MLB Thread
I'm surprised too, but relieved.
I do think that in retrospect the acceptance of a 12 team playoff and with it the total devaluation of the regular season will be viewed as the main thing this agreement did, and a total catastrophe for the sport.
I do think that in retrospect the acceptance of a 12 team playoff and with it the total devaluation of the regular season will be viewed as the main thing this agreement did, and a total catastrophe for the sport.
RedRocksIllini
- Morrison, CO
As a Rockies fan, the lockout was the only thing we had to pin our hopes on. This just pushes out getting mathematically eliminated a couple weeks.
Now the owners can recede back into anonymity, count their money, and start concentrating on paying minor leaguers and rookies better and we fans can get back to between-the-lines baseball! Any talk of rule changes (pitch timing, limiting shifts, etc.?)
It's already at 10 teams. I guess we will have to see the format... In the last 10 years, division winners have won the WS 8 times. Tanking is getting out of hand and is possibly the biggest problem for the sport. (IMO a much bigger issue than too much playoff baseball)
Do you hate the NCAA Tournament? A 68 team, single elimination tournament isn't a very equitable way to determine which team in the country is the best. It certainly de-values the regular season. It is also (IMO) the most fun event of the year.
Maybe it won't be so bad...
I think the pitch clock, shift and size of the bag will be looked at later. MLB can make unilateral changes with 45 days notice so they will make those effect next season.
Other issues:
Yahoo
The format is that the two division winners with the best record in each league will get a bye, and everyone else will play a best-of-3 play-in. (Not sure whether they play at both cities in the best of 3)
Some of the devil will be in the details, but even in the best case scenario it leaves you with very little to play for over six months and 162 games.
Just as a sidebar, I have seen a couple people mention a failure to address tanking, but I think there are a number of little things in the agreement that add up to make it pretty significantly less advantageous to tank. There are other things I would have done, but that's not at the top of my list of complaints.
It's an amazing event, and it alone brings in more revenue than the entire rest of the sport. But college basketball is a relatively minor fixture on the sports calendar, certainly much much smaller than baseball and doesn't rely on bringing in big crowds every day all over the country.
By the way, college basketball is an interesting example that I think points in the direction of the right tweaks to make the best of this. Because obviously no one can take any meaningful steps toward a national championship during the entire regular season, but they still have conference honors to play for that are independently meaningful.
Now that MLB will all be playing under the same rules, and have a playoff system with 4 byes, they should realign to just have 4 regional divisions. Cubs and Sox, Yankees and Mets, Giants and A's.
Call them leagues (Midwest League, Eastern League, Western League, Southern League). Make a big deal of it. That's the best you're going to do in terms of providing some juice outside of the inherently random and because of that low-key unsatisfying baseball playoffs.
I don't love the 12 team playoff but it is certainly better than the 14 team playoff the owners initially proposed. I get the argument that it will devalue the regular season, but think there's as strong an argument to the opposite proposition as with a couple more playoff spots, there will be a few more teams in playoff contention down the stretch. A lot of years lately you've had situations where there are something like 3 teams in contention for 2 playoff spots and nobody else has anythjng to play for with a month to go.
I think the main thing is I'm thrilled we will have baseball this season. I really don't know if baseball could have survived this lockout dragging on. There's a lot of promise there with the crop of young stars in the MLB there, hopefully the MLB can capitalize on guys like Tatis, Soto, Vlad Jr., Wander and Acuna to bring young fans back in.
I think the main thing is I'm thrilled we will have baseball this season. I really don't know if baseball could have survived this lockout dragging on. There's a lot of promise there with the crop of young stars in the MLB there, hopefully the MLB can capitalize on guys like Tatis, Soto, Vlad Jr., Wander and Acuna to bring young fans back in.
bdutts
- Houston, Texas
Why? No other professional league does that.
MustangWally
- Mayfield
First 8 3 5 triple play since 1884.
www.mlb.com
Braves turn first triple play of '23 -- in a way not seen since 1884!
BOSTON -- When a game starts with an hour-and-40-minute rain delay, a 4-1-5 double play and a lengthy PitchCom delay all before the third inning, it’s a safe bet that a night of weird baseball lies ahead. In a 7-1 loss to the Red Sox in Tuesday’s series opener at
www.mlb.com
I’ve been a baseball fan since 1968 (as a kid borderline obsessed) and have been in a fantasy league since 1998. Over the last about 10 years, I rarely watched baseball on TV (mostly playoff games) and usually only an inning or two at a time. This year I’ve actually watched almost an entire game several times. The rule changes have made baseball watchable on TV for me again. Add in the rise of some young teams — Reds and Orioles — and new young players — Carroll, De la Cruz, Eury Perez and combine them with young talent that had already arrived and SBs being more a part of the game again, and I am really enjoying welcoming back an old friend into my life. Now if we can get the Cubs on track or even the White Sox. Until then the Reds have been very fun to watch.
