What's wrong with baseball

[VideoGameCritic]

As a youngster growing up in the 70's I absolutely loved major league baseball.  I watched every televised Oriole game, and if they weren't on TV I listened to them on the radio.  This love affair began to fade in the 90's, and now the league just annoys me.  Don't get me wrong - I still think the sport itself is the perfect combination of strategy and skill.  No, it's Major League Baseball that's gone to hell.  Here are a few reasons:

1. Game Length. In the 70's, an average game was about 2 hours.  Today it's about 3 hours.  It's excruciating, especially at the park.  So what's going on during this extra hour?  Answer: Giving MLB time to show more commercials. 

2. "Closer".  Pitchers now insist on having specific roles: starter, middle reliever, set-up man, closer, etc.  This mindset just leads to more pitching changes.  In the 70's there were two types of pitchers: starters and relievers.  The reliever went in when the starter began to get roughed up.  That made sense, and from what I hear, that's how they still do it in Japan.

3. Pitch count.  Apparently some managers won't let their pitchers throw more than 100 pitches or so in a game, regardless of how well they're doing.  This is bogus.  Pitchers in the 70's and earlier were expected to pitch 9 innings, and their arms didn't fall off.  Pitchers of today are pansies.

4. Match-ups.  It never fails.  A relief pitcher will come in, strike out his man, and promptly get pulled so the manager can set up a lefty to face the left-handed hitter.  This micromanagement has questionable statistical benefit and needlessly slows down the game.

5. "Walk Off Homerun".  Is baseball so desperate for excitement that they need to make up "new" terms for what used to be normal plays?  Whenever I hear the term "walk off", I just cringe.  It's stupid, and any sports announcer who uses it is an idiot.  Please, stop the madness.

6. Steroids.  Great, now those records we've been meticulously keeping for the last 100 years are completely worthless.

7. Saves.  This statistic is not only meaningless, but has inadvertently driven the league to the specialization we've seen with the pitchers.

8. Need some kind of "shot clock".  Couldn't baseball do something like basketball, and have a clock to keep the game moving?  I get sick of players stepping out of the box and pitchers stepping off the mound between every pitch.  It's getting out of hand.

9. Season too long.  Once the NFL start in Sept, nobody even pays attention to baseball anymore.  And yet with the new playoff rounds the season practically runs to November.  It's interfering with the football coverage, and that needs to stop.

I'll probably come up with more later, but now I'll give you a chance to chime in.

[Steerforth]

You have some legitimate gripes, but baseball is the only sport I bother to follow. I love baseball. I love the long season that goes all summer, I like to read about baseball everyday in the paper, and it is an absolutely awesome sport for radio. For my money, noithing in radio can match a baseball game, I wish they had more (some?) afternoon games during the weekday, to break up the other programmming.

You are correct about the advertising, not only are the breaks between innings too long, but they read so many on air gametime promotions they sometimes have trouble getting to the game in a quick inning. Its pathetic, almost as bad as NASCAR, which is as bad as it gets, ad-wise.

Steroids is a joke, the player's union is so strong, they will never straighten that out.

Too much emphasis on homeruns, too many mediocre player try to hit them everytime up, especially in extra inning games, so you get a lot of 1-2-3 innings and some looong games. I like teams that rely on speed, makes the game more intersting. ALso the A.L. should dump the D.H., it hurts the game, and thanks to drug enhancement, there is no need to try to inflate offense anymore. But agian, the players union would not go for some of their big, fat hitter with fatter contracts looking at unemployment or limited playing time because they can not feild a position. Also if the pitchers bat, they have to think a little harder before throwing a bean ball, right now they have it set up so the first guy gets off scot free, they warn both benches, and punish retaliation. Lame,

[snakeboy1]

[QUOTE=The Video Game Critic]
5. "Walk Off Homerun".  Is baseball so desperate for excitement that they need to make up "new" terms for what used to be normal plays?  Whenever I hear the term "walk off", I just cringe.  It's stupid, and any sports announcer who uses it is an idiot.  Please, stop the madness.

[/QUOTE]

It's good to see that I'm not the only one who thinks this.  I can't stand watching highlights on ESPN anymore, and that's part of the reason why.

And, overall, I agree with you.  The games are way, way too long.  I was pretty much born a baseball fan, but I have a hard time getting into the games.  Any game that doesn't involve the Cardinals I have little to no interest in.  It was great last year seeing the Cards win the World Series, but I got to tell you, I didn't have a whole lot of interest until the playoffs. 

Unfortunately, the games will most likely get even longer before they get shorter.  As long as there is money to be made, MLB doesn't care about the length of a game.  As long as games are televised, we will have long commercial breaks.  And as long as the game expands, the pitching will get even more watered down, adding to the length of games. 

Unfortunately, the game as we once knew it is dead.

[Bartman]

I can agree with you guys but all baseball wants is money as my grandpa says. TV commercials are annoying and last more than two minutes. We are not sure if there are any use of steroids although some told the truth. I only pay attention to the Yankees and they are doing well.

One problem is airing at night. Fox airs the World Series late at around 8:00-8:50. and air almost all week which means no Treehouse of Horror on or before Halloween. Another thing is injuries. People get injured for doing something stupid and never come back until late season. ESPN has the annoying Joe Morgan and hearing commentary over and over from him is annoying too. Another problem is payrolls. People are getting paid between 10-19 million without endorsements. Whatever happend to being paid just 2 million? If only I grew up in the 70s and watched the old times of baseball.

[Dennis]

No, no, no.  Baseball is awesome, do not mess with it!

ESPECIALLY no "clock" of any kind!  The lack of a clock is one of the things that makes baseball unique from the other major sports.  I ENJOY the tension of long games!

Also, what's wrong with "walk-off"?  It's just a word, and to see one is one of the most exciting things in sports.  I'm a Reds fan and I was at the stadium last year when Adam Dunn hit his walk-off grand slam against the Indians to cap off a 9-run comeback, and it was the most exciting thing I've seen at a ballpark (and I was also there during Tom Browning's perfect game in 1988!).

I do agree with you that there's too much emphasis on pitch counts and too many pitching changes, but it doesn't bother me. 

If you want to gripe about too much lag time or too many commercial breaks, focus on basketball and football, too.  It takes 30 minutes to play the last 2 minutes of a basketball game! 

[Dennis]

Oh, and one more thing:  Screw football.  I care not a whit about football until the baseball season is 100% over.  It's football that interferes with baseball, not the other way around. 

[JustLikeHeaven1]

I'm sorry but I'm not buying into the baseball sucks arguement.  Game length is only a problem when you are watching two teams you don't care about.  Last night the Yankees, Red Sox game started at 7:05 and didnt get over until 11:00.  I watched ever minute of it.  It was exciting and another classic game between those two teams.  Hell I'm not even a fan of either team, but I never miss Yankees, Red Sox games.  It's frigging april and that game had a playoff vibe. 

Thing is, if the I like the Indians and they play Kansas City...I don't have to watch the whole game.  If Cleveland starts killing them after 5 innings I can shut the game off and move on to something else.  Sure there is the chance the Royals make a comeback, but I'll bet that they won't.  Thats why we have 24 a day sports coverage.  If I miss something I can watch in on Sports Center, or Baseball Tonight...

Also if you are going to yell at baseball for all these things you can't say that other sports are much better.  In football new roles are being created and terms like "shutdown corner" are becoming more and more annoying.  Baseball is about numbers and stats...more than any other sport.  Almost every real baseball fan knows all the records.  So should it really surprise you that "saves" have become a big thing?  Its just anothe stat that people can fawn over...part of the game. 

I love football, but when there is a game that goes back and forth with no scoring it makes me want to tear my eyeballs out.  Don't get me started on Pro Basketball.  That is a complete joke.  College bball is 100x better.  Ice Hockey...is that even around anymore.  Nascar...this has to be the biggest joke in sports.  Tennis is actually creeping up in terms of enjoyment...too bad that most matches take place during the day.

I'm sorry, but everything in the world seems to have to be faster, louder and more futuristic than it needs to be.  Unwinding watching a baseball game is one of the few simple pleasures still left in sports.  I love the fact that baseball is slow paced.  Each night I can tune in and watch ANY game on the baseball package...it doesn't matter.  Amen to the guy that said listening to baseball game on the radio is awesome.  Its the ONLY sport that I can listen to on the radio.  I can think of more classic radio announcers for baseball than any other sport. 

The two things I will agree with you are the pitch count and steroids.  From the mid 80s to present will always be the "steriods era" (I hate that term) and most critics of the game will dismiss anything that happened during that time.  I also agree with you about the magical pitch count number.  Last night Pettitte came out at around 100 pitches and they should have left him in.  He was doing fine and didn't look too fatigued to me.  When a pitcher starts hanging off-speed pitches and leaving fastballs up in the zone too frequently is when you should yank him.  I didn't see that from Pettitte last night.

People get mad because basbeall games last anywhere from 2-4 hours...people get made when a movie is over 2 hours long.  People get mad when a song is longer than 5 minutes. Basically everybody in the world needs things to be faster and more streamlined so they can enjoy something else sooner.  Relax...enjoy life.  Not everything needs go 100 miles a minute.  The people that are like that are the ones who leave in the 7th inning during the Clevland, Yankees game the other day...if they had stayed they would have seen the unbelievable 9th inning comeback...topped off with another "A-bomb from A-rod".

[chrisbid1]

i think the biggest problem is expansion. you can have a lot of teams, but only so many teams can be winners and in contention. the O's havent been really in the race since the 80's. and i would guess that is the biggest reason you dont care as much as you used to.

I grew up in cincinnati, and the reds have been on life support since they made a run in '99 (losing in a one game playoff to the mets that year for the wild card spot).

that aside, the game itself is still the absolute best at establishing and maintaining tension. if there is something on the line, every pitch is a nail biting moment. not having a clock helps this. take basketball, when a team is down by more than a basket in the final minutes, they simply foul the other team to stop the clock. that is a serious flaw in the flow of the game.

the pace of baseball is what makes it best when your team has something on the line, but it also makes it really boring when they are playing for nothing more than individual stats.

and i would also like to say i am sick and tired of red sox/yankess coverage. there are 28 other teams in MLB, and the 'other' NY team is better than both of the media whore teams.

[JustLikeHeaven1]

[QUOTE=chrisbid]

i think the biggest problem is expansion. you can have a lot of teams, but only so many teams can be winners and in contention. the O's havent been really in the race since the 80's. and i would guess that is the biggest reason you dont care as much as you used to.

and i would also like to say i am sick and tired of red sox/yankess coverage. there are 28 other teams in MLB, and the 'other' NY team is better than both of the media whore teams. [/QUOTE]

If my memory is correct the O's were really good in the 90s as well.  It wasn't until around 96-97 that they really started to nose dive.  Even a few years ago they started off real hot, they just couldn't keep the pace up.  Baltimore is few key pieces away from putting together a contender.

I would also disagree that expansion has ruined the game.  Just to prove my point, look at the World Series Champions since 2000.

06 - St. Lous Cardinal
05 - Chicago White Sox
04 - Boston Red Sox
03 - Florida Marlins
02 - Anaheim Angels
01 - Arizona Diamondbacks
00 - New York Yankees

Each year its pretty much up for grabs.  There hasn't been a dominate team in baseball since the Yankees in the mid 90s.  The Reds, Indians, Brewers have just as much of chance to win it as The Mets or Red Sox.  Those winners are from different divisions, different leagues etc...I really think most teams have a chance to win.  The NL Central might be won by a .500 ballclub this year.  I can only think of a handful of teams that have no shot at making the playoffs.

The media coverage on the Yankees and Red Sox is absurd, but its the greatest rivarly in sports.  Nothing tops it.  Hell, I've seen Yankees and Red Sox series that are more exciting than the World Series.  Thats why the media gets hard nipples every time they play.

[Sudz1]

You're right, baseball blows.  WAY too long, too many meaningless statistics, and absolutely no love for their fans.  I gave up when they CANCELLED the season just before the playoffs back in '94.  Are you kidding me???  What a JOKE!  I love how 'interim' commissioner Bud Selig ended up remaining 'interim' for at least another 10 years (is he STILL commissioner?).  Even before then though baseball was already starting to slow to a boring crawl.  I am often reminded of the Simpsons episode where Homer gives up beer and then goes to the ballpark:

Announcer: ...the windup and a 2-2 pitch.  Oh, no, wait a minute, the
	   batter is calling for time.  Looks like he's going to get
	   himself a new bat.  And now there's a beach ball on the
	   field, and the balls boys are discussing which one of them's
	   going to go get it.
    Homer: [only one not drinking] I never realized how boring this
	   game is.

That pretty much sums it all up.  Baseball is 3+ hours of watching about 20 minutes worth of actual playtime.  At least football saves the drawing-out for the very end of the game, which actually makes it more exciting so long as it's still an undecided contest.  Maybe if they can find a way to speed up time between innings and pitchings I'd consider watching again, but until then it remains the slowest, most boring sport in the world.  And I'm including snail races in that.

Just out of curiosity, why do they have to have their relievers spend however many minutes warming up in the bullpen and THEN warm up some more once they're on the mound?  Haven't they already been warming up?  Can we please get on with the stinking game????
Sudz