Tradition matters. Records still somewhat matter. Has a sporting league ever reduced its schedule by 20% or more?

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Tradition matters to who? Playing regular season games in March and April is silly. So is having some post season games in near winter conditions.

Baseball faces problems bigger than the absurdity of 162 but the season is definitely unnecessarily long

Fwiw I think that all sports schedules are too long. Except for college football. Can never have enough college football. But I probably wouldn't notice or care if baseball was shortened by a week on each end.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

To the people who actually like the sport.

You still didn't respond to my question about sports leagues reducing the schedule.

The marketing of the game is the issue baseball is having with growing its fan base. Football is adding games and fans still want more.

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GO BEARS!!!

I never could get into college sports outside of the "playoffs". I followed college basketball somewhat in the 90's, but I've always preferred the pro game.

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Tradition matters to long time baseball fans. Take away tradition and the legit records and you have a dying sport.

Baseball should not be trying to cater to the new generation. It should be selling tradition to the new generation.

Baseball was never meant to be like football or basketball. It is meant to be played like a game of chess. Instead MLB has focused on the quick adrenaline plays like HR's, Strikeouts and.... that's it. Nothing else about baseball gets your heart pumping anymore.

Tradition would have you on the edge of your seat with a 3-2 count, 1out in the 9 inning and a man on 1st and 2nd. What are they going to do? double steal? Take the pitch and hope for a walk to load the bases? Try and dump a base hit to the opposite field to move the runners? Now it is either a HR or a strikeout.

Tradition is Ricky Henderson stealing bases, Ozzie Smith patrolling the infield, Frank Thomas working the count like a surgeon. T.Gwynn's swing of an artist, Ken Griffey's left handed swing of god.
Maddux's masterpieces, A.J's cunning, Santiago's gun behind the plate! Baseball was cool and every kid had baseball cards of his favorite players and dreamed of hitting a HR to win a game or pitch a no hitter. We didn't care about the length of the game because we were watching our heroes either hold a lead or come back to win. Each pitch, inning, game victory brought us closer to the dream of the division title, playoffs and then with a little miracle from god... a WORLD SERIES!

Nothing in sports was bigger then winning the World Series and every year we would watch, every game, every pitch, every day because we felt the struggle and the victories of our favorite team.

Tradition has been lost and most likely never return because the world has changed. We have changed with it and the next generation is addicted to Tik Tok, Snap Chat and fast passed instant gratification that will never enjoy the true spirit of baseball and will never understand the meaning of America's pastime.

They let go of "tradition" long ago. (replay, wild card, interleague, extra inning rules). That's a lame excuse.
The regular season is too long and if that means 162 games is too many, that's fine. They should be more concerned with WHEN and WHERE games are played as compared to a number. I've always liked interleague play, but would be more than happy to let it go if it shrunk regular season games to May 1 through mid-September. Baseball in April is stupid. Baseball in late October is stupid. Enough.

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I couldn't tell you how many HRs Bonds has. Everybody knows 162 is obsolete, except some dudes who use walkers.

This is a pretty sweet, well written post. Kudos.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I like the sport. The tradition doesn’t mean much to me in that I don’t use the hallowed magic numbers of the past as a barometer of instantly determining if a guy is having a good or great regular season.

I’m not 14 anymore. And this certainly isn’t 1998 anymore.

I do appreciate baseball history though and will always watch the game with a deep appreciation of its roots…..but with that said..

baseball isn’t facing a marketing problem. It’s facing a “not interesting” problem. I do agree that the marketing sucks. But there’s a lot about baseball that needs a lot of work. From the marketing, to its pacing, to the amount/location of teams, to the commissioner, to the current broadcasting silliness, etc.

It really is a mess of an institution right now.

And I didn’t answer your question about sports leagues reducing games by 20% because I don’t really see the point of me addressing it. Whether it has historical precedent or not is irrelevant. For baseball I believe it’s one of many things that needs to happen. But I’m also realistic enough to realize it’s not going to happen anytime soon.

Thanks, Dark. I post one of those every decade or so.

+1

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I'm not where you and others are yet. I'm the old man RESISTING change on this one. I genuinely believe that a better job marketing to kids would work better than tearing it down and rebuilding it. Maybe even kill all of the analytics guys.

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And each of those things is a problem with baseball.

Replay slows the game down and takes away the human element. Yes, you want to get the call correct, but at what cost? Is War War 3 going to start because there was a missed call? This is entertainment and like it or not, plays being missed is entertainment. It triggers emotions good and bad and that is GOOD for the sport.

Wild card spots are meant to keep fans engaged and to maximize the profits to pay these players contracts. 4 teams should make the playoffs. 2 American and 2 National. It makes each of the 162 games important. The playoffs are the best of the best and no lucky team will slide into a World Series that no one wants to watch. If teams can not compete with the best then reduce the number of teams. Get out of the league if you can't play at the grown ups table.

Interleague is horrible for the league. By having American vs National you have diluted the World Series, reduced the number of games against division rivals and taken some of the magic away from the All-Star game.

Extra-inning rules are a joke and piss on the graves off all the true iron men of the game who left blood, sweat and tears on the field for their team.

I have a different reason about being against replay. More Earl Weaver-type arguments.

I liked the pitcher in the NL. I agree that the number of interleague games is a problem. I'm okay with a couple of rivalry series.

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The pitcher in the NL made it the NL and the DH AL. Hate the new change. The rivalry series was cool the first couple years. Cubs vs Sox was must watch TV. Even when they where bad teams. Now it's just another series that the team with the losing record will say they don't care, blah blah, keep the stupid trophy. Means nothing losers!

I used to love the 1 game exhibition series as a kid. Didn't care it was scrubs because they had the Cub logo on their jersey and represented my team. Now it is just another series sadly.

I understand why the did the universal DH, but I preferred NL and AL being different.
There are only a few markets that truly benefit from interleague and we are one of them. It's long lost it's magic.

There are ways to improve and modernize the game, but the powers that be only care about revenue. It's been proven time and time again more revenue doesn't mean better product.

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re: your last point….yes I agree. I think it’s clear that owners and Manfred only care about maximizing profits from one CBA to the next. They don’t care about the sports long term health or preserving it as a national institution blah blah blah.

It’s all about that money bitch!!

Many of the recent changes have really hurt baseball in my opinion. The ridiculous extra innings rules are cringe-worthy, the DH in the NL was a bad move too. Expansion of playoffs as well. Tradition was the greatest virtue of MLB, now that they have deserted that, they have eroded their fan base. Sad days for baseball purists.

I don't think they've eroded their fan base. They haven't built on it. They have an aging fan base. Gambling won't help baseball the way it will for other sports

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It’s definitely eroded it. They made these radical changes to attract fans, it hasn’t worked, AND long time fans like me are repelled by these deviations from tradition.

Because they saw how playoff expansion and replay worked for other sports. Those sports marketed their game better. Even if they lost an "older" guy like you, they attracted 3 younger guys.

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GO BEARS!!!

The extra innings rules make extra inning games unwatchable rather than exciting.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I always tell my kids to be leaders and not followers. Followers always get left behind.

Great topic NAS. Enjoyed this debate more then any other thread on here in years.

The other thread about who had not gotten Covid also turned into a classy conversation without having to be moved to the Covid thread.

Guess some of us our mellowing out in our old age. Can't believe it's been 16years since I signed up to this board.

FYI, I chose juiced as my moniker because of B.Bonds and his run at the HR record. This was my first profile pic in 2006

Baseball now.

Players tanking with big money
Players constantly on IL with minimal injuries
Players voicing sjw views
Long guaranteed contracts with no team options
Teams 20 < .500 girly walk off celebrating
Pity party for millionaire trade deadline candidates
Leadership, culture, tone, being human nonsense
Productivity not important if great guy & leader
Data geeks non-baseball people emergence
Excuses for non production if same social/political view
Pushing the players are abused agenda in work stoppage
High exit velo, good looks out is praiseworthy
Lack of hard questioning by liberal media
Unworthy Hall of Fame inductees
Starting pitcher being devalued

The first thing that should happen is the elimination of replay review. Baseball isn't football. Football is nothing but a gambling vehicle where correct calls are critical.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

The very first thing they should do is eliminate the extra inning nonsense. I find that "rule" to be the most repelling change of all.

I've seen it suggested that today's players (mainly pitchers) need to be evaluated differently because this era demands "max effort" on every pitch, so they can't be expected to go more than five innings a game or 180 per year.

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Funny how starters go max effort 32 times, and relievers go max 65 times.