How to make baseball better

[RalphWiggum]

The majority (not all) of everything I'm about to write is to get the season/playoffs to end a couple weeks earlier (like it should so the max amount of World Series and playoff games are played before the NFL season starts which totally detracts from baseball based on the fact the NFL's popularity even week one kills baseball and that baseball shouldn't be played under frigid conditions) and to have more teams that theoretically have the chance of making the playoffs further into the season. Under my ideas the playoffs could be done by mid October at the latest. No baseball game should be played in November...at least not on this continent.

1. go back to to the 154 game season. A shorter season ends the playoffs earlier and gives not so great teams (even if only marginally) a better chance to make the playoffs (more on that later). A longer season always favors the truly better teams. Parity is a good thing in sports.

2. start the season a week earlier give or take a day and have the first couple season series start in warm weather climates or domes to ensure they can be played. Looking at all MLB teams it's easily feasible. No baseball fan cares that they don't have the season opener they care about their home openers so nothing is lost by playing your first 6 games on the road.

3. Obviously reduce spring training by 6-7 games so you can start the season earlier. Spring training is too long as it is.

4. Pitch clock like the NBA has for shot clocks. I don't have an exact number but 20 seconds from the moment the pitcher gets the ball back from the catcher seems about right. There is no reason a baseball game should take in excess of 3 hours to complete. Most games that do take take that long to finish involve pitchers that take upwards of 30 seconds between pitches....no more. If it takes longer than 20 seconds a ball is automatically given.

5. Throwing to first to keep runners close is limited. No more than 3-4 pickoff attempts (8-9 attempts per at bat is just silly) per at bat is permitted. I see the holes in this logic but if baserunners try to gain too much of an advantage knowing the rule they will get picked off (before the 3-4th attempt) by a catcher who has no limits on picking a runner off after the pitch.

6. Every team has 2 scheduled double headers a year. The loyal fans who buy tickets deserve a couple such occasions a year and as per to my original idea it shortens the season by a bit which long term is in MLB's best interest.

7. Go back to two divisions per league. The winner of each of those divisions gets a first round bye like the NFL. The remaining best 4 records regardless of division get into the playoffs. 6 teams teams make the playoffs, not like the 5 that make it now and one of them is done after some silly one game playoff. A one game playoff after the length of a baseball season is stupid.

8. The first round playoffs involves a 3 game series where the team with the lower record plays a 3 game series all on the road to get rid of the complications of making a three game series even and the travel complications (should it be 1-2 or a 2-1 scenario?) against the team with the better record during the regular season. Head to head tie breakers will be used to decide to get who gets those home games. If they have identical records against one another run differential will be used so as to encourage to score as much as possible and not have regular season situations where teams throw at guys for running up the scores. They will no longer have that out because every run a team scores may eventually matter.

9. After that first round we go to a traditional 7 game series throughout the playoffs where obviously the division winners or team with the better record assuming both division winners lose in their first round get home field. There might be situations where a 3-6 team has a better record than the team they play in the second round but so be it. No system is perfect...this is close.

In closing I know some will say that no team is going to agree to 4 less home dates a year to accommodate a 154 season. My counter is imagine how may more games come August and September will be relevent and sell more tickets if the teams fans know they still have a (if even an outside) shot at the playoffs and not just a one game playoff where it can all end because of a bad inning like this stupid one game wild card we have now. I can guarantee that an extra playoff team would mean at least 3-4 teams have a large increase in attendance for those last couple months of the year(and maybe marginal increases in May and June which is a time that some teams are already basically done) when fans usually throw up their hands and say what's the point...we are done. I think if all my ideas were implemented the season could end a couple weeks earlier (on top of shorter games which would appeal to fans a bit more). On the surface my changes may seem inconsequential but I think it would really help the sport move forward.

Excited to hear why my ideas are good and am more excited by most of you educated fans on this board to point the short fallings in my proposals.

[Hendrix]

Not really going to address everything.

But, they aren't going to reduce revenues by chopping 8 games off the season. Additionally, baseball is all about history and stats. HR season records. Getting 200 hits in a season. Getting 20 wins in a season. etc.. etc... Reducing the amount of games would completely mess with the record books. It would be a lot harder to reach the 500 Hr club (or w/e club) over your 15 season career if you are playing 120 games less than the people that came before you.


You can't limit pick off attempts to 3 or 4. I mean, how exactly would that work? Once the pitcher uses up his 3 or 4 PO attempts the baserunner takes a 15ft leadoff and the pitcher can't do anything about it?

[Skin Blues]

There's already a rule that a pitcher must deliver a pitch within 12 seconds of receiving the ball back from the catcher. That's with the bases empty. It's never enforced, though.

[HangTime]

I know this is might be drastic, but limit the number of times a pitcher can try to pickoff a baserunner.

For example, 2 times for every batter. If the pitcher atempts a 3rd, 4th ect. while the same batter is up, the pickoff attepmt will be counted as a ball.

-----

Allow managers to have challange flags

Have the home plate umpire wear a headset so he can comunicate with an umpire that is in the press box so you can get a result within 30 seconds.

Whenever there is bang bang play the umpire can ask for help.

[RalphWiggum]

Not really going to address everything.

But, they aren't going to reduce revenues by chopping 8 games off the season. Additionally, baseball is all about history and stats. HR season records. Getting 200 hits in a season. Getting 20 wins in a season. etc.. etc... Reducing the amount of games would completely mess with the record books. It would be a lot harder to reach the 500 Hr club (or w/e club) over your 15 season career if you are playing 120 games less than the people that came before you.


You can't limit pick off attempts to 3 or 4. I mean, how exactly would that work? Once the pitcher uses up his 3 or 4 PO attempts the baserunner takes a 15ft leadoff and the pitcher can't do anything about it?

No, after he has attempted a couple pickoffs the runner may take a bigger lead knowing he only has 1 more pick off attempt in which case the catcher can throw down if he stretches his lead. I'd make the rule after your 4th pickoff attempt you can still throw over and it's fine if you pick the guy off. If it turns out to just be another attempt it's a ball. Off all the things I proposed I know thats the one that has a lot of holes in it. I just hate seeing guyts throw to first 8 times in an at bat. Maybe it's just a necessary evil.

As for the shortening of the season a lot of the records guys chase today and in the recent past were set in a 154 game schedule. My plan is also with having 4 wild cards, not the 3 they have now. Without adding the 4th wild card it does make less sense.

Also you say they wouldn't want to lose the revenue but I think it would actually increase revenue for most teams. The teams that sell out all the time might be marginally hurt of course but they are also the teams that could raise ticket prices a bit to offset losing 4 home dates and it wouldn't be that big a deal because obviously they have no problem selling tickets in the first place. For a bunch of teams they might get a drastic attendance change because they wouldn't feel like they got no shot at the playoffs. Another wild card in most seasons probably throws another 4-5 teams into the mix until at least Septemeber. Now those 4-5 teams fans that knew they had no chance at the playoffs and stopped going to games in July are still going to games in September because the games actually mean something. Instead of a 3 game home stand where you're averaging 12,000 fans you are averaging 25,000 fans because it's not just another running out the clock game which is what most teams are dealing with September. I'd rather average 25,000 a game for 77 games than have 21,000 over 81 games. I can almost guarantee that the majority of teams would see attendance go up a worthwhile amount with an extra wild card and the 154 season. I know you can add the wild card without shortening the season but unless they just do the one game thing they do now WHICH COMPLETELY SUCKS it extends the season even longer which is the problem I'm trying to solve.

I really think in the long run under my proposed plans most teams would see a small revenue boost.

[FrankGrimes]

1. oakland would have not had the chance to comeback and take over texas last year if 154 games were played last year. the year before that, 154 games would have stopped the epic collapse of the red sox not to mention the braves who melted to the eventual champion cardinals. the year before that...ah forget it. the point is, 162 and 154 won't make a difference with respect to parity.

2. weather/temperature has little bearing on starting up the season early or late. have you watched playoff baseball in october in new york? not exactly club med. but in your world, a cold climate team will never open a season at home only to perpetually open the year on the road year after year. besides a 6 game trip then coming home will mean a temperature change of 1-2 degrees.

3. agreed. spring training is too long.

4. baseball purists would throw shoes at you for this. one of the great aspects of the great american past time is that there is not clocks. while other sports have timers/clocks/limits, baseball has no limits outside of the foul lines and walls. if you really want baseball games to be shorter than limit the commercial time on your television. it's obvious that going to games that the players don't need 3 minutes to get into position and go. it's the bloody commercials that hold play back. talk to you local television providers and protest. good luck.

i'm not going to finish the list but i'm guessing you are casual baseball fan at best? have a nice day.

[joseph235]

LOL parity is a good thing? Why wouldn't you want the truly better teams make the playoffs? There's already enough parity in the mlb, and crappy 83 win teams (2006 cardinals) winning the world series. I would try to make the playoffs less of a crap-chute rather than the opposite.

[Lateral Quicks]

1. Tradition and statistics are important in baseball. So no.

2. Agreed.

3. Agreed.

4. I enjoy the slower pace of baseball. This is only a problem when guys like Jason Frasor appear, which isn't too often.

5. Setting a cap would advantage the runner.

6. Not against this so long as the number of games stays at 162.

7. Either six teams should make the playoffs, or the wildcard playoff should be more than one game. I really don't like the one-game sudden death format.

8. Unecessary.

9. Agreed, I like the traditional 7-game series.

[Fairview4Life]

Robot umpires.

[satyr9]

Robot umpires.

Pitch-o-mat 5000 and Multiball.