Good history lesson. Enjoyed that. The umpires and protection differences I did not realize was believed to sway the height of the strike zone. Very cool info.
I've said it many times on my blog. Less is more when it comes to teams in a league. Less is also more when it comes to how many of those franchises make the playoffs. What we have right now is the max (40%) that I can get behind. Keep adding more to the postseason bracket and the regular season is about as boring and pointless as the NBA and NHL. I've always loved the great division races of old, and the fight for one or two wild card spots. However, I despise what Manfred and company did by taking away Game 163.
Remember the Dbacks being the odd team last year when tying the Braves and Mets for the final two wild card spots? It was sadly settled by tiebreaker numbers rather than on the field as it always was done. It used to make that final weekend of the regular season filled with exciting possible one-game tiebreak scenarios. Taking that away has diminished so much of what once made baseball races exciting.
Add two more teams and the league will continue to see a decline in meaningful games. Expansion is a money grab, much like this idea of expanding March Madness to more teams. Awful.
Thanks Justin. You know that expansion marches on. Yes it's always about money and turf. But I'm hoping MLB will try to keep longtime fans in mind when they make changes. I'm not necessarily optimistic.
Baseball traditions have slowly changed over the years, as Mark's story pointed out. Uniforms now have advertising. I'm surprised fields don't have advertising, just as the ice at NHL rinks have them. Change is inevitable. I'm a traditionalist, but it seems we are a shrinking minority.
Great piece, Mark. It seems like the distinctiveness between the different leagues has effectively been scrapped already. Do you think there's movement toward shedding the leagues-in-names-only in favor of conferences? I imagine MLB will proceed with the structure you describe but changing the names would just needlessly irritate longtime fans...you know what, now that I think about it, I'm sure they'll do that, too.
Thanks Paul. Irritating is right! I'd like to think there is a way to keep the leagues separate as a nod to baseball's long history. But I'm not counting on it!
Next they’ll be using whiffle balls and bats and ghost runners.
We're already halfway there! Thanks!
Good history lesson. Enjoyed that. The umpires and protection differences I did not realize was believed to sway the height of the strike zone. Very cool info.
I've said it many times on my blog. Less is more when it comes to teams in a league. Less is also more when it comes to how many of those franchises make the playoffs. What we have right now is the max (40%) that I can get behind. Keep adding more to the postseason bracket and the regular season is about as boring and pointless as the NBA and NHL. I've always loved the great division races of old, and the fight for one or two wild card spots. However, I despise what Manfred and company did by taking away Game 163.
Remember the Dbacks being the odd team last year when tying the Braves and Mets for the final two wild card spots? It was sadly settled by tiebreaker numbers rather than on the field as it always was done. It used to make that final weekend of the regular season filled with exciting possible one-game tiebreak scenarios. Taking that away has diminished so much of what once made baseball races exciting.
Add two more teams and the league will continue to see a decline in meaningful games. Expansion is a money grab, much like this idea of expanding March Madness to more teams. Awful.
Thanks Justin. You know that expansion marches on. Yes it's always about money and turf. But I'm hoping MLB will try to keep longtime fans in mind when they make changes. I'm not necessarily optimistic.
Baseball traditions have slowly changed over the years, as Mark's story pointed out. Uniforms now have advertising. I'm surprised fields don't have advertising, just as the ice at NHL rinks have them. Change is inevitable. I'm a traditionalist, but it seems we are a shrinking minority.
Thanks John. We can only hope they'll keep fans desires in mind.
It will happen as soon as two new teams enter MLB. It may be a negotiation point in the next CBA as the piece mentioned broadcast rights.
It is what it is.
I like the divisions you came up with (Mets and Yankees in different divisions. I can't stand 6 games of a Subway Series, let alone any more)
Great piece, Mark. It seems like the distinctiveness between the different leagues has effectively been scrapped already. Do you think there's movement toward shedding the leagues-in-names-only in favor of conferences? I imagine MLB will proceed with the structure you describe but changing the names would just needlessly irritate longtime fans...you know what, now that I think about it, I'm sure they'll do that, too.
Thanks Paul. Irritating is right! I'd like to think there is a way to keep the leagues separate as a nod to baseball's long history. But I'm not counting on it!
It seems as regrettable to me as it seems inevitable.
Scrapping the separate leagues would be a huge loss for the history of the game. Baseball's history is what separates it from other sports.
I'm with you on this!