 12 in the AL, and redo the divisions to make more georgraphic sense.
6 - Design the product around TV - Embrace changes to the game that make TV viewing better. Quicker paces, pitch clocks, make the batters stay in the box, replays, more camera angles, mic up the players, etc. Look to the NFL and do what they are doing to make it more exciting.

[Nebu]

Baseball needs to fix the following issues to be relevent:

1 - Length - the biggest obstacle you hear from fans is that the games take too long and are too boring
2 - Too many games - by the time you get to the playoffs, 20 teams have been eliminated for two months prior.
3 - Instant replay - umps blow calls constantly on the bases. There should be a means to correct this like in every other sport.
4 - Salary cap - the Phillies, Red Sox, and Yankees are assured a playoff spot unless they totally fall apart due to the free agent money.
5 - Too many teams - certain franchises haven't been relevent in three decades. Others can't draw dick in their towns even when they are winning. Get rid of the teams in Florida. Put the Orioles out of their misery. Dump the last team left in Canada. Take it to 26 teams, 14 in the NL and 12 in the AL, and redo the divisions to make more georgraphic sense.
6 - Design the product around TV - Embrace changes to the game that make TV viewing better. Quicker paces, pitch clocks, make the batters stay in the box, replays, more camera angles, mic up the players, etc. Look to the NFL and do what they are doing to make it more exciting.

[Trippy]

2 - Too many games - by the time you get to the playoffs, 20 teams have been eliminated for two months prior.

Not going to happen. No Commissioner will want to be the one that says "we're throwing away all our records and stats and starting over".

[Paelos]

While baseball is all about stats and records, most of them were shattered and even those shouldn't count.

Nothing we do today matters in comparison to 50 years ago. Pitchers don't go for complete games, the speed game has evoporated, and strikeouts are no longer maligned if you hit for power. We specialize everything, and try to hold to old traditions.

Something has to give. Baseball has to evolve a little. From 1900-1950s, it was the only real professional sport, so they could afford to have 154 games and small stadiums. Then the NBA and the NFL started to come into the fold.

Now, TV is poised to be a primary revenue generator. Fans won't continue to show up in droves when they can watch the games at home, especially if they play every damn day.

[caladein]

You're not asking for baseball to evolve a little, you're asking it to be completely turned on its head.  With the exception of replay, all your suggestions are based around switching it from a gate revenue sport to a TV revenue sport.

Which doesn't work when it's played nearly every day instead of being a once-a-week event with a terrible stadium experience.

[Paelos]

People also went to baseball games not 20 years ago, watched them play for 2.5 hours, and went home. Now, you're lucky to have a 3 hour game.

You obviously have to evolve over time. A nice step would be for baseball to put in replay, dump interleague, and put in the pitch clock.

[caladein]

I'm all for replay in every sport.  Interleague is cool if they can balance out the schedules (realignment or whatever).

The pitch clock is a bit more complicated.  The college version cut 15-30 minutes off the average 3+ hour game.  That's non-trivial but doesn't really seem like a big enough amount to scrap one of the core concepts of the game for.

[Ingmar]

You know why cutting more than a handful of games will never happen? There's way too much money in ticket sales.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance

Cutting almost a third of the season would be a huge hit to the bottom line of just about every team. You're telling the Giants, for example, to eat the revenue loss from a million tickets, on the possibility of a promise of maybe more TV money. There's not a snowball's chance of that ever happening.

[Sjofn]

2) For the love of God, make pitchers pitch the fucking ball.  The amount of time that pitchers waste on the mound turns a 9 inning game into the length of a cricket match. 

I suggested a shot clock for pitchers. Ingmar glared at me. 

[Ingmar]

Batters are equally to blame in any case. Watch Jeter take an at-bat some time.

[Paelos]

Batters are to blame too. It's become a given that they step out every damn pitch and adjust their gloves, pimp for the camera, etc.

No stepping out in my world. Once you're in the box, you only leave when the at-bat is resolved.

[WayAbvPar]

Batters are equally to blame in any case. Watch Jeter take an at-bat some time.

It takes him longer to adjust his batting gloves than to take his Valtrex!

[caladein]

The college pitch clock works both ways (I think).  The pitcher has to start his windup before the clock expires and the batter has to be ready at least five seconds before that.  After a warning it's an automatic ball (or strike if it's the batter who isn't ready).  And of course, no clock if the bases aren't empty.

[Fordel]

5 - Too many teams - certain franchises haven't been relevent in three decades. Others can't draw dick in their towns even when they are winning. Get rid of the teams in Florida. Put the Orioles out of their misery. Dump the last team left in Canada. Take it to 26 teams, 14 in the NL and 12 in the AL, and redo the divisions to make more georgraphic sense.

Why do you hate Canadian teams? You wanted to kill the Raptors too! 

[Slayerik]

Come on Tigers, finish dem Yankees at Coamerica!

[Paelos]

Great Colin Cowherd quote on AJ Burnettm "Yeah, go out there and give us eight, AJ. I'd have someone warming up during the national anthem."

[ghost]

5 - Too many teams - certain franchises haven't been relevent in three decades. Others can't draw dick in their towns even when they are winning. Get rid of the teams in Florida. Put the Orioles out of their misery. Dump the last team left in Canada. Take it to 26 teams, 14 in the NL and 12 in the AL, and redo the divisions to make more georgraphic sense.

Why do you hate Canadian teams? You wanted to kill the Raptors too! 

When can we invade?  They're uh tryin to steal our baseball.

[Malakili]

My problem is I just can't get excited about an individual game when its one of 150+  Heck I don't watch the regular season of the NHL (of which I am a big fan), or the NBA (which I'm less of a fan to be fair), simply because I can't be fucked to try and keep up with that many games.  Football works for me because I can pay attention one day a week.

[Paelos]

Don't worry, you won't have to watch the NBA regular season this year.







 

[ghost]

I would be more excited if the teams were more excited.  That was why I really liked the Memphis Grizzlies last year.  They had fire and spirit at every game.  Most of the teams are sluggish, at best, once they figure out they're in the playoffs.

[Sjofn]

I wasn't sure I'd make it through an entire season, but I did! Of course I find I don't give a shit about the playoffs now, though, beyond hoping the Phillies lose, because fuck those guys.

[Paelos]

I wasn't sure I'd make it through an entire season, but I did! Of course I find I don't give a shit about the playoffs now, though, beyond hoping the Phillies lose, because fuck those guys.

Yeah, I couldn't give a damn less until the World Series. Then I watch again.

[Ingmar]

Robin Ventura is the new White Sox manager. Maybe when they play the Rangers Nolan Ryan can kick his ass for old time's sake.

[Paelos]

Robin Ventura is the new White Sox manager. Maybe when they play the Rangers Nolan Ryan can kick his ass for old time's sake.

Awesome. 

[Paelos]

SUCK IT YANKEES!

HAHAHAHHAHAHAH 

[Slayerik]

Tigers..... FUCK YEAH!

Their pitching came through when the bats were cold. Bases loaded, one out? No problem. Bases loaded again? Handled. Then you have Valverde, the closing machine. Leyland managed the game well, as usual. Didn't have to use Verlander at all either.

[HaemishM]

I didn't watch the game but I heard that A-Rod choked it in the playoffs again. Is that true?

[Slayerik]

Ya, he was horrible this series.

[Rasix]

Defensive, half hearted swing to end the series. Proper end for May-Rod.

And... the Diamondbacks game is on at 2pm today.  Fantastic, I won't get to see it.  GO GO ADAM KENNEDY.

edit:

Awesome factoid for him:

He is the first player in history to end two straight postseasons with a strikeout.

[stu]

Nyjer Morgan post-game "interview" on TBS (condensed): Yeeaaah! Yeeeeeaaaah! Fuck Yeah! Fuck Yeah! (crowd roars) I gotta go. I'm out.