Or at least make it a little more interesting.

The season is too long. The World Series begins Oct. 24. Game Seven would be played on Nov. 1. That’s ridiculous.

140 Games

Lop off 22 games in the season. That way the playoffs would begin in the middle of September. Game Seven of the World Series should be played sometime during the first week of October. Warmer weather is most likely a certainty if its played in cold-weather cities. Baseball sucks when it’s ass-cold and players are wearing winter hats on the field. Sure it’s cold in April at the start of the season, but those games and their conditions are well forgotten by the time the playoffs come around. Another reason for the shorter season – players won’t be ass tired. All I’ve heard from baseball people in the last few weeks is how guys are dragging ass because their tired or hurt. Is that how we want players to enter the playoffs? In a state of dick?

Attendance

You think attendance will suffer due to the deduction of games? How about it rises instead? The majority of teams, at least from I’ve seen, aren’t hosting sell-outs during the final weeks of the season. Take my own city’s Chicago White Sox. They were averaging probably 20,000 to 25,000 near the end (and for most of) the season. Those fans who would have attended home games between 140 and 162 will probably go to games earlier in the shorter season. So instead of having 20,000 at game 138 in a 162-season you might draw 28,000. It would affect a few teams that sell-out almost every game…but that’s only a few out of 30 teams. I think the positive outweighs the negatives.

Intensity and Less Injuries

A shorter season means more games mean something. Games earlier in the year would have more of a late-in-the-season feel to them. You might even see a return of a four-man rotation. Less bullshit. Less worrying about innings pitched by your star pitcher. Stephen Strasburg would be able to pitch in the playoffs. Most players don’t play every game in a 162 season anyway.

Less Days Off During Playoffs

I think they’ve improved on this compared to previous years, but it can be better. For example in the World Series, games 1 to 5 can be played with no off day. Game two could be a day game, which is better for the sport (think younger fans more likely to watch the game, especially if it’s a school night) if not for TV ratings, which suck anyway. Teams play that many games or more in a row in the regular season, so why change it for the playoffs? Plus, they’ll be less gassed because of the 140 game schedule.

Awards

I’ve heard this talked about by several sports radio hosts in Chicago and elsewhere, and I agree. Announce the season awards – MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, etc., during the playoffs. Maybe on the off days. To do this well after the World Series over is shit.

Wild Card

Thanks to the shorter regular season, you could make the Wild Card game a best of two out of three instead. And then maybe the Division Series can be seven games. So you lose some regular season games, yet add playoff ones. And still end the World Series on an early October night.

Uniforms

They’re called uniforms for a reason. What’s with all these teams that wear a dark jersey with white pants? They look like softball players in a beer league. The sport could use some better fashion. It’s one of the reasons I like the Yankees – the classic uniforms. More teams should emulate the Yanks when it comes to uniforms.

In closing, I tried to come up with a unique pic for this post that’s baseball related. I found this appropriate. Even though it sort of violates my rules when it comes to uniformity, how about the White Sox donning green and white uniforms as part of a “halfway to St. Patrick’s Day” game promotion. That’s not too dodgy.

 

 

Update Oct. 27: The World Series ratings are dismal. It’s too late in the season for anyone to care. Late October? College and Pro football have taken over. People are getting ready for the holidays. It’s too damn cold. I had a lot of interest in the first playoff series, right when the season ended. But it really putters out by the time the World Series rolls around. Shorten the season. The Fall Classic should have been long over by now. Nobody is watching.