Author Topic: Committee To Improve Baseball  (Read 3918 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline PatsNats28

  • Posts: 8522
Re: Committee To Improve Baseball
« Reply #50: March 11, 2010, 07:46:40 PM »
Assuming the DH rules are sorted out, here's a way you could do floating realignment:

Pool teams into East, Central, and West. Should be 10 teams in each. Every five years, realign based on total record over those five years. Teams #1, 4, 5, 8, and 10 from one region could go to the AL, and Teams #2, 3, 6, 7, and 9 could go to the NL. Then in the next cycle, the #s could be switched. You could also add a Yankees-Red Sox exception that would allow them to always be in the same division if they want to.

Offline tomterp

  • Global Moderator
  • ****
  • Posts: 33783
  • Hell yes!
Re: Committee To Improve Baseball
« Reply #51: March 11, 2010, 09:05:56 PM »
You give Bowden too much credit. He's parroting an article he read.

I'm open minded to the possibility.  Can you show us the article?


Offline blue911

  • Posts: 18484
Re: Committee To Improve Baseball
« Reply #53: March 12, 2010, 06:57:49 AM »
So the problem with MLB is division alignment? Riiiight. People don't watch baseball because the Twins have to play in the AL Central.

Offline HalfSmokes

  • Posts: 21606
Re: Committee To Improve Baseball
« Reply #54: March 12, 2010, 07:48:58 AM »
So the problem with MLB is division alignment? Riiiight. People don't watch baseball because the Twins have to play in the AL Central.

to a certain extent, it perpetually screws most of the al east

Offline blue911

  • Posts: 18484
Re: Committee To Improve Baseball
« Reply #55: March 12, 2010, 08:00:22 AM »
to a certain extent, it perpetually screws most of the al east

How so? The ascendancy of the Red Sox and Yankees has been the best thing to happen to baseball in 40 years.

Offline PANatsFan

  • Posts: 37398
  • dogs in uncensored, nudes in gameday
Re: Committee To Improve Baseball
« Reply #56: March 12, 2010, 08:24:03 AM »
to a certain extent, it perpetually screws most of the al east

While I'm fond of Toronto, I could give a crap about the O's, the Rays should have gone to DC. So whatevs.

Offline tomterp

  • Global Moderator
  • ****
  • Posts: 33783
  • Hell yes!
Re: Committee To Improve Baseball
« Reply #57: March 12, 2010, 08:25:24 AM »
While I'm fond of Toronto, I could give a crap about the O's, the Rays should have gone to DC. So whatevs.

I do NOT give a crap about the O's. 

Offline KnorrForYourMoney

  • Posts: 16254
  • pissy DC sports fan
Re: Committee To Improve Baseball
« Reply #58: March 15, 2010, 12:19:53 AM »
How so? The ascendancy of the Red Sox and Yankees has been the best thing to happen to baseball in 40 years.
Is that a joke?  Why do you think nobody watches the damned World Series if neither of those teams is in it.

Offline Potomac Cannons

  • Posts: 3279
Re: Committee To Improve Baseball
« Reply #59: March 20, 2010, 10:44:21 AM »
Is that a joke?  Why do you think nobody watches the damned World Series if neither of those teams is in it.

No one watches the World Series without those teams because it is a long, overly drawn out, mediocre spectacle that starts way too late at night.  Start those games at 7:05 Eastern on weekdays and 3:05-4:05 on weekends and see if it doesn't do better.

If you don't have the built in monster fan base of the Yanks or Sox then it just isn't going to pull in viewers if the game starts at some time well after 8 and doesn't end until 11-12 or later.

As much as I loathe both teams, there's a reason why any team that hosts them considers those games "prime" tickets and fills the park despite the jacked up prices.  They are easily the best thing to happen to MLB.

Offline Dave B

  • Posts: 6033
Re: Committee To Improve Baseball
« Reply #60: March 20, 2010, 11:47:53 AM »
i think baseball should allow fielders to peg runners with the ball to record outs

Offline Lintyfresh85

  • Posts: 35130
  • World Champions!!!
Re: Committee To Improve Baseball
« Reply #61: March 20, 2010, 01:09:07 PM »
Nice! Then all we'd need is some ghost runners and it'd be like playing in the back yard all over again!

Offline KnorrForYourMoney

  • Posts: 16254
  • pissy DC sports fan
Re: Committee To Improve Baseball
« Reply #62: March 20, 2010, 01:32:27 PM »
No one watches the World Series without those teams because it is a long, overly drawn out, mediocre spectacle that starts way too late at night.  Start those games at 7:05 Eastern on weekdays and 3:05-4:05 on weekends and see if it doesn't do better.

If you don't have the built in monster fan base of the Yanks or Sox then it just isn't going to pull in viewers if the game starts at some time well after 8 and doesn't end until 11-12 or later.

As much as I loathe both teams, there's a reason why any team that hosts them considers those games "prime" tickets and fills the park despite the jacked up prices.  They are easily the best thing to happen to MLB.
They're the best and worst thing.  It's really overwhelming how young people don't care about baseball and especially the MLB outside of New York and Boston.  It might not be a problem now, but it could easily become a problem some day.

Offline OldChelsea

  • Posts: 8160
  • Nats Supporter in Exile
Re: Committee To Improve Baseball
« Reply #63: March 20, 2010, 01:40:40 PM »
They talk about wanting to speed up the game and not have them drag on for three-hours-plus...and yet they want increased use of instant replay, which as anyone who's watched an NFL match will tell you would be an excellent way of making baseball games go on even longer.

Offline Potomac Cannons

  • Posts: 3279
Re: Committee To Improve Baseball
« Reply #64: March 20, 2010, 01:47:18 PM »
They're the best and worst thing.  It's really overwhelming how young people don't care about baseball and especially the MLB outside of New York and Boston.  It might not be a problem now, but it could easily become a problem some day.

I actually talk to more people in the generation behind me, college age, than my own, mid-thirties, who care about baseball and go to games.  I doubt TV ratings will ever recover, but that is more due to no one staying in to watch than loss of popularity.  Attendance continues to climb.  I think the game is in good shape right now and is going to do just fine if it gets its act together on things like TV time for WS games etc.

Offline DPMOmaha

  • Posts: 22875
Re: Committee To Improve Baseball
« Reply #65: March 20, 2010, 02:00:37 PM »
I actually talk to more people in the generation behind me, college age, than my own, mid-thirties, who care about baseball and go to games.  I doubt TV ratings will ever recover, but that is more due to no one staying in to watch than loss of popularity.  Attendance continues to climb.  I think the game is in good shape right now and is going to do just fine if it gets its act together on things like TV time for WS games etc.
It's a lot like hockey in that regard.  The game attendance experience is great, but if you don't have a vested interest in watching the game, you're not going to watch it on TV and you're definitely not going to watch a team you don't root for.

Offline Potomac Cannons

  • Posts: 3279
Re: Committee To Improve Baseball
« Reply #66: March 20, 2010, 02:07:55 PM »
It's a lot like hockey in that regard.  The game attendance experience is great, but if you don't have a vested interest in watching the game, you're not going to watch it on TV and you're definitely not going to watch a team you don't root for.

And here is where the NFL, and MLS if they get their act together, are a better fit for TV.  One time frame per week for TV and a reasonable number of teams to follow. 

You know that the vast majority of NFL games are on Sunday.  The few that stray from that are cultural fixtures or attempts to provide marquee match-ups.  You get 32 teams.  There will not be expansion from this point on.  Soccer is mostly a once a week event and MLS should be trying to set up a specific TV match day. 

College football is on seemingly every night and who knows how many teams there will be or if the game will matter at all.  MLB has unbalanced leagues and schedules and seems to be every day for an eternity.  Same thing for NHL and NBA seasons who also add in the mistake of way too many post-season qualifiers.  These other sports must focus on the gameday experience and deal with the fact that TV is going the way of the dodo as far as current ratings systems go.  MLB needs to look into getting their games into On Demand status with computer/TV linked together. 

Offline DPMOmaha

  • Posts: 22875
Re: Committee To Improve Baseball
« Reply #67: March 20, 2010, 02:17:58 PM »
College football is on seemingly every night and who knows how many teams there will be or if the game will matter at all. 
College football has been growing pretty rapidly the past 5-10 years.  There are small games on all nights of the week but otherwise it's almost all on Saturday and the same 10-20 teams are the top ones every year.  America is just football crazy.