Also, I wanted to apologize to my girlfriend for making her go through my "I'M SO EXCITED FOR THESE MLB PLAYOFFS" dialogue last night. If you're reading this, SORRY!
Anyways...
Baseball has always been my favorite sport growing up and I was asked on far too many occasions: "Why do you like baseball? It's so boring." What I said in response was probably something nasty, but that's beside the point. Baseball used to be America's pastime and it's saddening to see so many people look down on it. Before the past couple of seasons, baseball's popularity was slowly diminishing, as most people were starting to follow basketball and football more. Seeing it firsthand with my peers who grew fond of those two sports made it even more profound. So I decided to write this article to get a general pool of ideas of what can be done to generate interest in the great sport again. If you have anything to add, I'd love to hear it!
1. Work on cutting down the length of the game by shaving time in-between innings.
The MLB has done a great job in implementing their ideas in how to decrease the length of a baseball game. Last year, games averaged to be 3 hours long, but this year Major League Baseball implemented some new rules which cut that average down by a massive 10 minutes! I feel like that could be decreased even further by shaving the warm-up time between every inning by 10-15 seconds (it's 2 minutes and 25 seconds long right now). Any more than that would cut into commercial times and dip into the revenue made from that. Of course this could be viewed as a starting point as we look for other ways to be more efficient with the alloted time. Because there are a minimum of 17 half-innings in which we have the regulated warm-up period, the games would be shortened by an additional 2 minutes and 50 seconds-4 minutes and 15 seconds. It may not seem like a lot but we live in such a fast paced environment where it'll actually make a difference.
The goal of decreasing the length of games is to help the audience reach the late innings, where the excitement and drama grows and reaches its climax.
*Interesting note: NFL games take about 3 hours and 12 minutes and the NBA is getting longer as the league is trying to include more commercial timeouts. The NBA regular season games now hover around the 2 hour and 20 minute minute mark and are north of 2 hours and 40 minutes for playoff games.
2. Encourage players to show emotion.
People love watching NBA players celebrate converting a cool play, or an NFL player having an awesome touchdown dance. In fact, if you look through my Facebook news feed right now, there are 7 posts about Stephen Curry celebrating a made three-pointer with his bench while not even looking at the shot [I wrote this on Tuesday, October 6th]. I also remember seeing "Gronk Spike" clog up my feed every time Rob Gronkowski scores a touchdown. Celebrations are fun! Players flipping their bats after a moonshot home run or a vicious fist pump after a clutch strikeout are great for fans to see. Traditionalists like to slam players who do that and expect them to behave like robots because they would be "disrespecting the game" or "showing another player up". That's not always the player's intention though, sometimes they just want to show that they're happy for succeeding in their job. And let's say they are trying to show another player up, that creates a rivalry between the players involved, which interests fans. There's a simple formula behind this, if players show more emotion, fans get more connected.
Another benefit of this is that we get to see Yasial Puig bat flip when he flies out or pops up, and as a Giants fan, I like making fun of him for that.
3. Make the season 154 games
I know this still makes for an incredibly long season, but if we were to cut it down significantly, owners would lose a ton of money and they certainly do not want that. If the owners lose too much money, there's a trickle down effect which affects the economics of other facets like team payroll, merchandise, and the entire sports media world. In some cases they may even deem owning a team as an unprofitable investment, which could lead to them disowning their team. Messy situations would arise and we could end up seeing cities losing teams or worst case scenario: a lockout. If we decrease the season by 8 games, owners only lose 4 home games (which yields the most positives results in terms of money) and 4 road games. 154 may seem like a random number but that's how long baseball seasons were back in the 1920s. This is important because the number is still significant enough for records and stats to be relatively consistent with those of other seasons. Additionally, this gives players a chance to get increased rest and lessens the chance for injury. If we make it known to the players that their safety is prioritized, they would most likely oblige. Plus this can potentially give teams that don't make the playoffs another couple of weeks to spend with their families. Lastly, this makes each individual game have more value in terms of importance to playoff races-even if it's only minimal.
4. All-Star Events
First off, I want to commend how the MLB handled the All-Star break this year. With events like the All-Star Legends & Celebrity Game, Future's Game, Home-Run Derby, and the All-Star Game itself, there was a lot of baseball for people to enjoy while the regular season took its break. They even altered the Home-Run Derby to make it a head-to-head format and for the most part, it was met with positive results. My only complaint is that there should be other competitions for athletes to partake in and fans to enjoy. Baseball is a multi-faceted game which requires a number of skills and the MLB should showcase that. If we take a look at the NBA and how they handle their All-Star break, we can see that they have the Shooting Stars Challenge (spot-up shooting from everywhere on the court), Skills Challenge (passing and dribbling), Three-Point Contest (three point shooting), and Slam Dunk Contest (creativity and dunking prowess). This way, players of all specialties and backgrounds can participate, paving way for more entertainment, interest, and ultimately, viewership. As of now, the MLB is really only showing off their top athletes with power. Here are some ideas of other competitions that can take place:
* I have a hard time describing some of these and probably leave a lot of things open-ended. My goal right now is just to present a general skeleton of events we should consider.
A. Spray Hitting
Contestants: People leading the league in hits and/or batting average
This could have the same format as the HR Derby so something concrete is already set in place. Instead of trying to hit for power though, people have to hit a set of targets that are placed throughout the outfield. The goal is to hit all of the targets starting from their pull side, then up the middle, and finally the opposite field. Whoever accomplishes the goal faster advances to the next round. This one should be really easy to incorporate.
B. Base-stealers vs Catchers
Contestants: Those amongst the top of the league in stolen bases and caught stealing percentage
This is a two team competition comprising of catchers making one and base-stealers making another. The base runner starts at first base and his goal is to reach third within eight pitches, four of which must be a fastball. The catcher's goal is to throw out the runner at any time. They can choose whoever they want to cover the bases and pitch to them, just as the batter chooses who throws them soft toss to them in the home run derby. Pickoffs are legal at any time, while pitch-outs can only be done twice. The competition could either be a best of three or five, depending on time constraints.
C. Outfield Arm-HORSE or PIG
Contestants: 3-5 Outfielders with most assists
A target will be set up at home plate and the athletes participating get a chance to show off their arm. They can choose the spot they wish to start from, number of bounces on the throw, and if they want the throw to be done on the run (or anything else that can be thought of by the contestant. Sorry I'm not very creative). Anyways, it'll be played just like the basketball HORSE game where you have to replicate what the person before you did, otherwise you get a letter.
D. Three Flags Up
Contestants: Fielders with best range as shown by sabermetrics or fielding percentage)
Ok this one isn't serious but I just thought of how my friends and I play three flags up with all the roughhousing, trash talking, and screaming, and I thought it'd be hilarious to see grown men do that on national television. Those participating will need to fight to catch contested pop-ups, and line drives that are issued by an unbiased party using a pitching machine to launch such fly balls.
E. Pitcher's Only Home Run Derby
Contestants: Best hitting pitchers
Another event that is kind of silly, but I'd honestly pay money to watch this. I don't think I'm alone on this either. A lot of people would find it amusing! It only needs 1 round and 5 contestants too, and the old HR Derby format would do. Unfortunately, it may be restricted to only NL pitchers since they actually take at-bats, but it should be fun nonetheless.
There are a lot of positive results that can come from adding these events. First and foremost, it's extra entertainment for baseball fans, who will go out of their way to watch these potential events. Economically speaking, a lot of companies would throw their endorsement/sponsorship money to get their names labeled on these events. Lastly, it gives a lot more exposure to players as the entire nation gets to see them. It's very possible that some of the players participating will go unnoticed otherwise. This exposure also gives us a chance to educate people about the game and players in it. In recent years, I've noticed the more I learn about the sport, the more I enjoy it. We should take advantage of all the possibilities that these events can have. Sure you'll probably need to use a full day to include these other events, but if it's really necessary you can just add another day to the break itself. Extra rest at this point in the season never hurt anyone, and the schedulers could just eat into the time gained by decreasing the number of games.
5. 3 Game Series for Wild Card
This point works better if implemented with the third idea. With the extra time shaved there, you can afford to add 2 extra days for the playoffs. Single game elimination is interesting for the drama, but it's pretty much determined by whichever team has the better starting pitcher. A best of 3 series would yield more benefits because of this. Everyone loves October baseball so this guarantees two to four more sold-out games (if you include both AL and NL). Additionally, because the games will be nationally televised, it's bound to draw more ratings and viewership. The Wild Card team with the better record can host all three games, and since the away Wild Card team already doesn't get to play at their stadium (at least until the next round), nothing will change on that front and no travel time will need to be added. In total, this round will take less than a week: 1 day between the last regular season game and the 1st game of the playoffs to travel/rest (as it is now), 3 days for the games to be played, and 1 day to travel/rest for the following round (again, as it is now). Overall, this scenario adds only 2 days to the playoffs, but couple this with the decrease of 8 regular season games and the postseason will surely finish before November hits. This also benefits both the winner of the Wild Card games and their first round opponent. As of now, the Wild Card teams are pretty much forced into using their ace (only the 2013 Cleveland Indians elected not to do this and they ended up losing). This puts the Wild Card team at a severe disadvantage because their best pitcher won't have enough rest to make two starts in the next series (in most cases, some teams can try hurling their ace out there with only 2 days rest, but that's incredibly unlikely because it carries a lot of risk with it too). The scenario I'm presenting at least gives them one or two extra days to get their arm back, giving a reasonable chance to letting their ace go twice in the short 5 game series that comes next round. The other playoff teams get another few days to rest and prepare as well, which is always appreciated this late in the season. There will be chatter of teams having losing their rhythm/timing because of there is too much time off, but I think that's nothing more than a sorry excuse. Teams are equipped with the best resources and technology available, so they should be able to keep their coaches and players prepared really easily.
6. Conclusion
Major League Baseball has done a phenomenal job at implementing new ideas without facing any difficulties. It should also be noted that the new commissioner, Rob Manfred, is willing to consider any idea in an attempt to better the game, even at the risk of his own popularity. While the MLB is aclimating larger audiences and looks like it's heading in the right direction, I think more can be done to attract fans. Here's to hoping that baseball regains its popularity in America so I could talk about the glorious sport with more people.
1. Work on cutting down the length of the game by shaving time in-between innings.
The MLB has done a great job in implementing their ideas in how to decrease the length of a baseball game. Last year, games averaged to be 3 hours long, but this year Major League Baseball implemented some new rules which cut that average down by a massive 10 minutes! I feel like that could be decreased even further by shaving the warm-up time between every inning by 10-15 seconds (it's 2 minutes and 25 seconds long right now). Any more than that would cut into commercial times and dip into the revenue made from that. Of course this could be viewed as a starting point as we look for other ways to be more efficient with the alloted time. Because there are a minimum of 17 half-innings in which we have the regulated warm-up period, the games would be shortened by an additional 2 minutes and 50 seconds-4 minutes and 15 seconds. It may not seem like a lot but we live in such a fast paced environment where it'll actually make a difference.
The goal of decreasing the length of games is to help the audience reach the late innings, where the excitement and drama grows and reaches its climax.
*Interesting note: NFL games take about 3 hours and 12 minutes and the NBA is getting longer as the league is trying to include more commercial timeouts. The NBA regular season games now hover around the 2 hour and 20 minute minute mark and are north of 2 hours and 40 minutes for playoff games.
2. Encourage players to show emotion.
People love watching NBA players celebrate converting a cool play, or an NFL player having an awesome touchdown dance. In fact, if you look through my Facebook news feed right now, there are 7 posts about Stephen Curry celebrating a made three-pointer with his bench while not even looking at the shot [I wrote this on Tuesday, October 6th]. I also remember seeing "Gronk Spike" clog up my feed every time Rob Gronkowski scores a touchdown. Celebrations are fun! Players flipping their bats after a moonshot home run or a vicious fist pump after a clutch strikeout are great for fans to see. Traditionalists like to slam players who do that and expect them to behave like robots because they would be "disrespecting the game" or "showing another player up". That's not always the player's intention though, sometimes they just want to show that they're happy for succeeding in their job. And let's say they are trying to show another player up, that creates a rivalry between the players involved, which interests fans. There's a simple formula behind this, if players show more emotion, fans get more connected.
Another benefit of this is that we get to see Yasial Puig bat flip when he flies out or pops up, and as a Giants fan, I like making fun of him for that.
 |
| Yasiel Puig may be a polarizing player but adding personality to sports makes it more entertaining. |
I know this still makes for an incredibly long season, but if we were to cut it down significantly, owners would lose a ton of money and they certainly do not want that. If the owners lose too much money, there's a trickle down effect which affects the economics of other facets like team payroll, merchandise, and the entire sports media world. In some cases they may even deem owning a team as an unprofitable investment, which could lead to them disowning their team. Messy situations would arise and we could end up seeing cities losing teams or worst case scenario: a lockout. If we decrease the season by 8 games, owners only lose 4 home games (which yields the most positives results in terms of money) and 4 road games. 154 may seem like a random number but that's how long baseball seasons were back in the 1920s. This is important because the number is still significant enough for records and stats to be relatively consistent with those of other seasons. Additionally, this gives players a chance to get increased rest and lessens the chance for injury. If we make it known to the players that their safety is prioritized, they would most likely oblige. Plus this can potentially give teams that don't make the playoffs another couple of weeks to spend with their families. Lastly, this makes each individual game have more value in terms of importance to playoff races-even if it's only minimal.
4. All-Star Events
First off, I want to commend how the MLB handled the All-Star break this year. With events like the All-Star Legends & Celebrity Game, Future's Game, Home-Run Derby, and the All-Star Game itself, there was a lot of baseball for people to enjoy while the regular season took its break. They even altered the Home-Run Derby to make it a head-to-head format and for the most part, it was met with positive results. My only complaint is that there should be other competitions for athletes to partake in and fans to enjoy. Baseball is a multi-faceted game which requires a number of skills and the MLB should showcase that. If we take a look at the NBA and how they handle their All-Star break, we can see that they have the Shooting Stars Challenge (spot-up shooting from everywhere on the court), Skills Challenge (passing and dribbling), Three-Point Contest (three point shooting), and Slam Dunk Contest (creativity and dunking prowess). This way, players of all specialties and backgrounds can participate, paving way for more entertainment, interest, and ultimately, viewership. As of now, the MLB is really only showing off their top athletes with power. Here are some ideas of other competitions that can take place:
* I have a hard time describing some of these and probably leave a lot of things open-ended. My goal right now is just to present a general skeleton of events we should consider.
A. Spray Hitting
Contestants: People leading the league in hits and/or batting average
This could have the same format as the HR Derby so something concrete is already set in place. Instead of trying to hit for power though, people have to hit a set of targets that are placed throughout the outfield. The goal is to hit all of the targets starting from their pull side, then up the middle, and finally the opposite field. Whoever accomplishes the goal faster advances to the next round. This one should be really easy to incorporate.
B. Base-stealers vs Catchers
Contestants: Those amongst the top of the league in stolen bases and caught stealing percentage
This is a two team competition comprising of catchers making one and base-stealers making another. The base runner starts at first base and his goal is to reach third within eight pitches, four of which must be a fastball. The catcher's goal is to throw out the runner at any time. They can choose whoever they want to cover the bases and pitch to them, just as the batter chooses who throws them soft toss to them in the home run derby. Pickoffs are legal at any time, while pitch-outs can only be done twice. The competition could either be a best of three or five, depending on time constraints.
 |
| I firmly believe seeing the best stealers go against the best catchers would be exciting. |
Contestants: 3-5 Outfielders with most assists
A target will be set up at home plate and the athletes participating get a chance to show off their arm. They can choose the spot they wish to start from, number of bounces on the throw, and if they want the throw to be done on the run (or anything else that can be thought of by the contestant. Sorry I'm not very creative). Anyways, it'll be played just like the basketball HORSE game where you have to replicate what the person before you did, otherwise you get a letter.
 |
| When Cespedes made this thing of beauty, everyone on social media got excited. People do appreciate other plays than just home runs! |
Contestants: Fielders with best range as shown by sabermetrics or fielding percentage)
Ok this one isn't serious but I just thought of how my friends and I play three flags up with all the roughhousing, trash talking, and screaming, and I thought it'd be hilarious to see grown men do that on national television. Those participating will need to fight to catch contested pop-ups, and line drives that are issued by an unbiased party using a pitching machine to launch such fly balls.
E. Pitcher's Only Home Run Derby
Contestants: Best hitting pitchers
Another event that is kind of silly, but I'd honestly pay money to watch this. I don't think I'm alone on this either. A lot of people would find it amusing! It only needs 1 round and 5 contestants too, and the old HR Derby format would do. Unfortunately, it may be restricted to only NL pitchers since they actually take at-bats, but it should be fun nonetheless.
 |
| #pitcherswhorake is a thing so there is popularity behind this. |
5. 3 Game Series for Wild Card
This point works better if implemented with the third idea. With the extra time shaved there, you can afford to add 2 extra days for the playoffs. Single game elimination is interesting for the drama, but it's pretty much determined by whichever team has the better starting pitcher. A best of 3 series would yield more benefits because of this. Everyone loves October baseball so this guarantees two to four more sold-out games (if you include both AL and NL). Additionally, because the games will be nationally televised, it's bound to draw more ratings and viewership. The Wild Card team with the better record can host all three games, and since the away Wild Card team already doesn't get to play at their stadium (at least until the next round), nothing will change on that front and no travel time will need to be added. In total, this round will take less than a week: 1 day between the last regular season game and the 1st game of the playoffs to travel/rest (as it is now), 3 days for the games to be played, and 1 day to travel/rest for the following round (again, as it is now). Overall, this scenario adds only 2 days to the playoffs, but couple this with the decrease of 8 regular season games and the postseason will surely finish before November hits. This also benefits both the winner of the Wild Card games and their first round opponent. As of now, the Wild Card teams are pretty much forced into using their ace (only the 2013 Cleveland Indians elected not to do this and they ended up losing). This puts the Wild Card team at a severe disadvantage because their best pitcher won't have enough rest to make two starts in the next series (in most cases, some teams can try hurling their ace out there with only 2 days rest, but that's incredibly unlikely because it carries a lot of risk with it too). The scenario I'm presenting at least gives them one or two extra days to get their arm back, giving a reasonable chance to letting their ace go twice in the short 5 game series that comes next round. The other playoff teams get another few days to rest and prepare as well, which is always appreciated this late in the season. There will be chatter of teams having losing their rhythm/timing because of there is too much time off, but I think that's nothing more than a sorry excuse. Teams are equipped with the best resources and technology available, so they should be able to keep their coaches and players prepared really easily.
6. Conclusion
Major League Baseball has done a phenomenal job at implementing new ideas without facing any difficulties. It should also be noted that the new commissioner, Rob Manfred, is willing to consider any idea in an attempt to better the game, even at the risk of his own popularity. While the MLB is aclimating larger audiences and looks like it's heading in the right direction, I think more can be done to attract fans. Here's to hoping that baseball regains its popularity in America so I could talk about the glorious sport with more people.
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