Anthony Rizzo Calls For Less Baseball

[hotshot]

That's Cubs 1B Anthony, not Mike. Says "We play too much baseball" and that he'd be more than willing to take a pay cut to match a shorter season.

Gotta agree. baseball, as it once did, should open around 10 April and the World Series should be over before the third week in October, at the latest. Seeing snowdrifts in the "Spring" and people huddled under heavy blankets during the WS is a travesty.

Regular Sunday doubleheaders (single admission) should return to allow a shortened schedule to work.

[KnorrForYourMoney]

I agree but the purists will have a crapfit.

[HalfSmokes]

Somehow I doubt owners would be as willing to take a pay cut

[Minty Fresh]

I agree but the purists will have a crapfit.

+1

[Count Walewski]

I imagine statheads will riot over the impact to comparing stats year to year.

[GburgNatsFan]

I imagine statheads will riot over the impact to comparing stats year to year.

Forget that, how much more would beer cost?

[skippy1999]

Forget that, how much more would beer cost?

#priorities lol

I've gotta agree, I adore baseball but it ends waaaaay too late, everyone is immersed in football by then. 

[KnorrForYourMoney]

#priorities lol

I've gotta agree, I adore baseball but it ends waaaaay too late, everyone is immersed in football by then. 

I just don't see what the last 10-30 games of the MLB schedule are supposed to "prove."

I can recall a couple teams making the most of those games, like the '07 Rockies and '05 Astros, but for as amazing as their late surges were, they both ended up fizzling out in the WS against two teams that dominated for pretty much the entire season.

[hotshot]

Gotta be an age thing here (I'm 74). What I would like to see -- a 154 game schedule with multiple single admission Sunday doubleheaders is the way it "used to be," for 50 years or more. So, who are these so-called "purists?"

Of course, I understand that the owners would never want to lose a dime and that Rizzo's position is probably a position that would have few supporters among players.

You could still do the 162 games and start later/end season earlier with the doubleheaders.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

One reason the schedule is now so long is that the player's union has negotiated more travel time and off days.  Also, if the players really wanted an earlier season, then there should be more day/night double headers with separate admission.  You can get in 162 over a shorter period, but the length of the season is to accommodate the players and not so much the owners.  I'm sure the owners would not mind wrapping things up earlier and avoiding football on the weekends for the playoffs if the players would go along and not tell the owners to give up the $$.

[Minty Fresh]

I just don't see what the last 10-30 games of the MLB schedule are supposed to "prove."

I can recall a couple teams making the most of those games, like the '07 Rockies and '05 Astros, but for as amazing as their late surges were, they both ended up fizzling out in the WS against two teams that dominated for pretty much the entire season.

I'd love to see:

120 games
Saturday Double-Headers
Season ends on Labor Day
Expand one round of playoffs
Full week off for All-Star break

[GburgNatsFan]

I'd love to see:

120 games
Saturday Double-Headers
Season ends on Labor Day
Expand one round of playoffs
Full week off for All-Star break

And make those five game playoff series into seven game series.

[spidernat]

And make those five game playoff series into seven game series.

wouldn't help the Nationals

[GburgNatsFan]

wouldn't help the Nationals

Can't argue.

[bluestreak]

wouldn't help the Nationals

If you think you actually have the better team, you want longer series. And if you thought the Nats actually had the worst team all those years, then what's all the nagging about choking about?

[welch]

That's Cubs 1B Anthony, not Mike. Says "We play too much baseball" and that he'd be more than willing to take a pay cut to match a shorter season.

Gotta agree. baseball, as it once did, should open around 10 April and the World Series should be over before the third week in October, at the latest. Seeing snowdrifts in the "Spring" and people huddled under heavy blankets during the WS is a travesty.

Regular Sunday doubleheaders (single admission) should return to allow a shortened schedule to work.

Yes! The season is too long. Back to 154 games. World Series should be the "October Classic"...not the November freeze-fest.

[welch]

I agree but the purists will have a crapfit.

Hey! I'm a purist. I even believe that the season should start when the President throws out the first ball in Washington. There should be a Presidential Box. The President should stand and toss the ball to the starting pitcher or catcher.

Season should be 154 games, as it was through 1960.