Major League Baseball wonders why it's losing audience. After all, these are the PLAYOFFS. These are the games that mean something (after 162 other games). The World Series used to be a huge event. Now an episode of THE VOICE can beat it.
So what are some of the factors?
Imagine you’re plotting a movie and you decide to put your most suspenseful scenes right at the beginning and your least suspenseful scenes at the end. Kinda dumb, huh? Well, that’s the baseball playoffs.
They begin with two Wild Card games (one for each league) that is sudden death. All the marbles – ONE game. Can’t get higher stakes than that.
Then comes the four Division Series. Those are the best three of five games. So again, the stakes are pretty high. You lose one game and you’re really in a hole. If you lose the first game and don’t win the second then you have to win three straight while the other team only has to win once. That’s pressure, kids. Even if both teams win one, that game three is pivotal. And one pitcher who has a bad inning or one first baseman who lets a ball go through his legs can ruin the entire season.
And now the two league Championship Series. Best four of seven. Each single game takes on less importance. You can weather a bad game or two and still win.
Finally comes the coveted World Series. Also the best four of seven. By now you’ve had a possible 36 playoff games (if they all go the distance). But let’s be realistic. Say there have only been 29 playoff games. That’s still a lot.
It also used to be that the World Series was the only time teams from each league would play each other. So there was a real novelty factor. Now we have inter-league play so who cares? This year the Dodgers have already played the Yankees. And who gives a shit if the Astros play the Padres?
Starting the games at 8:30 and ending them well after midnight doesn’t help generate fan interest either. Good luck attracting kids.
So by the time the World Series ends you’ve sick of baseball, and besides, Thanksgiving is the next day.
Another problem: There are like seven networks carrying the games and it’s not even consistent within a playoff which network is carrying which game. Many of the games are farmed out to lower-tier networks like FS-1. Game times are staggered and not announced until last minute. Fans can’t find the games on TV. Even if they WANTED to watch they had trouble. There’s no continuity.
Then there’s the game itself and the way it’s played now. Friday night the Dodgers lost to the Nationals. They struck out 17 times. That used to be an astonishing number. Not anymore. Saturday Astro's pitcher Gerrit Cole struck out 15 Tampa Bay hitters. Everybody now swings for the fences. Home run totals are through the roof. But the game is boring. There are seventeen pitching changes. Good hitters foul off nine pitches. That’s exciting to watch. With the added commercial load and the current method of play, these games take upwards of four hours to complete. It used to take two-and-a-half.
Yes, along the way there are some spectacularly entertaining exciting games, but the majority of them aren’t.
I love baseball. I used to live for the playoffs. I would hang on every pitch. And now I’ll watch a game or two if it’s convenient or the Dodgers are playing. For the rest I'll just watch the highlights (guys homering and guys striking out).
There was a great line when iconic playwright and director George S. Kaufman went to see a play he had directed after it had been running a couple of months. Over that time the cast added things and changed little things. Kaufman put up this announcement on the backstage bulletin board:
REHEARSAL TOMORROW AT 2 TO REMOVE ALL THE IMPROVEMENTS
Baseball needs that same rehearsal.
In our household the 1994 baseball strike dissipated interest a great deal. Especially given that the team we were rooting for was in first place. I grew up in a baseball household, often telling people…if we didn’t like baseball…we got traded.” We were pretty turned off by the extended strike.
ReplyDeleteI was an advocate for interleague play. The reason being that living in Seattle, how don't get to see National League teams, whereas, in New York, LA or Chicago, you could watch teams from both leagues play.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'm a National League guy, the pitcher batting adds more strategy to the game. Even before the DH, the NL had played more small ball, had more colorful uniforms, etc.
It had Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Bob Gibson.
American League owners were slower when allowing change.
That said, although I'm not a fan of the DH, I was absolutely on board with Edgar Martinez going in to the Hall Of Fame.
Everything you said. A play in game? After a 162 game schedule baseball has decided they still need one more game to decide who gets in? Not needed. And then that pushes everything out a day or two. The Yankees - Twins series started 5 days after the season ended. They need to tighten up the schedule too.
ReplyDeleteKen's right. Friday question, when you're writing is it called irony when you use a quote by George S. Kaufman in an anti-baseball rant when the Kansas City Royals play at Kaufman Stadium? Didn't Kaufman write a play called "The Royal Family." And wasn't Babe Ruth sold to the Yankees so the Red Sox owner could acquire the financing to stage a new play? And didn't Niles Crane reference this after he and Fraser met a playwright? And isn't this all happening when Kevin Costner is about to announce that he has acquired the rights to Ken's play "Going, Going, Gone" for 18 million dollars. There is something subliminal about Ken's rant and I'm going to get to the bottom of it by Wednesday.... Monday at the latest.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of being bored with North American sports, something weird happened on the weekend in Toronto. We have a rugby league team here that is only 3 years old. On Saturday it won what was called "The Million Pound Game" to advance into the top tier of British rugby league. This is big-time professional rugby, huge TV contract, the whole bit. The Toronto Wolfpack will be the first professional trans Atlantic team in any major sport. It really is a big deal.......that nobody knows about.
Agree with you 100%, Ken. Baseball is now Home Run Derby. But, low and behold, MLB says they are going to "examine the baseballs" next year and see if they are juiced. I hope they pull off, "I'm shocked, SHOCKED" half as good as Claude Rains, but I doubt it. And inter-league play, along with the shift, is also killing the game. I think if they are going to stick with it, do it in the first half of the season, then focus on inter-divisional play.
ReplyDeleteI think of Walter Wellesley Smith, described by his editor as the greatest sportswriter ever to have two women's colleges in his name, saying baseball becomes dull only to dull minds and think that even Red would be blasting them over the pace of play. It also occurs to me that The Vin used to say that when he was a kid, he didn't want a fast game because he'd paid to be there and wanted to savor it. It also occurs to me that one of the things that made him great was that, unlike most other announcers, he could fill the dead time without digressing into his dinner, lunch, or golf game.
ReplyDeleteI think Ken has nailed a lot of the problem, though I'll respectfully disagree about the playoff situation--at least, best 4 of 7--for this reason: is sudden death really the best way to determine the best team over a 162-game season? I think they would benefit from going back to 154 games and enforcing time limits between pitches. Umpires CAN do that, but they also know the commissioner's office won't back them when teams scream about it.
Baseball is the only professional sport I follow but it has a lot of flaws, mostly instituted during the reign of possibly one of the worst Commissioners on record, Bud Selig.
ReplyDeleteInterleague play is only there for New York, Chicago and LA (possibly Oakland). As you said, most games are in the Miami vs Kansas City realm. Who cares? And it completely obliterates the All Star Game and the World Series.
Starting games on the last day of the season at the same exact time. Look at this logic -- the last day of the 2011 season is considered by many to be the best single day of baseball ever. There were many playoff decisions still to be made which built up excitement as each game ended at different times. So what did Selig do? Well apparently he couldn't put up with all of this drama so he started all games at the same time on the last day. Instant removal of excitement.
Wild Card. I've never understood that if you can't win you division in which there are only five teams, you can still get into the post season. In several years you could come in third in a field of five and still be in the playoffs. It's insane. I know, you're saying "Well, other sports do it". Reread my statement that baseball is all I follow. Other sports' playoff structure is a big reason why.
The over emphasis of Yankees and Red Sox. If I tune into MLB Network I can almost lay money that one of these two teams will be "featured". If MLB only cares for those two teams they should formalize it. Make a division with only the Yankees and Red Sox and then make a rule that the top two teams in each division go to the postseason. They've already screwed it up with the wild card. Might as well continue to screw and openly show their bias.
There are still teams out there that play the game the right way although the amount of strikeouts and home runs is even watering down their viewability. And because of this lack of viewability MLB playoffs are now being relegated to toss-off cable networks like MLB Network, FSi and TBS. This is sad times for baseball.
This year it seemed half the American League teams were tanking. Look at the Orioles- they used to draw 40,000 per game to Camden Yards. This year the average was 16,000. And the Mariners- they started off 13-2 but no one got excited because they knew it was a fluke, and sure enough the team went 55-92 the rest of the way.
ReplyDeleteThe Weather Channel announces the day's playoff games (along with probable precipitation/temperature at game time) each morning. All you have to do is figure out what channels they're on. It's come to this because Major League Baseball has -- ahem -- dropped the ball.
ReplyDeleteI never expected to write this, but things ran better under Bud Selig.
I'm "Anonymous," Ken. Guess I forgot to fill in my name. I know how that annoys you. Opps.
ReplyDeleteThe greatest impediment for me is the musical chairs of networks broadcasting the games. It does seem random and arbitrary. If it ends up a Dodgers-Yankees World Series the networks(and MLB) will convince themselves that they are brilliant.
ReplyDeleteLast week a New York bookstore located near City Hall hosted a Howard Michael Gould book signing. It was a fun evening. He talked about the genesis of the main character. He mentioned a network pitch meeting where, for the first time, the suits applauded when he was finished. Three days later they called and said they were passing on it. He pitched a private eye series to CBS and they told him they were the network of cops not private eyes. I am half way through the new book. Gould said the film of the first book has completed filming and be released next year.
As a fun experiment during spring training
ReplyDelete1. Have games automatically end after a set time, with the wins awarded, no matter what the inning, to the team with the higher score. If the teams are tied when the time runs out, the game is counted as a loss for both teams.
2. A mandatory two games- one day, one night- for which fans would have to buy separate tickets- on both Saturday and Sunday. Remaining games on Thursday Friday and/or Monday- with no games on Tuesday and Wednesday.
As another fun experiment, during the World Series, have two-song concerts- during the seventh inning stretches- performed from the Bullpens
Bring back the beanball.
Ken, how long were the breaks every half inning in the 67s or 70s. Do you know? I ask because I think part of the slowness of games is because it seems like the breaks are longer than they used to be because TV has to always put too many commercials where ever they can.
ReplyDeleteBut get pitches thrown more quickly, use a real baseball, cut the schedule to 142 games, reduce the number of playoff rounds and have it all done by mid-October at the latest.
And come to Tucson so we can have lunch and solve all these issues once and for all.
So, how about them Blue Jays, eh? No, really, what the heck is going on up north? I'm scratching my head, and I'm not even Canadian.
ReplyDeleteExactly right. You should have also mentioned the Designated Hitter, an abomination to the game.
ReplyDeleteI had to search 4 different channels the other day to locate the game I wanted to watch. It was on ESPN, which hadn't even handled a playoff game this season, but that day it did. Like they pull a lotto ball out of one of those barrels. "HGTV, you get ALDS Game 3!"
ReplyDeleteAnd I hate how they are constantly interrupting the IN GAME coverage with more ads. Don't give me this T-Mobile "extended coverage" bullshit. It's a tiny box showing the runner at 3rd. It's just a way to mention T-Mobile for those who tune out the other 100 T-Mobile ads playing during the normal commercial breaks.
Finally, mush mouth Ron Darling shouldn't be near a broadcasting booth.
My first memory retained into adulthood is sitting in the family car listening to Bill Mazeroski hit the home run that won the 1960 World Series; I was four. I bought the first mass-produced Baseball Abstract and still have them all, including both Historical Abstracts. I have subscribed to the mlb.tv package for over ten years. Yet I find myself clicking through channels if nothing else interests me to see who has a game on and watching a few minutes see if I care. This is for the playoffs. I agree with everything you said here. The game is becoming unwatchable, and even if do want to watch it,I shouldn't have to look everywhere for it. I always poo-poohed the "Baseball is dying" comments, but it they're losing people like me, they're in trouble.
ReplyDeleteI actually enjoyed inter-league play when it was at two set times during the season. Were nice breaks in the usual 162 game slog. But for whatever reason, now inter-league games are throughout the season. The Indians ended this year at the Nationals. Makes no frigging sense.
ReplyDeleteGlad I am not the only one bothered by the "whack a mole" nature of the post-season MLB play-off t.v. schedule. If it wasn't for the voice remote, I am not sure if I'd ever be able to find a game.
Sigh. I sound like such an old fart. Ain't no curmudgeon like a disgruntled baseball fan.
I don’t know how you can tell a team to not swing for the fences and strike out more. The metrics say that is winning baseball.
ReplyDeleteHowever the pitching changes kill me. They need to limit the number of pitchers on the roster. I say give them 10, 5 starters and 5 relievers.
This post sort of brings to mind a Friday question: Has there ever been a program where the showrunner left after two or three years, gone for a while, then came back and basically undo whatever the prior person had done? Has there been a show that you watched and thought that the new guy was taking it in a wrong direction and wished you could change it back or taken it in a different direction?
ReplyDeleteNever watched it, but didn’t the showrunner for “Community” get fired midway through but come back for its last year?
DeleteI confess. Yesterday, I searched the networks to find a playoff game. I gave up and watched one of the streaming shows. Also, the use of dugout cameras just ruins the experience of watching the game at home. Dugout cameras are the worst view in the stadium with Dodger stadium being the absolute worst. Please remove the cameras in the dugout.
ReplyDeleteSo you can't stop hitters going for home runs. I do think strike outs are terrible. It wasn't until the 60's that you started to see more than 2 players striking out more than 100 times. It is strange that people thought Ruth struck out a lot. Maybe for the era but he never struck out 100 times in a season. I think it was Bill James who said a strike out was no different from any other out. I think he is wrong. You never know what can happen if you get a bat on the ball. Yes they use a lot of relievers. Since you can get by with 3 starters you can add another pitcher or two. Unless you are replacing pitchers during an inning it is not a big deal. You can't stop teams from tanking either. There should probably be some sort of floor where you have to spend some money.
ReplyDeleteThe fact there are 30 teams, 15 per league, means, interleague play all the time. The first couple of times the Mets played the Yankees, people were excited, but you can see that luster wear off.
ReplyDeleteThen again, I'm even older than Ken. I HATE interleague play and, heck, I'll admit it, I hate the DH too,
What we need are fewer teams. I'm thinking 24 would be nice. Maybe then I could name an MLB player other than Mike Trout. (I know of some Yankees, but they're the "local team")
Raise the mound, widen the strike zone, deaden the ball.
ReplyDeleteFewer home runs.
More strikeouts but hitters will have to adjust.
I’m too busy rage-screaming at MLB.com for their fucking blackout rules. 😡
ReplyDeleteTeam's will always play aesthically unappealing baseball/football/basketball/hockey etc if it gives them the best chance to win.It really is up to MLB themselves to create rule changes(limit on pitcher changes imo) that make the game a better tv product.NFL and NBA figured that out a long time ago and tweak things every few years. That saidthe Musical chair's for playoff baseball is still probably their biggest problem. It may give them more revenue in the short and medium term,but it shirnks the baseball audience over the long term.
ReplyDeleteLet's remember, though, that the NFL has had interconference play for decades and the Super Bowl has gotten bigger.
ReplyDeleteOriginally, the Super Bowl was a matchup between the NFL and the upstart, AFL. They were totally different leagues. The Super Bowl actual grew into what it is today, after the merger which included some realignment and games between the two conferences.
Complaining about Home Runs and Strikeouts? Really?
ReplyDeleteThe last day of the regular season in 2011 was THE most exciting day in sports history during my 64 year life. It was very late before the St. Louis Cardinals knew whether or not they would make the wild card game. They went on to win the World Series in dramatic fashion. The excitement of Game 6 will never be matched in my life.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mlb.com/news/remembering-dramatic-final-day-of-2011-season
Pam, St. Louis
Raise the outfield fences to encourage more doubles and triples. It's the best way to revive '80s style NL baseball -- to me, the best balance of offense, defense, power and speed -- without bringing back artificial turf and multi-purpose stadia, two things no one aesthetically wants.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the 2011 World Series Game 6, there's a short YouTube video of Dan Shulman's call of the key moments. Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteI've been able to watch the games on MLB.TV thanks to my brother's DirecTV password linked to my MLB.com account but like you said Ken, I still had to do some work to make that happen. In the good ole' days for the longest time, games were either on NBC or ABC. Baseball really started to go downhill when CBS took it over in 1990 and that was still almost 30 years ago! Many feel MLB hasn't been a good TV product since NBC lost their original contract in 1989. Remember the disaster that was "The Baseball Network" partnership on NBC and ABC?
ReplyDeleteI tend to listen to the radio broadcasts and I find that I like baseball much better than on television.
ReplyDeleteHaving dumped cable, the only time I see information about games is when the local news does their sports segment. I get CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, and several other channels over the air, but I was recently surprised to see that baseball was still being played.
ReplyDeleteI'm over 50. Are cord-cutting millennials expected to watch baseball via some streaming service?
What about four foul balls and you're out?
ReplyDeleteFiguring that the young people aren't huge fans of math, I doubt adding gobs of statistics to broadcasts and scoreboards lures them in. Better to have announcers with unique voices and personality who can make a funny remark or tell a good story.
Special events do not feel special on Fox and ESPN. Fox uses the same drab supers as on their local networks. Cripes, the theme to the World Series is their football music.
If wild-card games are to be a big deal, at least one should be on a broadcast network. This would also alert more of the public that, hey, the playoffs are here and they might be exciting.
Ken, you touched on it--the league championships should revert to best-of-five. Then you're less tired for the World Series and seven games make that more special.
I wonder if Fox is part of the problem behind the declining World Series ratings. It sometimes feels like there always have to be like 30 second ads in-between pitches. Plus, the bottom-line and the brutal honesty is that not many people can stand Joe Buck calling the games.
ReplyDeleteCurt Smith has his own theories for why the World Series ratings have been declining since 1988:
http://www.sportsbroadcastjournal.com/historian-curt-smith-examines-why-the-world-series-tv-ratings-have-dropped-since-1988/