MLB should change to 16 Game Season like NFL?

[Carlanga]

I don't always watch a full game, when I am in the car I have it on the radio. My phone updates me with scores. Who says you have to sit in front of a TV for 4 hours to enjoy baseball? The pace is casual, and that is what I like about it.

You can do that w/ any sport though If it's a team I like, I watch ESPN and see what happened in the summary, but aren't we basically talking about customer acquisition in this thread though? Doing that negates what MLB wants you as a customer to do, which is to be physically watching games on the specific channels watching the specific ads for companies, etc and if the die hard fans like yourself are not doing it, that has to be hurting the $ bottom-line of the game itself.

 

[MacNut]

You can do that w/ any sport though If it's a team I like, I watch ESPN and see what happened in the summary, but aren't we basically talking about customer acquisition in this thread though? Doing that negates what MLB wants you as a customer to do, which is to be physically watching games on the specific channels watching the specific ads for companies, etc and if the die hard fans like yourself are not doing it, that has to be hurting the $ bottom-line of the game itself.

If there is a Yankee game on and I am near a TV I am watching the game over any thing else on TV. But I am not always near a TV. But I still know what is going on in the game.

As for football you have to be in front of the TV on Sunday, well it is the only day to watch so you do it. Baseball is a long haul, 6 months worth, you can afford to miss a game or 2. You can't do that with football.

Baseball is a regional sport. People pay attention to their team, unlike football where you get overloaded with everything.

 

[Plutonius]

If there is a Yankee game on and I am near a TV I am watching the game over any thing else on TV. But I am not always near a TV. But I still know what is going on in the game.

As for football you have to be in front of the TV on Sunday, well it is the only day to watch so you do it. Baseball is a long haul, 6 months worth, you can afford to miss a game or 2. You can't do that with football.

Baseball is a regional sport. People pay attention to their team, unlike football where you get overloaded with everything.

I also am more likely to watch a baseball game then other sport but it has to have the Red Sox playing . If the Red Sox aren't playing, I'll watch a few innings before changing it to something else.

One of my favorite sports on TV used to be golf. There is little dead time since they are constantly switching between players. Without Tiger playing this year, I haven't watched any golf lately.

 

[carjakester]

I also am more likely to watch a baseball game then other sport but it has to have the Red Sox playing . If the Red Sox aren't playing, I'll watch a few innings before changing it to something else.

One of my favorite sports on TV used to be golf. There is little dead time since they are constantly switching between players. Without Tiger playing this year, I haven't watched any golf lately.

Not to mention it is fantastic to take a nap to!

 

[rdowns]

There is probably more game action in a 5 minute span of a baseball game then there is in an NFL game. No stoping to move the chains, or check a replay, or a commercial.

Don't forget that a NFL game is 1 hour, yet it takes 3 to play.

That's ridiculous. Ball scratching takes up 14 minutes of every MLB game.

Seriously, the average NFL game has a little over 12 minutes of action and baseball has 14 minutes. I use the term action very loosely in describing baseball.

 

[cambookpro]

Sorry if it's slightly off topic, but 162 games?!?

I thought you were all describing how many games should be played in total... Not by one team in a season!

How do you Yanks manage to follow baseball? Surely your team is playing more often than not - doesn't it sort of decrease the excitement? When my local football (soccer) team is playing, I'm usually excited, but they only play 40 games a year. I couldn't imagine what it would be like having a game almost every day - I'd probably lose interest after a while.

Maybe it's different following baseball - do you sort of drift in and out, checking the results in batches?

 

[ucfgrad93]

How do you Yanks manage to follow baseball? Surely your team is playing more often than not - doesn't it sort of decrease the excitement?

The Colorado Rockies played 28 games in June which means only 2 days off. Playing that many games means that if I miss a game there is another one soon.

 

[oldhifi]

16 Games? Football season is not here yet!

 

[rhett7660]

Nope. I like it just it just the way it is.

 

[SMDBill]

Okay maybe 16 games is too short, but 162 is way too many. I don't know how the players do it.

18 Games in the NFL is too many. It would only create more injuries and even more lawsuits from head injuries. It's just too physically demanding of a sport.

The NFL should cut the preseason schedule. No one really watches those--or do they?

What's the endgame to changing the season length or number of games? To whose benefit are your ideas aimed? Financially it's a loss for everyone, for spectators it's a loss. Who gains by the changes? Knowing what the intended gain would be is critical to the discussion.

 

[ucfgrad93]

What's the endgame to changing the season length or number of games? To whose benefit are your ideas aimed? Financially it's a loss for everyone, for spectators it's a loss. Who gains by the changes? Knowing what the intended gain would be is critical to the discussion.

I think the financial endgame is keeping players in the game longer. A shorter season is less taxing physically which helps keep players healthy.

 

[Tomorrow]

I think the financial endgame is keeping players in the game longer. A shorter season is less taxing physically which helps keep players healthy.

We're talking about baseball, though. What's the ratio of players whose careers end due to injury relative to players whose careers end due to age or declining skills? And how does that ratio compare to that of football? I don't have the numbers myself, but I imagine it's quite different.

 

[outback1313]

As someone said baseball is a Summer sport so I could realistically see:

May 4 Games
June 4 Games
July 4 Games
August 4 Games
September: Playoffs & World Series

Baseball would be so much better like this.

 

[MacNut]

We're talking about baseball, though. What's the ratio of players whose careers end due to injury relative to players whose careers end due to age or declining skills? And how does that ratio compare to that of football? I don't have the numbers myself, but I imagine it's quite different.

The average career for a major leaguer is 5.6 years.

Average NFL players career is 3.5 years.

----------

As someone said baseball is a Summer sport so I could realistically see:

May 4 Games
June 4 Games
July 4 Games
August 4 Games
September: Playoffs & World Series

Baseball would be so much better like this.

Do you even know the game and how stupid this would be?

How much of this thread is trolling or just plain ignorance.

 

[outback1313]

The average career for a major leaguer is 5.6 years.

Average NFL players career is 3.5 years.

----------

Do you even know the game and how stupid this would be?

How much of this thread is trolling or just plain ignorance.

I've been watching the game for 25 years now. What is ignorant about 16 games--they do it in the NFL.

 

[MacNut]

I've been watching the game for 25 years now. What is ignorant about 16 games--they do it in the NFL.

How can you have 31 teams all play 16 games? You would have to either contract half of the teams and get rid of the leagues and divisions. How do you go from a 162 season that has been that way for over 60 years and condense it down to 16 games?

 

[Tomorrow]

As someone said baseball is a Summer sport so I could realistically see:

May 4 Games
June 4 Games
July 4 Games
August 4 Games
September: Playoffs & World Series

Baseball would be so much better like this.

People who actually like baseball would likely disagree. Asking to watch fewer games seems to suggest that you don't like baseball to begin with.

The average career for a major leaguer is 5.6 years.

Average NFL players career is 3.5 years.

Doesn't answer my question.

 

[MacNut]

People who actually like baseball would likely disagree. Asking to watch fewer games seems to suggest that you don't like baseball to begin with.



Doesn't answer my question.

5.6 years and the average player plays 140 games a season. So that would equal 784 games a career.

3.5 years for a average NFL player lets say they play a full season would be 56 games a career. So the NFL player is playing harder and not lasting as long.

 

[hallux]

If you want the tickets affordable for "the average Joe", the season needs to stay at 162 games. Tickets are reasonable for baseball BECAUSE of the number of home games each season. Cut out 90% of those and you see ticket prices approaching those of football games ($100+ for nosebleed vs. $20-$30 each for upper deck as it stands now).

Personally, I like baseball as it is. There's still plenty of strategy involved, there's a history to the game as it's played right now. The one thing I DO dislike is the addition of replay.

 

[Moyank24]

I think the financial endgame is keeping players in the game longer. A shorter season is less taxing physically which helps keep players healthy.

Probably a double-edged sword. A shorter season would also mean lower salaries...

We're talking about baseball, though. What's the ratio of players whose careers end due to injury relative to players whose careers end due to age or declining skills? And how does that ratio compare to that of football? I don't have the numbers myself, but I imagine it's quite different.

I'm not sure how easy it is to compare. Especially with much more "violent" injuries occurring in football.

A career ending injury in MLB may be Tommy John surgery for a 39 year old pitcher, while TJ surgery for a 24 year old pitcher may not be career ending.

There have been a boatload of arm/elbow injuries this year in baseball and it's been a hot point of discussion. I don't think it's necessarily the 162 game season that is the cause, but more so the increased amount of baseball played by kids these days (I go to games now and have seen 12-13 year olds throwing 12-6 curve balls. They're going to regret that 15 years from now). By the time a kid is 21 or 22 they just have a lot more wear and tear then they used to.

Also, in baseball at least, there are a few factors that can actually extend a career. First, the DH can extend a career a good while (Oritz would have been done years ago without it).

 

[Tomorrow]

5.6 years and the average player plays 140 games a season. So that would equal 784 games a career.

3.5 years for a average NFL player lets say they play a full season would be 56 games a career. So the NFL player is playing harder and not lasting as long.

That still doesn't address how many players' skills are simply declining or they're being replaced by younger, better, up-and-comers; and how many are becoming injured and unable to continue their careers.

Simply saying that reducing the number of games on a baseball league's schedule will necessarily lengthen most players' careers is following flawed logic, unless we can first establish either (1) a player has a finite number of games his body can play, with NO regard to whether they're all played in one season or spread out over many seasons (i.e. age is not a factor), or (2) playing more games leads to more injuries, and injuries are why players' careers are cut short. I suspect the truth lies somewhere in between, but where? And where is that line drawn for football? I suspect it's different from baseball in that regard.

 

[Moyank24]

That still doesn't address how many players' skills are simply declining or they're being replaced by younger, better, up-and-comers; and how many are becoming injured and unable to continue their careers.

Simply saying that reducing the number of games on a baseball league's schedule will necessarily lengthen most players' careers is following flawed logic, unless we can first establish either (1) a player has a finite number of games his body can play, with NO regard to whether they're all played in one season or spread out over many seasons (i.e. age is not a factor), or (2) playing more games leads to more injuries, and injuries are why players' careers are cut short. I suspect the truth lies somewhere in between, but where? And where is that line drawn for football? I suspect it's different from baseball in that regard.

I think it's just flawed logic.

 

[MacNut]

That still doesn't address how many players' skills are simply declining or they're being replaced by younger, better, up-and-comers; and how many are becoming injured and unable to continue their careers.

Simply saying that reducing the number of games on a baseball league's schedule will necessarily lengthen most players' careers is following flawed logic, unless we can first establish either (1) a player has a finite number of games his body can play, with NO regard to whether they're all played in one season or spread out over many seasons (i.e. age is not a factor), or (2) playing more games leads to more injuries, and injuries are why players' careers are cut short. I suspect the truth lies somewhere in between, but where? And where is that line drawn for football? I suspect it's different from baseball in that regard.

Players in Japan are lasting longer than US players. And they are throwing and playing harder. Is it the training here or how they are brought up as kids.

Plus they get a lot more rest during a 162 game season then a NFL player gets during a 16 game season.

Now add in spring training and post season and you are playing 8-9 months.

Baseball goes at a slower pace. But the players are arguably getting to fit and built up to play.

 

[outback1313]

Players in Japan are lasting longer than US players. And they are throwing and playing harder. Is it the training here or how they are brought up as kids.

Plus they get a lot more rest during a 162 game season then a NFL player gets during a 16 game season.

Now add in spring training and post season and you are playing 8-9 months.

Baseball goes at a slower pace. But the players are arguably getting to fit and built up to play.

I thought the Japanese have smaller balls?

 

[MacNut]

I thought the Japanese have smaller balls?

No I think you are thinking about their...