My Thoughts on How to Make Baseball Better

[jgold47]

ESPN had a feature online about how the MLB should make the world series more like the Super Bowl. It got me thinking about how I would make baseball better. Discuss

1. Make the season half as long. Make each game mean something. Its the one thing that the NFL does better than anyone. Every game counts for so much, everyone has to come out a play every night. Make the season 80 games long, and all the sudden those july midweek out of divison games start to matter

2. do away with the division championship. Do fans outside of the AL East really want to see their division rivals 40 times a year?

3. more inter league games, get fans excited about out of market teams. You never know when you might see them again in the series. Plus some real fun rivalries could develop. Tiger-Cubs (droool)

4. Start and end the season during the summer. World Series in November. Who are you kidding.

5. Cut the salaries - Baseball players on a per game basis are payed pretty close to everyone else, but on the whole they are not. Do what the NHL did, and do a wholesale reduction. Get these overpaid, over age, washed up players to retire, and give the roster spots to young exciting players.

 

[robin]

Jazz it up and switch to using blurnsball rules!

 

[BDC2823]

What is wrong with baseball the way it currently is? Steroids aside. Besides #5, which you'd have to talk to the owners about, I would veto everything else. But I am a baseball purist, and do not like seeing the tradition of the game messed with.

 

[breakz]

You know what's interesting? How the season always boils down to the final week for a lot of division races.

As a Marlins fan, let me say: ask the Mets how important the last weekend of the year is.

 

[Thomas]

1) 15-second pitch clock.

b) landmines in the outfield.

 

[jgold47]

Originally Posted by breakz

You know what's interesting? How the season always boils down to the final week for a lot of division races.

As a Marlins fan, let me say: ask the Mets how important the last weekend of the year is.

Thats because most teams dont start getting serious till the end of the season. When youre playing 162 games or whatever its up to having a couple of bad games in the middle of the season matters 0. Candidly, I would like to see them go to what the NHL/NBA does where the top X teams in each league go into a seeded playoffs. I hate that 3 of the top teams in the AL are in the east (for example) but only one goes. Take the top 6 teams by record. go to a points based system if necessary. Still play within in the divison for all I care, but expand the playoffs to take the best teams, not just who won a weak division.

 

[why]

Nobody's mentioned a salary cap yet?

 

[BDC2823]

Originally Posted by jgold47

Thats because most teams dont start getting serious till the end of the season. When youre playing 162 games or whatever its up to having a couple of bad games in the middle of the season matters 0. Candidly, I would like to see them go to what the NHL/NBA does where the top X teams in each league go into a seeded playoffs. I hate that 3 of the top teams in the AL are in the east (for example) but only one goes. Take the top 6 teams by record. go to a points based system if necessary. Still play within in the divison for all I care, but expand the playoffs to take the best teams, not just who won a weak division.

Do you actually watch baseball? Every year a few divisions go down to the final week, often times to the final day. One game playoff scenario where the winner takes the division and goes to the playoffs and the loser goes home. You don't think that loss in May where they blew a 5 run lead in the ninth means anything now?

 

[jgold47]

Originally Posted by BDC2823

Do you actually watch baseball? Every year a few divisions go down to the final week, often times to the final day. One game playoff scenario where the winner takes the division and goes to the playoffs and the loser goes home. You don't think that loss in May where they blew a 5 run lead in the ninth means anything now?

No, I dont see that. I dont see it because you dont see the teams playing that hard that time of the season. I get what your saying, and these last couple of years kind of make my arguement hard, but ITS MY OPINION that its more a luck issue that great teams playing hard all season long. It seems like whenever there is a close contest (and there is a lot), you start to hear grumblings about teams getting out of each others way. It was a todo here last year when the white sox were still in it, Leyland actually came out and said something about backing off.

 

[BDC2823]

Originally Posted by jgold47

No, I dont see that. I dont see it because you dont see the teams playing that hard that time of the season. I get what your saying, and these last couple of years kind of make my arguement hard, but ITS MY OPINION that its more a luck issue that great teams playing hard all season long. It seems like whenever there is a close contest (and there is a lot), you start to hear grumblings about teams getting out of each others way. It was a todo here last year when the white sox were still in it, Leyland actually came out and said something about backing off.

I don't know about teams backing off if they are out of contention. If by backing off you mean trading away their better players at the deadline when it looks like their season is done, thats to dump payroll and rebuild for the future. If you mean backing off as in its the end of the year and we aren't going anywhere so why try, then i know i wouldn't want that manager or those players on my team as that's a case of pride and to back off would be showing a complete lack of it.

Also, it is a long season. I agree with that. In lies the beauty that you have to pace yourself and your team for the long haul. You can't run your ace out there on his start and keep him in all 9, unless his name is Roy Halladay, and expect him to be healthy and productive all year. Sure a 3 man rotation of your best 3 starters would win you alot of games early, but it wouldn't last long. Good managers know how to handle their players throughout the year to achieve the most out of them while keeping them fresh for the postseason. The great thing about baseball is that its a grind, so players have to play hard all year within their limits, while keeping a strong mentality throughout. And I do see teams playing hard in May, June, and July as well.

 

[jgold47]

baseball is pretty polarizing (just look at the DH rule), so I think you and I will have to agree to disagree. Regardless, everything you said, would have the same significance, but more so, if you had an 80-90 game season, and were just playing for one of 6 playoff spots. Knowing your going to finish 3rd in the AL east, but still have the 4th best record in the AL, you would play 4x as hard just to get that last playoff spot.

That said, there is a reason they call them managers and not coaches.

 

[MetroStyles]

Originally Posted by jgold47

ESPN had a feature online about how the MLB should make the world series more like the Super Bowl. It got me thinking about how I would make baseball better. Discuss.
Ok, let's discuss.

1. Make the season half as long. Make each game mean something. Its the one thing that the NFL does better than anyone. Every game counts for so much, everyone has to come out a play every night. Make the season 80 games long, and all the sudden those july midweek out of divison games start to matter

Never going to happen. There are three reasons. A) You expect teams to lose a lot of ticket revenue. Though they could double prices, this would not fly with most fans and revenue would be lost. Salaries would decrease (yay!) but in the real world, neither the owners nor the Players Union would ever allow for it. B) Baseball is a national pastime. A lot of the fun of baseball comes in just relaxing at home and watching the game. It becomes a passive activity more than a rabid fan experience a la NFL. This is somewhat inherent to the game given its slow pace. C) Most importantly, compared to sports like basketball and football, good baseball teams have low winning percentages. This means it takes many more games to statistically bring the cream of the crop to the top. Last year, the NBA's best team won 81% of its games. The best football team won 100% (Patriots). The best baseball team won 62%. It takes more games to crown a fair winner through basic statistical theory.

2. do away with the division championship. Do fans outside of the AL East really want to see their division rivals 40 times a year?

I would also like to see the top 4 teams make the playoffs. However, I enjoy the rivalry aspect of divisional play, and a little of bit of quirkiness in who makes the playoffs is interesting. This is a personal opinion. Theoretically, it may be slightly more fair (but not better) to allow the top 4 to make it and to reduce divisional play for a more equal strength of schedule (true in most sports, though).

3. more inter league games, get fans excited about out of market teams. You never know when you might see them again in the series. Plus some real fun rivalries could develop. Tiger-Cubs (droool)

I don't think this would have a large effect. It is personal preference. To play devil's advocate, it would dilute today's divisional and league rivalries.

4. Start and end the season during the summer. World Series in November. Who are you kidding.

Something about baseball in the winter makes it more epic. Besides, the season will not be shortened, and as is, baseball is played in the warmest weather possible given the length of the season. I do think they could condense the post-season a bit with fewer days off.

5. Cut the salaries - Baseball players on a per game basis are payed pretty close to everyone else, but on the whole they are not. Do what the NHL did, and do a wholesale reduction. Get these overpaid, over age, washed up players to retire, and give the roster spots to young exciting players.

"Cut the salaries".

I understand you don't actually expect this to happen and you are just dreaming, but come on. No one forces players to get paid a lot. People who buy tickets and merchandise fuel salaries. Owners who want to win fuel salaries. It is basic market economics. There is no injustice here. It's just a product of this particular capitalistic culture. How I would improve baseball: 1. I wouldn't. I like it as is. EDIT: I would support very stringent performance-enhancing drug testing, but that's all.

 

[Dakota rube]

I am with Metro on this one; I love baseball just the way it is.
Well, other than that whole Yankees thing, that is...

 

[acidboy]

People tried...

 

[robin]

Make steroid injections mandatory.