Selig’s “special committee” swings and misses

MLB says they plan to condense the postseason, but their actions are keeping business as usual.

MLB announced yesterday they made a change to the postseason format. As I read the headline, I immediately hoped the league had made some of the changes I discussed in an earlier post, most notably earlier start times. Instead, what did we get?

An off-day between games 4 and 5 of the league championship series (LCS) was eliminated, and another off-day between the division series and LCS was added.

Are you serious? After all the talk about tightening the postseason, this is what the “special committee” Bud Selig created came up with?

I’m not a baseball hater. I believe the MLB postseason is exciting and filled with drama. It’s the reward at the end of a marathon season. The sad thing is the league stretches the postseason out as long as they can and milk it for everything it’s worth. After 162 games where teams play nearly everyday, all the sudden fans, and players have to endure off-days in-between postseason games.

Staggered scheduling with off-days allows TV execs. to schedule every game in primetime for maximum ratings, I understand that. But I also know that, more than any other sport, baseball players are creatures of habit. By October, they are not only used to playing daily, but prefer it.

I’m just saying, playing multiple games at once, especially in the early rounds has proven to be a huge success in the past. Just look at the excitement for March Madness or New Year’s Day Bowls before college football got greedy and made the same mistake MLB does.

Don’t make us wait a month after the start of the playoffs to see a a new champion crowned. Capitalize on the excitement and drama of the postseason and give fans all the baseball they can handle on a daily basis. Making players and fans wait doesn’t build the excitement. It hurts the product on the field and the fans relationship with it.

The Tiger effect part II

Can Major League Baseball capitalize on Tiger's absence while he searches for answers in his private life?
Photo by: Getty Images

When Tiger plays, people watch. But what would they watch if he doesn’t play?

This week, I’m revealing five sports programs that could benefit from a Tiger-less 2010. Today, number four is….

4: MLB

TV ratings and attendance were down in a year the Yankees, arguably the most popular and polarizing team in all of sport, returned to prominence and won the World Series in 2009. That is a problem.

In my mind, baseball has been on life support for a long time. The only thing that resurrected the sport after the ’94 strike was the McGuire/Sosa home run chase of ’98. Then when Jose Canseco blew the lid off the steroid scandal, fans turned away again.

A summer without Woods stealing weekend ratings can only help America’s dying pastime as it tries to rebuild its image, again.

Power numbers are down, meaning use of performance enhancing drugs have at least decreased, leveling the playing field and bringing credibility back to the game. However, most of the public’s complaints about MLB will not change. The games will remain nine innings, teams will continue to play 162 regular season games and big market teams will continue to be bullies in a league without salary caps.

MLB should start important games earlier so kids can actually see celebrations like these before their parents put them to bed.
Photo by: Associated Press

What the league can do, is highlight all-star players in marquee games and air them at a time when fans, especially children, can actually see the end of the game. Part of the reason Tiger has been ratings gold is because he plays during the day on weekends when people are off work/school and relaxing. If you’re trying to build fans for the future, don’t start a game at 8:00 p.m. on the East Coast when you know it will last for 3 1/2 hours.

The most compelling innings of a baseball game are innings seven through nine.

Face it, not many people are going to watch baseball for 3 1/2 hours. So why not put the climax of the game in prime-time rather than the beginning?

Give people the opportunity to watch big-time players, on big-time teams, play in big-time games, and don’t make them stay up until midnight to do it.

Tomorrow: #3 on the list of sports programs that could benefit from a Tiger-less 2010.