What's Wrong With Sports: Snowy Baseball

Baseball season has begun! That means 162 games over the next six months. And that doesn’t even include the extra month for playoffs in October (and into November).

When you think of baseball, what do you think of? Eating a hotdog in left field while soaking in the summer sun? Or bundled up avoiding snowflakes in 30 degree weather?

I think it’s quite obvious which scenario is more synonymous with the great American pastime. Then why is it that the season begins with snow still on the ground? Why is it that the most important games of the year, those playoff and World Series games, are played in 30-40 degree weather more often than not? The legitimacy of a World Series champion is compromised in my mind due to weather.

Why not fix this? There are a couple of very simple options that could make a baseball season that doesn’t last until the near winter months.

 

Option 1: Lessen the Number of Games

Now, I’m going to dismiss this just as quickly as I bring it up. But think about it for a minute. We have six months to play ball. That’s 26 weeks, 183 days. We need to somehow fit in there 162 games? If you don’t count the three or four days off around the All-Star Break, that’s 21 days without a game. That’s less than one per week (nearly one every other week once you factor in the All-Star Break days). So the obvious way to end the season sooner is to lessen the games. The season will end before snow is on the ground, and maybe the players could actually be somewhat rested for once!

I’ve said for years that the baseball season is too long and makes games insignificant. One game out of 162 is much less significant than one out of 82 in hockey or basketball, or one out of 16 in football. But the devil’s advocate has arisen in me. Even though each game is less significant, there are also less “streaky” teams as a result. A team has to be consistently good all year round to make the postseason in MLB, whereas recent Stanley Cup winners and Super Bowl champions have been teams who snuck into the playoffs and got hot at just the right time.

They won’t change it…its tradition. It’s been 162 games for…well, forever. Records and history would be adjusted (think of the asterisk beside Roger Maris’s 61 home runs). Show that you can be good all season through a huge amount of games. That’s what it takes to be the best in baseball, and that shouldn’t change.

Option 2: Start Later, End Sooner

Okay, James, you’ve already said that players are getting worn out by having only 21 days without a game over a 26 week stretch, now you want to shorten the span of the season?

Yes. Start the season on tax day: April 15. That extra two weeks will all but ensure that inclement weather will be a non-factor in 99% of MLB ballparks. Also, end the season a week earlier, so that the first week of playoffs still is in September. It should take 28 days AT MOST (if every single series goes the maximum number of games) to work through the playoffs (1 day plus 1 for travel for play-in, 5 games plus 2 travel day for the DS, 7 games plus 3 travel days for the CS, and 7 games plus 2 travel days for the WS). 

So doing the math, that means we have 23 weeks in which to play these games. That’s 162 games in 161 days. Anybody who passed third grade math knows that this means there have to be multiple games on the same day.

That’s precisely what I am proposing.

17 of the 23 Sundays are to be double-header Sundays. Teams have more than enough pitching to throw two games on the same day.  If teams average approximately one day off for each 11 days played (about the same as it is in the current system), that gives 13 days off (plus a three day All-Star Break) during the season. You average about one extra day in a row throughout the season, and you play double headers when you already have extremely deep pitching staffs.

Players are already given multiple days off during the year. And I have no problem with that. With this new system, you can even ENCOURAGE some start players to have a day of rest. It’s a business, and teams should do what is best for their team and players.  What is best is to not have the players throwing in 30 degree weather. What is best is to encourage proper rest between games for players. It makes sense for player safety to have the same number of games in a shorter period of time.

MLB used to have double-headers regularly. Now they are only scheduled for make-up game purposes. Why? Most likely due to economics: no double-headers means you can charge for two games. In double-headers, a fan sees two games for the price of one! Owners say that just cannot happen! And that’s ridiculous. Mandate double-headers, allow ticket prices to be 20% higher for the double-headers, and everybody wins. Players, fans, owners. Everybody wins.

But it will never happen. Traditionalists won’t let it happen, even though the original “tradition” was Sunday double-headers. Stick to the status-quo…that’s what’s wrong with sports.