BASE-BALL

[DTComposer]

Shortening the season completely changes the dynamic of the league.  Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint.  All statistics for the longest running professional sport in America would be invalidated.  Terrible idea to mess with history like that.

So what if it's snowing in some places while the world series is going on? I welcome the day when a World Series game is postponed due to a snowstorm in Minneapolis.  Because it will be hilarious.

Aren't player statistics are compared against the entire "modern era" (i.e. starting in 1901)? We're not adjusting Babe Ruth's home run total because he only played 154-game seasons.

I'd be fine with going back to 154 games. Expand to 32 teams (Portland and Charlotte), four divisions of four teams in each league.

18 games each against division teams
7 games each against one other division in league (in rotation)
5 games each against two other divisions in league (in rotation)
5 games each against corresponding division in other league (i.e. NL West vs. AL West)
3 games each against one other division in other league (in rotation)

Eight-team playoff bracket in each league. First round is best-of-three, other rounds stay as they are. World Series ends no later than the last Sunday in October.

[nexus73]

Shortening the season completely changes the dynamic of the league.  Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint.  All statistics for the longest running professional sport in America would be invalidated.  Terrible idea to mess with history like that.

So what if it's snowing in some places while the world series is going on? I welcome the day when a World Series game is postponed due to a snowstorm in Minneapolis.  Because it will be hilarious.

Aren't player statistics are compared against the entire "modern era" (i.e. starting in 1901)? We're not adjusting Babe Ruth's home run total because he only played 154-game seasons.

I'd be fine with going back to 154 games. Expand to 32 teams (Portland and Charlotte), four divisions of four teams in each league.

18 games each against division teams
7 games each against one other division in league (in rotation)
5 games each against two other divisions in league (in rotation)
5 games each against corresponding division in other league (i.e. NL West vs. AL West)
3 games each against one other division in other league (in rotation)

Eight-team playoff bracket in each league. First round is best-of-three, other rounds stay as they are. World Series ends no later than the last Sunday in October.

I like your idea.  Not only do we get the World Series to end earlier, we also get the chance of a matchup between two teams that never played each other in the regular season.  Good Job Bob award for your plan!

Rick

[Alps]

the world series just ended in October. that's all I ever ask.

[1995hoo]

[1995hoo]

Very, very cool:

[kendancy66]

The first year the Nationals played in DC, the Astros lost the World Series.
The most recent year the Nationals played in DC, the Astros lost the World Series.

The Astros are the only team to win an AL and NL title. The Milwaukee Brewers are the only other team that can currently accomplish this. They have AL title from 1982 and are in the NL now



iPhone

[Mark68]

This also ends a 95 year wait for Washington DC, including 33 years in which it was impossible for the city to celebrate one title as they didn't have a MLB team.

It can be said that they really didn't have an MLB team even longer than the 33 years, as the 2nd iteration of the Senators only once finished higher than 8th (6th in 1967) in the 10-team AL and never higher than 4th (1969--albeit with a winning record) in the 6-team AL East before moving to Texas in 1972.

In the last 15 years before the original Senators moved to Minnesota in 1961, they finished 4th (out of 8) once, 5th three times (including 1952 & 53, the only years of .500 or better records in this stretch), 6th once, 7th four times and 8th (last) place five times (including 4 out of 5 seasons from 1955-59).

They were bad. So one could say that there really hadn't been a "major league" quality team in Washington for 60 years (1946-2005). The old(est) Senators did finish 2nd in 1945, only 1 1/2 games back.

[Henry]

As if losing the World Series wasn't bad enough for the Astros, they may face harsh penalties for cheating their way to their own championship in 2017:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28116718/mlb-commissioner-says-punishments-severe-sign-stealing-scandal

While I wouldn't call them MLB's version of the New England Patriots (at least not yet anyway), they're also the same team whose ballpark once had Enron's name on it, and we all remember how that went down, so scandal runs deep in Houston.

[kevinb1994]

As if losing the World Series wasn't bad enough for the Astros, they may face harsh penalties for cheating their way to their own championship in 2017:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28116718/mlb-commissioner-says-punishments-severe-sign-stealing-scandal

While I wouldn't call them MLB's version of the New England Patriots (at least not yet anyway), they're also the same team whose ballpark once had Enron's name on it, and we all remember how that went down, so scandal runs deep in Houston.

It probably won't be long before that happens, though. As ZZ Top themselves said, there's Heaven, Hell, and Houston.

[MNHighwayMan]

While I wouldn't call them MLB's version of the New England Patriots

Nah, that's the Yankees.

[Max Rockatansky]

Stealing signs is common place in all levels of baseball whether or not MLB wants to believe that. 

[Alps]

While I wouldn't call them MLB's version of the New England Patriots

Nah, that's the Yankees.

Please show me an example of umpires favoring the Yankees, or of the Yankees owner and family partying with the MLB commissioner and family.

[Rothman]

While I wouldn't call them MLB's version of the New England Patriots

Nah, that's the Yankees.

Please show me an example of umpires favoring the Yankees, or of the Yankees owner and family partying with the MLB commissioner and family.

9-1!

[Alps]

While I wouldn't call them MLB's version of the New England Patriots

Nah, that's the Yankees.

Please show me an example of umpires favoring the Yankees, or of the Yankees owner and family partying with the MLB commissioner and family.

9-1!

September 1st? A 9-1 win? 8?

[hotdogPi]

While I wouldn't call them MLB's version of the New England Patriots

Nah, that's the Yankees.

Please show me an example of umpires favoring the Yankees, or of the Yankees owner and family partying with the MLB commissioner and family.

9-1!

September 1st? A 9-1 win? 8?

I checked the game on September 1. On that day, the Yankees had a come-from-behind win, winning 5-4, so that might be what he was referring to. However, I'm not seeing any controversy for that game; the win was legitimate.

The Yankees won 9-1 on September 19. Nothing unusual that day, either.

[jp the roadgeek]

While I wouldn't call them MLB's version of the New England Patriots

Nah, that's the Yankees.

Please show me an example of umpires favoring the Yankees, or of the Yankees owner and family partying with the MLB commissioner and family.

Jeffrey Maier. Clearly fan interference.

The whole A-Rod fiasco when the Players Union blocked his trade to the Red Sox, but they were a-ok with the Yankees trade (ended up being the best trade the Sox never made).

A game a few years ago where Big Papi was called out on strikes on a pitch that was 3 feet outside.

[Mark68]

Stealing signs is common place in all levels of baseball whether or not MLB wants to believe that. 

While this is true, the issue with the Astros is the use of technology to do so. That is expressly forbidden. An individual player stealing signs is one thing, however, this is the systematic use of technological devices.

[NWI_Irish96]

While I wouldn't call them MLB's version of the New England Patriots

Nah, that's the Yankees.

Please show me an example of umpires favoring the Yankees, or of the Yankees owner and family partying with the MLB commissioner and family.

Jeffrey Maier. Clearly fan interference.

The whole A-Rod fiasco when the Players Union blocked his trade to the Red Sox, but they were a-ok with the Yankees trade (ended up being the best trade the Sox never made).

A game a few years ago where Big Papi was called out on strikes on a pitch that was 3 feet outside.

So the umpire was unfair to the steroid cheater.  Sounds like a wash.

[Max Rockatansky]

Stealing signs is common place in all levels of baseball whether or not MLB wants to believe that. 

While this is true, the issue with the Astros is the use of technology to do so. That is expressly forbidden. An individual player stealing signs is one thing, however, this is the systematic use of technological devices.

Yes, I'm not condoning the action I'm just not surprised that in a sport that has had some historical issues with cheating that someone else found a way to do it. 

[Alps]

While I wouldn't call them MLB's version of the New England Patriots

Nah, that's the Yankees.

Please show me an example of umpires favoring the Yankees, or of the Yankees owner and family partying with the MLB commissioner and family.

Jeffrey Maier. Clearly fan interference.

The whole A-Rod fiasco when the Players Union blocked his trade to the Red Sox, but they were a-ok with the Yankees trade (ended up being the best trade the Sox never made).

A game a few years ago where Big Papi was called out on strikes on a pitch that was 3 feet outside.

Maier happened years before video review. That would have been overturned nowadays.
I've seen games in 2019 with horrible strike calls. Prove they're 8biased toward one team. You can't.
Sux tried to lower the cash value of A Fraud's contact. Yankees didn't. Simple as that  You're right in your conclusion though.

[Beltway]

The New York Yankees have always been the Best Team that Money Can Buy.

The result of not having a salary cap in MLB, and Greater NYC being by far the largest metropolitan media market in the country, dating all the way back to the late 1800s when MLB was founded.

[Alps]

The New York Yankees have always been the Best Team that Money Can Buy.

The result of not having a salary cap in MLB, and Greater NYC being by far the largest metropolitan media market in the country, dating all the way back to the late 1800s when MLB was founded.

Take a look at who's been spending the most lately and get back to me.

[Beltway]

The New York Yankees have always been the Best Team that Money Can Buy.
The result of not having a salary cap in MLB, and Greater NYC being by far the largest metropolitan media market in the country, dating all the way back to the late 1800s when MLB was founded.

Take a look at who's been spending the most lately and get back to me.

32 of their 40 pennants were before 1980, and 36 before 2000.

Things have evened out some in recent years.

[dlsterner]

Stealing signs is common place in all levels of baseball whether or not MLB wants to believe that.

Stealing signs, in and of itself, is mostly looked upon as "gamesmanship".  If an opponent is careless with obscuring their signals I have no issues with players taking advantage of that.  I guess the line is drawn when technology comes into play (like cameras and microphones) as opposed to human observation.

[Stephane Dumas]

This one come late, it's from last October. The 2 independent leagues, the Cam-Am league and the Frontier league had merged.
https://www.courierpress.com/story/sports/baseball/otters/2019/10/16/frontier-league-announces-merger-can-am-league/3977863002/

The Frontier League, the longest-running independent league in professional baseball, announced Wednesday it will merge with the Can-Am League for the 2020 season.

It will create North America's largest league in independent baseball as five Can-Am teams join nine from the Frontier League, including the Evansville Otters, who will remain the oldest franchise.

The league will continue to be called the Frontier League.

"For those of us who have been in this business for a long time, to see where this thing can go, we're so excited for the future," Frontier League commissioner Bill Lee said during a news conference, noting discussions had been ongoing for two years.

"Bringing the 14 teams from basically the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River, we want to make sure this thing can grow and watch our industry grow with it."

There will be two divisions. One will be called the Cam-Am Division, which will include its legacy members in the New Jersey Jackals, Quebec Capitales, Rockland Boulders, Sussex County Miners and Trois-Rivieres Aigles as well as the Washington Wild Things and Lake Erie Crushers.

The Midwestern Division will then include the Evansville Otters, Florence Freedom, Gateway Grizzlies, Joliet Slammers, Schaumburg Boomers, Southern Illinois Miners and the Windy City ThunderBolts.

The Frontier League has never had more than 14 active teams since it was established in 1993.