Ever since the NBA and NHL playoffs have ended, there has been a lull in the sports world. Some of you may disagree, given the captivating World Cup games, epic matches at Wimbledon and a multitude of baseball games everyday. Personally, this is my favorite time of year, but my most disinterested in terms of sports. Soccer fans will be immersed in the World Cup for a month, but that only comes around once every four years. Tennis fans will be glued to their televisions for two weeks of high quality grass court battles, only to be disappointed to realize the US Open is still almost two months away. Baseball fans are certainly getting their daily fix, but c'mon, even for the die-hards it has to be tough to get jacked up for every single regular season game. The hockey and basketball seasons are 82 games before the playoffs begin, and I'm starting to think its time for baseball to shorten their regular season by at least 40 games. You would still have plenty of games for teams to make late season surges, and it would make the season less monotonous. I'm speaking from a casual baseball fan's standpoint while presenting this idea, but also realizing that in the scheme of things a 40-game trim would not take away a whole lot from die-hards. There are so many great things about the game of baseball, including the strategic play and little decisions made throughout the course of a game by a manager that have such a great impact on the outcome. These things go unnoticed by many people while watching baseball, who will only see lots of down time between pitches, at bats, etc. I've heard people complain about, "Why do they keep throwing over to first?" not realizing the strategy behind the pitcher and first baseman's attempt to keep the runner close to the bag and prevent a steal. For all of its intricacies, highlight reel homers and 'web gems,' baseball is lacking in its appeal to the "social" or casual fan. Shortening the season would be the first step in trying to reach this market of fans, making each game more meaningful and create less of a mid-season lull. Secondly, once the NFL season begins, even the pre-season, the MLB automatically takes a backseat to football. The home stretch of the MLB regular season and the playoffs are simultaneously occurring with the first two months of the NFL season. While playoff baseball is much more exciting than regular season baseball, it will still be hard for these playoff games to outshine Thursday, Sunday and Monday football games in the ratings during September and October. If the MLB could find a way to schedule the season so that the playoffs could conclude roughly by the time the NFL regular season begins, they would avoid conflicting sports schedules, have the opportunity to have more eyes on their games and potentially earn more revenue from ticket sales. Die hard baseball fans may respond by saying, "this is America's pastime, we shouldn't have to change anything about our league," but if you look at all of the other leagues, they are continually innovating and experimenting with new things; since they know they are in competition with one another. The NHL is implementing more outdoor games to appeal to audiences with the 'Winter Classic' and the 'Stadium Series.' The NBA is adding new jerseys and on-court apparel for players in the hopes that this will translate in an increase of sales in merchandise. The NFL added 'Thursday Night Football' on now a multitude of networks (CBS and NFL Network) to gain viewers more nights of the week. While the NFL has been the clear-cut market leader for sometime now, each league is constantly trying to improve and outdo the other. Whether the MLB implements a scheduling change or not is completely unknown, and it does not appear that it will happen soon; but if they want to make the regular season more meaningful and appealing to common fans, they should consider this option.
