Here it is, lovely people. As of this posting, we are about 24 hours away from Opening Day for the 2019 MLB season. Blockbuster signings have happened in the offseason, knees have literally exploded, and foolish attempts to shorten the length of the game have run rampant once again.
Regardless of whether you're looking forward to the season or not, you're willing to wonder how long it takes before people begin to lose interest and start thinking about other sports again. After all, the NFL draft is coming up in a few weeks, and we're on the heels of the playoffs for both the NBA and NHL. It isn't that the game has become boring, per se, but in my older age, I will admit that the season has become quite long. As I mentioned in my previous post, there's always a guarantee that I'll have something to watch on TV when I'm not working, and I'm perfectly down with that.
But after a while, you tend to ask yourself, "Why?"
Even in the early days of baseball, up until the increase of teams in the 1960's, there were still upwards of 150 games played, as each team played their divisional opponents 22 times per season. [1] It sounds crazy, but the game was also much different back then. In those days, it was rather common to see pitchers tossing the entire game, and the quality of the equipment definitely made a difference, especially in the offensive department. Today, it's all about stats, performance, and the pace of the game.
One thing we've forgotten though, is that while those final points above are important, the human body, while it can do incredible things, is still a vessel that needs care, as the quality of it can decline as time progresses. Not every player on the 25-man roster can play all 162 games in a season. In fact, it's very rare. There are cases in which a player is placed on the disabled list from anywhere between 7 days (usually for concussions) or up to 60 for muscle strains or broken bones. You could be conditioned and be in the best physical shape possible, but freak accidents can still happen, and longevity can be placed at risk in a game like this. Plus, a mini-paternity leave has also been implemented in the league within the past few years, which honestly, that's pretty cool, and I'm a huge fan of that.
From a mentality standpoint not only from the players, but from the fans, eight months of being on the road and having to keep focus in a strategy-centric sport can be rather taxing. Is it really that important to play so much? Sure, there are players that go south of the US and play in the winter leagues to keep in form, but those games usually aren't as demanding and as crucial to the business in which they ultimately pledge allegiance to. While it may be a lifestyle, it has gotten to the point where we're losing interest because there's too much stimulation.
Hear me out.
You stand in front of a free cookie vending machine, and when you press the big blue button, a cookie comes popping out. Woohoo! Free cookie! Whenever you want more, you keep pressing the button. More cookies! Then, from pressing it so hard and so often, the button breaks, and cookies just keep coming out. You're going to get awfully tired of seeing all of the cookies flying out, and there is no way on this green earth that you're going to eat all of them without making yourself sick or near death.
This is Major League Baseball.
The button is broken.
There's too much of the game for consumption, and most fans are just tired of it.
Instead of shortening the length of the game itself, the marketing of the game and its players needs to change for sure. You can read my previous post about that below [but finish reading this one first]. Most of all, it should start being considered by Mr. Manfred and company that we just might not need as many games in the season anymore. We can find other ways to shorten the game. They're not going to be the easiest to pull off, but it might end up being more profitable in the end.
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Here are a couple of suggestions to how this whole "shortening" business can be implemented in a much simpler way:
1) Eliminating multiple series with non-divisional opponents.
You'll notice that in the NFL, you don't play every single team in the league. Not only that, if they're not in your division, you won't play a given team more than once. For example, if you're the New Orleans Saints and you're playing the LA Rams--wait, I think I just rehashed some semi-healed wounds there, Who Dat Nation, my bad--you're either going to play them at the Superdome in the Bayou, or you're going out west to the LA Coliseum. You don't need anything more than that. If you're the St. Louis Cardinals, there's no reason you need to play the Miami Marlins both at home and in Florida. If you take away a lot of those extra series, and decide whether a non-divisional team plays home or away in a particular series, that easily shaves off about 50 games right off the bat (no pun intended).
2) Doing away with two-game and four-game series.
The two-game series are a fairly new thing in Major League Baseball, but four-game series have been a thing in the majors for a long while. If the first reason is enforced, there is less of a chance to split hairs in series records, and there is less travel involved when there is a two-game series.
This can probably be done without having to shorten the season at all. Rescheduling is all that really needs to be done here.
3) Reduce Spring Training.
I'm willing to bet that there are a number of people that are in agreement over this. Considering how long Spring Training is, it's a lot more endurance required by players at the Major League level to stay at top form. Sure, this will reduce the chance of minor league players making the 40-man roster, or it will add a little more strain to the decision-making process of the coaching staff, but how many games do you really need to know that you have the team that you need to play healthy and consistently for the next six months?
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With all of those points noted, there is a serious backup that could definitely prevent this idea of a shorter season ever happening, and when it hit me after filling out all of those points above, my jaw did this kind of existential drop where everything went into slow motion and I saw these nuclear explosions all around me. This song was also playing, too.
PER MY LAST POST:
Remember how massive those player contracts were?
It doesn't stop there.
Say, for instance, that the season was reduced to 110 games, give or take a few. This would ultimately lead to higher ticket prices and higher prices in concessions since the ballparks have to make more business than usual (Note: I have a personal experience with the current insanity, as it was crazy enough that I drank a 16oz Miller Light can that cost $9 at Citizens' Bank Park last August, and a chicken sandwich by itself was $7.) Instead of "going to the ballpark on a whim" being a choice, it'll become more of a hard decision. If you're also eating on top of buying a ticket to the game--remember, you can't bring things in anymore--you're going to be shelling out more cash. This would be exponentially worse if the amount of home games are shortened for your team.
Granted, if you already incorporate the idea of the overall cost of a family of four going to a ballgame in some places, you figure:
- Average price of cheap seats in a Major League ballpark: ranging anywhere from $20-$40
- Average price of parking: anywhere from $10 to $30
- Average price of a full meal and drink: Meal could be upwards of $10 per person, plus $2-$5 extra for a drink
Don't forget souvenirs, too!
(Note: Prices are ultimately going to vary on region. Prices in the California ballparks will obviously vary from ballparks in New York, and so on and so forth.) [2]
The gift of American financial inflation doesn't exactly do us any good. Back in the 80's and 90's, you could make a day at the ballpark and not have to spend much. Today, you have to plan a day at the ballpark and budget the day as if it's a vacation. You can't have this as a luxury; it falls into the same track as NFL games, concerts, or other sporting events.
Think about it--there are about 80 home games every season, and the ticket and concessions rates run about the same as concerts and NFL games, and there are only eight or nine home NFL games every season.
Imagine how much more of an impact a shorter baseball season would come down upon the fans and the wallets. It would be massive.
What kind of monster have we created here?
Due to the business that is being run today, it's hard to reduce a season, and what we have right now is what we have to keep. It's like trying to take ingredients out of a mixture when they've already been mixed in. Is it detrimental to the players and teams as a whole? We haven't seen a lot of that, but you also have to wonder about the teams that haven't been contenders in the last couple of seasons, and what it's going to take for them to get their fanbase back. It's something that owners and the like have to consider, especially when it's a long season, and they need people to watch the games in order to keep their team running.
Well, nuts.
I hate it when I run into self-made roadblocks while trying to make a point of conversation.
I guess for me that this is going to be a very long journey to October.
I just hope you're well-hydrated and strapped in. It's time for 2,430 games in the next six months.
-- Stephanie
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Other articles referenced:
[1] Why 162 Games? - The Sports Historian - https://www.thesportshistorian.com/why-162-games/#
[2] The 7 most and least expensive stadiums to watch a Major League Baseball game - CBS News - https://www.cbsnews.com/media/the-7-most-and-least-expensive-stadiums-to-watch-a-major-league-baseball-game/2/
