Why Pro baseball has lost me (TLDR,TYIA)

Slow time so I will toss this out there.......

Anybody lose interest in professional baseball? I can't stand to watch it right now. I love college baseball (aluminum bats, kids have passion, etc) but the pro game has lost me and I think that they have lost others as well.

So, how do they get the casual fan back? A few suggestions (some radical):

1. Shorten the season. Playing 162 games is too much.

2. Do what many minor leagues do and play "two halves". First half champion and a second half champion make the playoffs. Throw in wild cards. The problem is that many teams (Braves example) will essentially be eliminated before the season is half over. Wiping the "slate clean" at the half way point gives all teams something to play for throughout.

3. Shorten the games.......I know that MLB has tried to implement some stuff to shorten the games but what does it save like 2-3 minutes per game. 9 innings and a three hour game is too long. I like the idea of games being 7 innings.

I understand that these will never happen and that some will consider messing with our national past time "Un-American".

Thoughts on how to get baseball back?

cu232

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Jun 7, 2016, 1:58 PM

I’ve got three big reasons why I don’t watch pro baseball anymore. Two are time related and one is just quality of life related.

1)Commercials: Advertising in general has gotten progressively worse but I especially don’t need 2-5 minute breaks between each team’s at-bat. That’s 30-45 minutes of wasted time and that doesn’t include breaks during pitching changes. This also hurts live game experiences.

Solution: Implement a soccer solution of never taking commercial breaks. Give them the 7th inning stretch or the banner ones used in US soccer coverage. But greed probably makes this unlikely.

2)Velcro/Pitching Clock: It annoys the #### out of me when baseball players have to readjust the Velcro on their #### batting gloves after every at bat. I understand they are usually doing this to take a mental break to try and guess what’s coming next. Stop it, and additionally enforce the pitching clock. If you look at the average time between pitches at the college and pro level you’ll see what I’m talking about. Multiply that difference by the average number of at-bats per game and it adds up.

Solution: For batters, no more stepping out of the box but once per at bat or per request for time to the ump, which he should rarely grant except on unique situations like extreme inside pitches. Stay in the #### box and get ready for the next pitch. For pitchers there is already a clock rule in mlb for pitchers but it is never enforced, start now. And if after enforcing it, things don’t speed up, shorten it. If batters can’t have as much time to think, pitchers don’t get it either. Besides, the pitcher and catcher work together to select pitches; they don’t need as much time.

3)Automate the strike zone: I played baseball from tee ball through high school so I understand the argument of “it’s part of the character of the game.” And this really hasn’t started bothering me until maybe the last 5-6 years but here’s my counter. The prevailing belief among fans for over a hundred years was, yeah, there may be a bad call here or there but over the course of a game it will even out. And that thought was mostly unchallenged because we watched it live or on a grainy TV. However, HD TV and instant replay has not just become common but is now a staple of the sports experience (I know I love how we get instant replays, even on controversial calls in Death Valley, and feel the loss when I go to other venues that don’t have that practice). With these technological advances has come the ability for even the casual fan to see for themselves, instantly what the right call is. In fact, because of camera angles and TV coverage, often times the fans see the right call better than the ump could have. So it becomes very frustrating when over the course of a game, fans see balls called strikes and strikes called balls. Pitchers getting out of tough spots thanks to their ability to “expand the strike zone.” I know there have been numerous stories in recent years about how many major leaguers track umpire tendencies and even the best ways to manipulate them. I have always been of the belief that umps and refs should never make themselves part of the game. That’s what happens when umps call balls strikes and strikes balls.

Solution: Automate the strike zone. I don’t know exactly how, but I think the expectation is, with all this great technology we have now, there has to be a way. By the way, this won’t eliminate an ump. He’ll still have to decide on whether a batter really offered or not; dropped third strikes; plays at the plate; etc. But it should make it easier for all players to know what’s expected at the plate. Pitchers and batters don’t have to worry about a strike zone that moves. Catchers don’t have to frame pitches. Fans don’t get frustrated when they see one pitcher get calls that the other doesn’t get.

Anyways, I know that was a long read and most didn’t make it this far but that’s my 2 cents. I love college ball and watch it every year. I haven’t watched a pro game in a while. My fiancé won’t go to a pro game but loves to go to our local team’s games and I suspect it is the pace of play.

Go Tigers!

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Pro Baseball..........

Re: Pro Baseball..........***

Well, you offered "solutions," but didn't say

Re: Well, you offered "solutions," but didn't say

Re: Well, you offered "solutions," but didn't say

Re: Well, you offered "solutions," but didn't say

Well, MLB is still getting very high

The Braves eliminated themselves last year - you can

ALL pro sports seasons are way too long

Re: Pro Baseball..........

Football games, college in particular, are longer than most

Why Pro baseball has lost me (TLDR,TYIA)

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