I'm sure that the story line from Major League Baseball's communications department today is the wild finish early this morning in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series between the Yankees and the Angels, with the Yankees pulling off yet another of their comeback victories. (Who ever thought that Jerry Hairston, Jr. would score the winning run in the 13th inning?) But the storyline they want everyone to ignore and to keep ignoring is the weather. The weather in Yankee Stadium was 45 degrees Fahrenheit at game time with rain and wind, and with the championship series in both leagues yet to be completed, we stand a very good chance of playing the World Series in November which, I'll just state the obvious, is just a plain stupid idea: If you like playing baseball in the winter, go to the Caribbean.
We've reached this point because Major League Baseball is trying to generate as much revenue as possible by lengthening the season, and they have to generate revenue because, for one, player salaries have been on a rocket ship for 34 years. In 1975 when Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally won their landmark arbitration case, the average major leaguer made $45,238 for the season - this season, the average Yankee made over $7,748,000 on the highest-paid club in the majors. Even with record attendance and high TV and merchandising revenues, Major League Baseball is desperate for cash and will do anything, even extend the season past Halloween, to make more, even though this generates something else the owners would rather do without: Scorn.
Baseball is a summer sport. For 65 years, the World Series was played the first week of October when the weather was as near-perfect as possible and fan interest was high. Then, in 1969, baseball decided to add a best-of-five League Championship Series which the calendar could still support, and which helped extend the season of two more teams. This scheme was changed to a best-of-seven format in 1985 and then, in 1995, a best-of-five Division Series was added in both leagues, meaning that eight teams made it to the postseason rather than the original two. In 1903 when the first World Series was played between the Boston Pilgrims and the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Pilgrims managed to beat the Pirates five games to three but yet the season was over by 13 October and neither team played more than 148 games total. The following year, because of the interest the Series generated, the regular season was lengthened from 140 to 154 games which was acceptable since the playoffs were still limited to the Series, and in 1961 when the regular season was lengthened yet again to 162 games, it was still OK: The regular season was over by the end of September with the World Series concluded the same time it always was.
But beyond simply lengthening the season, baseball has changed the way most games are played. In decades past, teams traveled by train from city to city and needed more time in the schedule to accomodate it, and thus played more doubleheaders. Now the clubs fly, need less time for travel and play more three- and four-game series. In the old days, most games were played during the day. Now, most games are played at night to allow more fans to watch the game in person (preferably) or on cable TV (not as preferred but still OK since baseball gets a cut). We are therefore left with a baseball season that has been stretched at least three weeks past its normal limits and which is played at a leisurely pace, all to generate as much revenue as possible, a ludicrously long season that unnaturally overlaps football, hockey and even basketball and instead of creating more fan buzz, playoffs that create more material for late-night comedians, e.g., "C.C. Sabathia tried to master a new pitch the other night but just can't get the hang of the split-finger snowball."
What to do about this ridiculous situation? I have a few ideas. First, the regular season exists to eliminate those teams that just can't compete at a high level, and an extra eight games don't make much difference where that is concerned. Thus I would start by returning to the old 154-game schedule with Opening Day no later than 02 April. Second, I would schedule at least seven more doubleheaders during the regular season for each team, since travel time isn't the factor it was 75 years ago and every day saved in May and June would then be available in September and October. Third, scale the Division Series and League Championship Series back to best-of-five games each - eight teams could still make the playoffs but would have to prove very quickly who deserved to play in the World Series. And last, I would dictate with absolute certainty that the seventh and deciding game of the World Series would be played not later than the fifteenth of October, network rights or marketing schemes or anything else notwithstanding. Baseball has survived scandals and wars and integration and strikes, but baseball cannot survive the image of playing in the snow and has to find a way out of this mess, and quickly.
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