Read the debate intro and Sports Geek’s argument that the baseball season is not too long.
As I was watching two dramatic playoff games yesterday, I was reminded once again how much I love baseball. What baseball fan would not love watching the Los Angeles Angels win and the Philadelphia Phillies win with walk off hits? Well… if you are a New York Yankees fan or a Los Angeles Dodgers fan, I guess you have not enjoyed them at all! Anyway, yesterday was postseason baseball at its best. I was talking to a casual baseball fan at work one day last week and we were having a “water-cooler” talk about the playoffs. He said, “You know, I like baseball, but that regular season is just so long!” Now, as I stated, I love baseball, but after looking at the length of baseball’s season from all angles I have to agree, the season really is too long!
Bleacher Fan stated in the intro that many of the teams this year had essentially clinched playoffs berths early, and that realistically many teams had been eliminated from playoff contention early. Those are valid reasons for trimming baseball’s season to a degree. But, that is not my focus.
I am focusing on the fact that the longer the season drags on, the more opportunities there are for other sporting events to distract the viewer and/or fan from baseball.
For example, this past Sunday night, a regular season NFL game between the Chicago Bears and the Atlanta Falcons – in Week six, I might add – received a higher television rating than Game four of the National League Championship Series between two big market teams. A closer look at the numbers shows that the NFL game amazingly drew higher in Los Angeles, despite the fact that the Dodgers were in the game and that the Bears and Falcons have no specific ties to the Los Angeles area. Have people in LA, not to mention the entire country, lost interest in baseball in mid-October? If the regular season had not dragged on for so long, perhaps there would be fewer of these postseason matchups going up against regular season football for several weeks.
It has been documented that if the World Series goes the full seven games, then Game seven would not take place until November 5th. It should also be noted that eight weeks of the NFL season (almost half) would already be in the books. This is a full seven months after the MLB regular season began on Sunday, April 5th in Philadelphia. Seven entire months of meaningful baseball! This does not even count spring training! The regular season alone ended on October 4th (October 6th if you count Game 163 between the Tigers and Twins). That is six months of regular season play. That sure seems a little long and drawn out to you, especially when compared to other leagues.
It should also be noted that the NBA starts its regular season a week from today on October 27th. This means that the World Series, the NHL regular season, the start of the NBA regular season, and the NFL regular season will be going on at the same time. Obviously, there is split attention for all three of those. And, unless your team is in the World Series, I am not convinced the general sports fan is going to be focused on the World Series.
If the regular season was trimmed, there would be no interference from the NBA and significantly less interference from the NFL. There would be more eyeballs on Major League Baseball, and I guarantee you that is what Bud Selig wants. The game of baseball needs it!
