$2 on MLB to "Show" Please...

This past Monday night should have been one big day and night for Major League Baseball.

Anyone outside of NY catching this?

Mariano Rivera had recorded his record breaking 602nd save earlier in the day, the Wild Card races were getting wilder and closer by the minute with back-from-the-dead charges by the Rays, Cardinals, and Giants and/or horrible swoons by the Red Sox and Braves...depending on your perspective.

Is that ol' horsehide I hear?

But, unless you live in one of these cities, bought the Direct TV package, get the MLB network in your cable package, or listened to Sirius radio in your big rig, you probably had no idea...it was Monday Night Football night by God, with the very average New York Giants pitted against the woeful St. Louis Rams. And this, my friends, was capturing the attention of the average sports fan.

Is it me or has football not only passed, but essentially LAPPED baseball in the national consciousness? Football (NFL and NCAA) is Secretariat 1 & 1A, while Major League Baseball is the fade, fade, fading away also-ran Sham ("Hey, we finished second!")

Hey! Remember me? I used to
be America's Sweetheart!

Right now, the sport of baseball appears to be managed and marketed with the same creativity and inventiveness of the US Postal Service..."Hey, it's worked for the past 100+ years dammit, why the hell would we want to mess with it now. What is this 'Fed Ex' you speak of?" 

You'll watch me, I know you will.
But you know what? I could give a sh*t.

MLB is the unkempt, awkward, somewhat desperate to bear a child, let-herself-go Jennifer Aniston...the NFL is the super tight, getting-better-with-age Angelina Jolie carrying on an I'm-hot-you're-not attitude. And, to add irony to this incredibly insightful analogy, you've got Brad Pitt playing the guilt-ridden dumper doing his darndest to resurrect the sport by starring in a baseball movie.

Do I get to take my
shirt off in this movie?

Good luck with that. The NFL has become so firmly imbedded in the sports fan's consciousness because of the following...

• Each regular season game actually means something: especially when compared to baseball

• The media covers it like a four-month OJ Simpson trial: even if you do not get the NFL Network, me thinks that available programming on your local channels, plus Fox, Versus, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, and ESPN News will keep you informed. You might also have access to sports radio, newspapers, magazines, and, oh yeah, the internet.

• The casual fan is much more likely to watch an average or meaningless football game than a good or meaningful baseball game: just look at the ratings for exhibition football compared to regular season baseball

• Fantasy Football has created unprecedented interest: I may be the only person not participating in fantasy football, but it is so pervasive, I firmly believe it is a perfectly legal and socially acceptable way of betting on the sport. As a result, it makes the game more interesting to watch. Oh, and it was baseball that created the whole "fantasy" concept, by the way.

• Many people like to gamble on NFL games: although it is illegal to bet cash money on football in the US of A, I am told that there are websites in which one can do so. I am also told that there are enterprising entrepreneurs out there who will accept wagers despite the illegality of such activity. Hmmm...

In order to "fix" the problem/situation, one must recognize the challenges and identify the issues. If I were King of Baseball, here is what I would do...

• Cut out at least 20% of the season. I had one of my interns run the numbers and by our calculations, we discovered that one NFL football game is essentially as important as nine MLB games.  No wonder NFL games are so expensive to attend. But seriously, if you could eliminate about 32 games, each team would still play 130 times. Put it this way, if there was no such thing as professional baseball and someone were to start a league from scratch, do you think there is any way in hell that they could sell the public, the networks, etc. on anything north of 100 games? If you had 32 less games, you could start the season when it was actually warm and end the season when it was actually warm. You might even be able to capture more attention by playing a few more meaningful games in August and September before fans start drooling over the prospect of their upcoming fantasy football draft.

• Expand and/or enforce the strike zone. This will only speed up the game and anything, I repeat anything done to speed up the game is a good thing.

• Create some kind of salary cap. Maybe the Royals will contend next year with their young, talented roster and maybe the Pirates won't fade like they did this year, but face it, these are just a few of the teams going into each season with ABSOLUTELY no chance to make the playoffs. At least in the NFL, the non-contending teams do vary from year to year.

• Leave the playoff system alone. Baseball has this right. Regular season titles mean something. One team gets a mulligan if it has a great season but happens to be in the wrong division. The right amount of teams make the playoffs. 

• Eliminate at least two teams. Too many teams, too few fans...

• Play a few games in smaller, regional markets. If MLB doesn't eliminate some teams, then it should play meaningful mid-season games in markets like Nashville, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, etc. This will only create more national interest.

"You know that more people watched our games than
watched the Pirates?"
"Really? What sport do the Pirates play?"

• Get more involved in youth baseball. You know that the ratings and attention around the Little League World Series exceeded that of MLB. Why? The kids played with passion, they were talented, and the games meant something. MLB needs to make sure that the game is perceived positively by kids; it is a fun game to play and well worth the time investment. The sport has competition from sports like lacrosse and spring football that didn't exist years ago.

Don't get me wrong, I am not writing an all-out bash on the sport. I love the game. The talent is incredible and it has never been played better and, for the most part, it is drug free. When the games mean something and it is played well, it is the best sport out there. I believe this.

Remember?

I just hate to see it become less and less popular because it seems so resistant to change.