Let's Fix MLB ...

[Lidig8r 1874]

In terms of popularity and appeal, there is little dispute that major league baseball ranks a distant third to the NFL and NBA.  Now, not being much of a baseball fan, there are some obvious fixes that appeal to a casual fan like me which could draw many more casual fans to the game.

There are four obvious major dates during baseball season ... Opening Day, Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day.  First, as to Opening Day, make it uniform every year, that is, the first Sunday in April, the day before the NCAA college basketball championship game is played.  All games played in the US.  All games played that day starting on the east coast and rolling to the Left Coast.  The night before, teams can host a Welcome Back to Baseball Gala, fireworks at the parks, black tie event for the monied people, a larger gala for the great unwashed at the park.

Then, on those 4 major dates, you have a designated rival to play on every occasion with home venues alternating.  For example, Yankees and BoSox play at Fenway Opening Day, Yankee Stadium Memorial Day, etc.  Rangers-Astros, Cubs-Cardinals, etc.  Not only would this make Opening day and each holiday during the season more significant, it would elevate the rivalries that much more. As is, it is all over the board.  For example, on Opening day in 2014 the Rangers played .... the Phillies.  Really?  One of the biggest days of the season and you are playing a team with whom you have no history.  Really?

Oh, and home team in the World Series depends on the All Star game?  Really?  Dumb.  How about this ... if the two teams played head to head during the season, the team with the winning record is the home team.  If they did not play, the team with the better record in inter-league play is the home team. If that is the same, the team with the better record is the home team.

So many smaller things that could be done but these are the major things that may attract the very casual fan like me.  Thoughts?

[Seasick Sailor 3747]

Baseball isn't broken.

[TheFlagship 436]

The ASG no longer determines home field advantage

[Beau Vine 54443]

4 minutes ago, Lidig8r said:

In terms of popularity and appeal, there is little dispute that major league baseball ranks a distant third to the NFL and NBA. 

I quit reading right here, because you're apparently a moron.

2016 Annual revenues:

MLB: $9.5B

NBA: $4.8B

 

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-nfl-made-13-billion-last-season-see-how-it-stacks-up-against-other-leagues-2016-07-01

 

Edited March 29, 2018 by Beau Vine

[henrygandorf 29195]

they lengthened the season this year to provide more rest/weather days, so today is a pretty standard opening day for everyone - when in years past it had been staggered.  so i like that.  but it'll never start on a sunday - i think thursday or friday makes more sense anyway.  and not everyone has a rival or team with history to play, so that's just an impossible ask.  the other sports don't do that either - it's more of a collegiate thing.  

and ever since they made houston go to the al, there will always be a "rangers playing the phillies" on opening day scenario.  interleague isn't unique anymore, it happens everyday.  i don't love it, but with 15/15 there's no avoiding it.

best record establishes world series home field, so that's not an issue.

personally, i'm fine with my favorite sport not catering to the uber casual fan.  baseball makes you work for it.  if you're too lazy for that, there are 5-6 months of pointless playoff basketball coming soon.

[Shoxthemonkey 1983]

I don't think there is anything to fix. If the natural rhythm and beauty of the game didn't grab you as a kid or young adult then nothing ever will.

[Lidig8r 1874]

Yes, I am a moron.  That is relatively irrelevant.

Of course, when you play 162 games instead of 81, there is much more a chance of added revenue. And Beau, I noticed you omitted the numbers from the NFL. 

So, the posts so far represent the myopic of the hardcore baseball fans believing that nothing is wrong, (key in Kevin Bacon in Animal House saying, "All is well.") while baseball erodes at the edges faster than panties on a porn star.  Oh.. here are some articles that agree with my uninformed belief that baseball is facing the iceberg:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-hanby-hudgens/the-decline-of-baseball-a_b_9630782.html

https://howtheyplay.com/team-sports/Baseball-A-Changing-Landscape

http://time.com/money/3772690/baseball-losing-fan-interest/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/baseballs-trouble-with-the-youth-curve--and-what-that-means-for-the-game/2015/04/05/2da36dca-d7e8-11e4-8103-fa84725dbf9d_story.html?utm_term=.644ade43e7f0

Now, some of the sources may be of dubious origin, but the casual fan is becoming more and more "casual," and forward thinking leadership is needed.

In the meantime, I will go fuck myself, pay myself tree fiddy, and I will hang up and listen.

[Gut Wagon 8087]

A lot of people think the Cubs winning in 2016 "fixed" it. I happen to think it occurred a year later, with the Astros winning the title. 

 

Seriously, speeding up the pitch cadence and not letting every batter take five minutes between pitches, a la Mike Hargrove, has helped quite a bit. So too has the (allegedly) smoother ball almost no one can throw with a big break to it. Flatter pitches getting grooved and then scattered 400-plus feet from home plate has made for some pretty watchable games.   

Edited March 29, 2018 by Gut Wagon

[henrygandorf 29195]

yes, i too get most of my sports news from a mommy blogger on the huffington post.

there are certainly problems with baseball (and every sport) but i don't think you've really hit on any of them.  to me, the real issue is that the gap between the haves/super-teams and the have-not/rebuilding teams is crazy right now.  and the cubs and astros established how the process can work, which is going to torture certain fanbases for 3-5 years.  it's also shown that it's better to go all-in (lose 90-100) for a couple years and rebuild, vs winning 75-80 games every year.

attendance/popularity aside, the league in real trouble is the nfl.  most people can see that.

[Hoosier Longhorn 6]

Lower the damn ticket prices!

[Lidig8r 1874]

Mommy blogger on Huff Post? Nah, I found that after the fact and in fact, I mentioned "dubious origins."

Of course in baseball, a team can very well be out of contention by mid June and yet, they have all of June, July, August and September (almost the length of the NFL season) to just wander aimlessly. (Yes, yes, I know it is a chance to bring up developing players and see what life is left in aging veterans) but for the casual fan, the cost, time and expense of going out to see a losing team repeatedly lose is a beating. Baseball is supposed to be, in part, an escape from the misery of everyday life.

Oh and I agree about the NFL.  The CTE issue is not going away and the league's inability to find a resolution to the "kneelers at the flag" alienated a lot of fans.  The Visigoths are not at the gates yet but... there is discontent in the wind.

[scottonian 36]

you should delete your fucking account. baseball is just fine the way it is.

[Saint Tacky 1622]

Get rid of interleague play.  Most of the games are meaningless.  For every interleauge game against the Cubs, Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox, there' are twice as many yawners.  Those are games that should be played against teams in their respective leagues.  I miss the days when the American and National Leagues were distinct rivals and not this homogeneous collection of teams.

[Gut Wagon 8087]

To spice it up a bit for the casual fan, I guess we could add "artistic merit" to the scoring. Creative bat flips, cup adjustments and pirouetting gayly while turning the double play could push your team up a few percentage points in a year-end tiebreaker. Maybe go with capes on the outfielders.   

[scottonian 36]

Home run derby tie breakers if tied after the 3rd inning.

[Lidig8r 1874]

5 minutes ago, Gut Wagon said:

To spice it up a bit for the casual fan, I guess we could add "artistic merit" to the scoring. Creative bat flips, cup adjustments and pirouetting gayly while turning the double play could push your team up a few percentage points in a year-end tiebreaker. Maybe go with capes on the outfielders.   

How wonderfully colorful and yet, parochial at the same time.  The adults are having a discussion here.  Now, just sit quietly at the kiddie table.  If you cannot, then there is this website called, "shaggytexas."  Some aggy named Kevin Morgan took it over.  Persons of your ilk are much more likely to do well there.  Mkkay?

[Gut Wagon 8087]

9 minutes ago, Lidig8r said:

How wonderfully colorful and yet, parochial at the same time.  The adults are having a discussion here.  Now, just sit quietly at the kiddie table.  If you cannot, then there is this website called, "shaggytexas."  Some aggy named Kevin Morgan took it over.  Persons of your ilk are much more likely to do well there.  Mkkay?

Thanks, dad. I'd already offered a somewhat more contemplative response to your query. To summarize it, I don't think MLB believes it has a problem, given the excitement of the past two postseasons and overall revenue. That said, I'm sure every team would like to find even more customers for its tickets and merchandise.        

[formermav43 4606]

1 hour ago, Lidig8r said:

Yes, I am a moron.  That is relatively irrelevant.

Of course, when you play 162 games instead of 81, there is much more a chance of added revenue. And Beau, I noticed you omitted the numbers from the NFL. 

So, the posts so far represent the myopic of the hardcore baseball fans believing that nothing is wrong, (key in Kevin Bacon in Animal House saying, "All is well.") while baseball erodes at the edges faster than panties on a porn star.  Oh.. here are some articles that agree with my uninformed belief that baseball is facing the iceberg:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-hanby-hudgens/the-decline-of-baseball-a_b_9630782.html

https://howtheyplay.com/team-sports/Baseball-A-Changing-Landscape

http://time.com/money/3772690/baseball-losing-fan-interest/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/baseballs-trouble-with-the-youth-curve--and-what-that-means-for-the-game/2015/04/05/2da36dca-d7e8-11e4-8103-fa84725dbf9d_story.html?utm_term=.644ade43e7f0

Now, some of the sources may be of dubious origin, but the casual fan is becoming more and more "casual," and forward thinking leadership is needed.

In the meantime, I will go fuck myself, pay myself tree fiddy, and I will hang up and listen.

The issue was your suggested improvements in the op range from impossible to irrelevant.

You think the ASG still determines home field advantage and don’t realize that interleague play is, of a necessity, happening at all times, including opening day-which, by the way, is the same for every team this year.

If you’re such a casual fan that you have no idea what you’re even talking about, should your opinion matter that much?

[Valmy77 13273]

Changing something to appeal to people who are not fans and taking for granted the support of the people who are is a dangerous game. It is likely to simply alienate your current fanbase and attract zero attention from people who are not. I see many industries kill themselves that way.

Baseball at every level is less popular than it once was, there is little MLB can do about that short of some sort of general pro-baseball charm offensive. This is not about some scheduling or lack of gimmicks deal.

 

Edited March 29, 2018 by Valmy77

[Valmy77 13273]

2 hours ago, Saint Tacky said:

Get rid of interleague play.  Most of the games are meaningless.  For every interleauge game against the Cubs, Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox, there' are twice as many yawners.  Those are games that should be played against teams in their respective leagues.  I miss the days when the American and National Leagues were distinct rivals and not this homogeneous collection of teams.

Which, of course, was added to 'spice things up'. And basically annoyed the hard core while doing little to attract non-baseball fans.

[Mikegundy'sMullet 64]

2 hours ago, Hoosier Longhorn said:

Lower the damn ticket prices!

This requires the owners to stop spending so much stupid money on aging, broken down stars and speculative bullshit, but yes--agreed. 

 

[BERT 4381]

I'll admit, the Rangers could do more than one $1 hotdog night a week. My inner lardo loves that shit. 

[txhorns 2413]

4 minutes ago, Mikegundy'sMullet said:

This requires the owners to stop spending so much stupid money on aging, broken down stars and speculative bullshit, but yes--agreed. 

 

They have stopped, it was a big deal this offseason

[henrygandorf 29195]

13 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

Which, of course, was added to 'spice things up'. And basically annoyed the hard core while doing little to attract non-baseball fans.

it was fun for a minute.  until it wasn't.  now it's just regular.

[Mikegundy'sMullet 64]

34 minutes ago, txhorns said:

They have stopped, it was a big deal this offseason

I understand. However, one season is not a trend. It's a start. 

[Trey3216 15365]

3 hours ago, Saint Tacky said:

Get rid of interleague play.  Most of the games are meaningless.  For every interleauge game against the Cubs, Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox, there' are twice as many yawners.  Those are games that should be played against teams in their respective leagues.  I miss the days when the American and National Leagues were distinct rivals and not this homogeneous collection of teams.

Negged for dumbassery.  You can't not have interleague play with 15 teams in each league   

[Lidig8r 1874]

2 hours ago, formermav43 said:

The issue was your suggested improvements in the op range from impossible to irrelevant.

You think the ASG still determines home field advantage and don’t realize that interleague play is, of a necessity, happening at all times, including opening day-which, by the way, is the same for every team this year.

If you’re such a casual fan that you have no idea what you’re even talking about, should your opinion matter that much?

No. 

[Saint Tacky 1622]

28 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

Negged for dumbassery.  You can't not have interleague play with 15 teams in each league   

Negged for not rubbing both of your brain cells together and coming up with the notion of realigning the leagues to their numbers before interleague play began, genius.

[Vic Mackey 47157]

I quit reading right here, because you're apparently a moron.

2016 Annual revenues:

MLB: $9.5B

NBA: $4.8B

 

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-nfl-made-13-billion-last-season-see-how-it-stacks-up-against-other-leagues-2016-07-01

 

You're a dumb fuck as usual. Annual revenues? Lnao. 162 games vs 82. Nba shits on MLB in popularity

 

[Trey3216 15365]

4 minutes ago, Saint Tacky said:

Negged for not rubbing both of your brain cells together and coming up with the notion of realigning the leagues to their numbers before interleague play began, genius.

Shall you get negged again since there were proper alignments at the advent of inter league play?  

Edited March 29, 2018 by Trey3216

[Saint Tacky 1622]

2 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

Shall you get negged again since there were proper alignments prior to the advent of inter league play?  

You mean where the NL had more teams than the AL?  That "proper."  Just move the Astros back to the NL.  Done.  Now go get your shine box.

[Beau Vine 54443]

4 hours ago, Lidig8r said:

Yes, I am a moron.  That is relatively irrelevant.

Of course, when you play 162 games instead of 81, there is much more a chance of added revenue. And Beau, I noticed you omitted the numbers from the NFL. 

So, the posts so far represent the myopic of the hardcore baseball fans believing that nothing is wrong, (key in Kevin Bacon in Animal House saying, "All is well.") while baseball erodes at the edges faster than panties on a porn star.  Oh.. here are some articles that agree with my uninformed belief that baseball is facing the iceberg:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-hanby-hudgens/the-decline-of-baseball-a_b_9630782.html

https://howtheyplay.com/team-sports/Baseball-A-Changing-Landscape

http://time.com/money/3772690/baseball-losing-fan-interest/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/baseballs-trouble-with-the-youth-curve--and-what-that-means-for-the-game/2015/04/05/2da36dca-d7e8-11e4-8103-fa84725dbf9d_story.html?utm_term=.644ade43e7f0

Now, some of the sources may be of dubious origin, but the casual fan is becoming more and more "casual," and forward thinking leadership is needed.

In the meantime, I will go fuck myself, pay myself tree fiddy, and I will hang up and listen.

Yeah, all those opinions are great, but then you have this:

 

What a dying fucking industry.

Edited March 29, 2018 by Beau Vine

[Beau Vine 54443]

1 hour ago, Valmy77 said:

Changing something to appeal to people who are not fans and taking for granted the support of the people who are is a dangerous game.

 

Bingo.  ESPN is a case study for this.

[Lidig8r 1874]

15 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Yeah, all those opinions are great, but then you have this:

 

What a dying fucking industry.

Sweet blue Baylor Bear on a cross.  I never said it was a 'Dying industry," nor a "dying fucking industry."  Nor did I address the revenue stream.  I was addressing appeal and popularity.  And what.. attendance has dropped 6 straight years?  In fact, in 2017, attendance dropped to a level not seen since 2002.  Baseball, going down to the little leagues is seeing a drop in participation in some places, a significant drop.  And if you want to talk revenue, how much of the increase is due to smart business decisions, particularly by Bob Bowman, its media rights, both television and digital and cross-pollination of shared media rights.

Now the hardcore baseball wonks, like you and most in this thread, are going to keep saying, "things are fine, things are fine, you're a idoit."  But, MLBPA filed grievance against 4 teams last year for alleged lack of revenue sharing and there has been labor peace for a number of years... how long will that last?

So, once again as a mere casual fan with an uninformed opinion, I was merely pointing out some options.  And strange... the Baseball Commish who was on during the Rangers - Astros game just said that he wanted to make opening day more of a "Holiday" with all teams participating. A point I was ipso facto making. hmmmm.

There are numbers and then there are numbers... and numbers can be skewed and manipulated to pretty much support any argument.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21928]

If it went belly up that would fix it fine for me

[DanRydell 799]

MLB is just a totally different model from the NFL and the NBA. The goal of the NFL is to get every fan to watch every TV slot. The goal of the NBA is to get fans to watch their teams on local TV and to also tune into 3-4 national games each week.

Neither of those really work for the MLB. For one, there are 2430 regular season games (as compared to 256 NFL games) so nobody is watching every MLB broadcast. There's really no such as an big MLB game prior to September. MLB also doesn't have stars in the same sense than the NBA does that get people to tune in to those national broadcasts. Mike Trout may be as good at baseball as Lebron is at basketball but if I watch a random Cavs game, I'm going to see Lebron touch the ball 80-100 times. If I watch a random Angels game, I'm going to see Mike Trout take 4-5 at bats and make a couple of plays in the field. 

The MLB model is not to develop a national fanbase but to develop 30 fanbases that watch their team's 162 games and anything else is a bonus.

[Guest]

The batters doing their 12 adjustments in between every pitch is an absolute beating..

Guys need to be more like Gattis.  Grip it and rip it.

I wish every pitcher was like MCCullers.  

[Bone3421 716]

Baseball is fine in general but as stated before main problem is teams spending or not and ticket prices dont need to be so high for 162 games

Lets take the rangers and houston as examples. Im i the only one aware that they are the largest markets in america with a single team...sorry boston...but they spend like they are middle/low market

New york,la,chicago,sf/oak all share teams and the rangers/astros wamt to play like they have no $$$ 

Rangers should have been all over this lower fa market but they want you to show up and pay for an inferior product.

 

[Helobious 9466]

Hot take: Baseball's future is neither as rosy as it's supporters believe, nor as bleak as people like the OP believe. The revenues will eventually decline, the popularity will continue to decline as well, but not drastically or suddenly. If civilization is still functioning alright 100 years from now, baseball will still be a sport with a large following, played by many. 

Edited March 29, 2018 by Helobious

[DanRydell 799]

Baseball is fine in general but as stated before main problem is teams spending or not and ticket prices dont need to be so high for 162 games
Lets take the rangers and houston as examples. Im i the only one aware that they are the largest markets in america with a single team...sorry boston...but they spend like they are middle/low market
New york,la,chicago,sf/oak all share teams and the rangers/astros wamt to play like they have no $$$ 
Rangers should have been all over this lower fa market but they want you to show up and pay for an inferior product.
 

The Rangers and Astros are usually in the 10-15 range in revenues and are closer to the last place franchise than they are to the top 5 (Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Giants, Cubs).

[Bone3421 716]

1 minute ago, DanRydell said:

 

The Rangers and Astros are usually in the 10-15 range in revenues and are closer to the last place franchise than they are to the top 5 (Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Giants, Cubs).

 

Hmmm thats an interesting take that has nothing to do with what i said.

I know for a fact the rangers had over 3 million fans go to games when they were all in...the astros are in the 4th largest city in the us yet the owners act like they are small market. If and when some orginizations figure out that they can compete on the larger end of the scale instead of just cashing checks then all of mlb can reap rewards instead of 4 teams trying

[WBT 20670]

8 hours ago, Lidig8r said:

In terms of popularity and appeal, there is little dispute that major league baseball ranks a distant third to the NFL and NBA.

Wrong.  MLB has over twice the revenue and over thrice the attendance of the nba

 

4 hours ago, Trey3216 said:

Negged for dumbassery.  You can't not have interleague play with 15 teams in each league   

So move houston back where they belong.  f bud

[WBT 20670]

5 minutes ago, Bone3421 said:

Hmmm thats an interesting take that has nothing to do with what i said.

I know for a fact the rangers had over 3 million fans go to games when they were all in...the astros are in the 4th largest city in the us yet the owners act like they are small market. If and when some orginizations figure out that they can compete on the larger end of the scale instead of just cashing checks then all of mlb can reap rewards instead of 4 teams trying

If only Crane spent like Drayton did

[Bone3421 716]

And i am not saying spend just because but certain teams just dont because they dont want to...yankees somehow manage to get young talent and buy key free agents but no one else can? 

Do they just buy every 16 year old also?

[formermav43 4606]

32 minutes ago, Bone3421 said:

Hmmm thats an interesting take that has nothing to do with what i said.

I know for a fact the rangers had over 3 million fans go to games when they were all in...the astros are in the 4th largest city in the us yet the owners act like they are small market. If and when some orginizations figure out that they can compete on the larger end of the scale instead of just cashing checks then all of mlb can reap rewards instead of 4 teams trying

Have you not followed baseball since 2012?

The Astros have the 10th highest payroll this year. It’s only 6 million dollars less than the Yankees. And given that they won the World Series last year, I *think* they’re trying.

Edited March 30, 2018 by formermav43

[Bone3421 716]

52 minutes ago, formermav43 said:

Have you not followed baseball since 2012?

The Astros have the 10th highest payroll this year. It’s only 6 million dollars less than the Yankees. And given that they won the World Series last year, I *think* they’re trying.

I do...does anyone comprehend what they read. 

The rangers and astros have run their business like small markets...i was referring to the fact that some teams dont try and that is the main problem with baseball. Thats why i used the two local teams as examples. This is the fix mlb thread correct.

 

[Bone3421 716]

Rangers came off of 2 straight ws appearances and didnt want to put any money in to keep team and astros in the 4th biggest city in U.S went with total suckage and rebuild. They won and good for them but my point is the two largest single team markets in mlb playing like they have no money is bad for mlb as a whole

[Bone3421 716]

And like you said they are still behind yankees while they have cheap young talent...everyone can hate the yankees all they want but its not them just buying players....they bring up a lot of greats thru the system

When they traded soriano to rangers they got arod and cano

Rangers didnt want to get into a reduced fa market because they want to until 2020. I argue that is bad for a top 5 market and mlb in general

[DanRydell 799]

Rangers came off of 2 straight ws appearances and didnt want to put any money in to keep team and astros in the 4th biggest city in U.S went with total suckage and rebuild. They won and good for them but my point is the two largest single team markets in mlb playing like they have no money is bad for mlb as a whole

Tearing down to rebuild isn’t just a small market strategy. One of the most valuable franchises in sports did it too.

[DanRydell 799]

Double post