How to fix baseball

Baseball was once known as America's favorite pastime, but those days are long gone.  Attendance and revenue numbers may be up again this year, but the popularity of the sport has been dwindling compared to previous generations.  Last year's World Series between the Rangers and Giants had one of the lowest TV ratings numbers in league history.  You can't blame that all on the Yankees and Red Sox being absent from the event, as Dallas and San Francisco rank as the 5th and 6th largest TV markets in the country.  Add in the fact that the country has a much higher population and many more households that own television sets compared to previous generations, and it's mind boggling that these numbers are not higher. 

There are things that MLB can do to improve it's product and help increase it's popularity.  There are many ideas out there on how to improve the game, some of which could work, others of which may not.  Here are a few ideas that could help the game of baseball.

1. Shorten the regular season to 148 games
Part of what separates baseball from other sports is that teams play far more games in a season.  The grueling 162 game schedule isn't just tough on the players, it's tough on the fans.  By the end of the season, many casual fans have tuned the game out due to the fatigue of following their favorite team on a nightly basis for the better part of 6 months.  By the time the postseason rolls around, many people have had enough.  If their favorite team isn't still contending in October then many fans have turned away from watching baseball.  With the NFL season in full swing by then, there are other alternatives to occupy their time instead. 

The solution is to chop off the last two weeks of the season, allowing the postseason to begin in mid-September instead of October.  A 148 game season is more bearable for fans, as well as players.  Most players don't play in every game as it is.  Even if they are able to avoid major injuries, the wear and tear of the long season often forces managers to give players an extra day off once in a while.  The impact will also be felt by pitchers, who won't need to throw quite as many innings over the course of a season.  This will benefit them in the long run, keeping them fresher and helping to avoid injury, while potentially extending their careers.

2. Make every playoff round a best of 5 series
The divisional round is already a best of 5 series, so why not make every round the same?  Five games is enough to determine a winner.  The World Series rarely goes to a 7th game anyway, so it wouldn't be as drastic a change as you might think.


Teams should fear having to
face Verlander twice in a series

The best part about this change is that it allows teams to use their best pitchers in more important games.  Teams dread having to face a team like the Tigers in the opening round because they fear having to face an ace like Justin Verlander twice in a short series.  That should be the case in every series.  Most teams don't have rotations that go deeper than three quality starters, but in a 5 game series, all you need is three.  That means more of these playoff games will be started by the team's best pitchers rather than relying on the bottom of their rotation in key games.  Teams would then also have the luxury of using the back end of their rotation to strengthen their bullpen.

In this scenario, every game would count even more, with even less margin for error.  It also prevents a series from lasting nearly two weeks, if it were to go to a 7th game.  There's no reason why any series should be dragged out for over a week.  Even with travel days built in, a 5 game series allows for the series to last no more than a week.  It also may allow teams an extra day or two to rest before their next series, allowing them to reset their rotation to ensure their best pitchers can still pitch twice in the next series, even if they were forced to use them in a deciding Game 5. 

World Series Preview

It all comes down to this.  Two teams remaining, the best that each league has to offer.  The American and National League champions face off in the World Series to determine the winner of baseball's ultimate prize.  The Fall Classic gets underway tonight, with the St. Louis Cardinals hosting the Texas Rangers.  While the division winning Rangers finished six games ahead of the Wild Card Cardinals in the regular season, the ridiculous All-Star game rules give the National League team home field advantage.  Will that be enough to sway the series in their favor?

Let's break down how the teams compare in the main aspects of the game to help us determine a winner.

Offense

You can't talk about hitting in this series without starting out mentioning Albert Pujols, who is undoubtedly the best hitter of the past decade.  He is the heart of the lineup, which also includes star hitters Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman, forming a formidable core.  That trio arguably includes three of the top four hitters in this series.  David Freese is an up and coming talent that currently leads the NL in HRs and RBIs this postseason and just took home the NLCS MVP award.

On the other hand, the Rangers lineup is much deeper.  Josh Hamilton was the AL MVP last year, but he's hardly the only threat in this lethal lineup, which has few holes.  ALCS MVP Nelson Cruz leads all players this postseason with 6 HRs and he bats 7th in their lineup.  When the series shifts to Texas for Game 3, the Rangers will also have the advantage at DH.  Michael young, who tied for second in the AL in batting average this season, will hit in that spot.  Coming from the DH-less NL, the Cardinals aren't accustomed to having an extra bat for that spot. They'll likely put Lance Berkman there and use Allen Craig in right field, which upgrades their defense, but is a disadvantage offensively. 

Edge: Rangers

Things I Noticed: Week 6

Some of the league's top teams entering the week suffered losses this week and we're now down to only one undefeated team.

Six more teams are off this week: Denver, Kansas City, Tennessee, Arizona, Seattle, San Diego.

For the rest of the teams, here are some things I noticed this week: 

• A week after suffering their first home loss in over a year, Atlanta rebounded to set a new home winning streak by closing out the Panthers with a 17 point 4th quarter.
• Michael Turner led the way with 139 rushing yards and 2 TDs.  
• Not Cam Newton's best game, as he threw three INTs without a passing TD.  He did add a rushing TD on a 14 yard run that he made look far too easy.  Just another example that even when he's not at his best, he can find other ways to make plays to keep his team in the game.
• Curtis Painter had a chance to do his best Peyton Manning comeback impression, but it was spoiled by a costly fumble by Pierre Garcon, which was run back for the game sealing TD.  Hopefully that miscue doesn't cost Garcon the trust Painter has shown in him lately, as he's been the Colts best receiver since Painter took over.
• Dallas Clark has had some issues with dropping passes lately, so he put in some extra practice time this week to catch a few extra balls before the game.  It paid off when he hauled in a spectacular one handed catch for a TD.
• The Bengals entered the week as the top team in the league in total defensive yards allowed (279.6).  They actually lowered that average even further after holding the Colts to 273 total yards.  Cincinnati's defense is much improved, but their easy schedule thus far has more to do with that stat than anything else.

Red Sox clean house

In the wake of the worst late season collapse in league history, the Boston Red Sox have begun to clean house this off season as they prepare to start fresh with a clean slate.  First it was manager Terry Francona, who became the fall guy for the team's epic collapse.  Now GM Theo Epstein appears to be on his way out of Boston as well, agreeing today to a 5 year deal with the Chicago Cubs, which includes a promotion.  Despite leading the club to two World Series titles in their 7 seasons together, they'll both be moving on as part of ownerships attempt to clean up the mess they leave behind.

To be fair, Francona was an excellent manager throughout his stint with the Red Sox.  He is a well respected player's manager who never lost the support of the guys in his clubhouse.  Yet as the season began to spiral out of control, he found himself unable to right the ship to avoid disaster.  Rumors of pitchers drinking beer in the clubhouse may be a bit blown out of proportion, but it is part of a bigger problem.  Turning the clubhouse into a frat house doesn't just show a lack of professionalism, it shows a lack of competitiveness.  Regardless of their behavior in the clubhouse, it was clear that pitchers such as Josh Beckett and John Lackey struggled to stay in shape as the season wore on, which likely led to a lack of effectiveness as they stumbled down the stretch.  Multi million dollar athletes shouldn't need a baby-sitter and shouldn't need to be told to follow their work out routines and stick to a nutritious diet, but when the players fail to police themselves, it's the manager's job to step in and demand it.  The Red Sox clubhouse is loaded with veterans, but lacks the presence of a leader that will stand up and demand improvement from teammates.  Guys like Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and Jason Varitek are notoriously hard workers who lead by example.  They don't have a guy that will stand up to his teammates, so that's when the task falls to the manager.  That's not Tito's style, and in the end it may have cost them. 

Francona said himself, he felt that at some point players need to hear from a new voice in order for the words to get through to them, which is why he felt it was time to step away.  It certainly didn't help that he felt ownership didn't support him, but with the way the season ended he may have felt he had worn out his welcome anyway.

Things I noticed: Week 5

Week 5 introduces bye weeks for the first time this season.  That's good news for Miami, because it means the Dolphins won't lose another game this week.  Cleveland, Dallas, St. Louis, Washington and Baltimore are also off this week.

As for the teams that do play, here are some things I noticed this week:

• The Eagles had already proclaimed before the week started that the "Dream Team" label was dead. Now their playoff chances may be as well.  They fell apart again in the 4th quarter when Vick's 4th interception of the game ended their comeback attempt.
• It was another sloppy afternoon for Vick, but on the bright side, his 90 rushing yards helped him set the all time record for career rushing yards by a QB.  
• Philadelphia's high priced defense had no answers this week for Fred Jackson, who's 196 total yards helped pace the Bills to victory.
• Kansas City scored 21 unanswered points in the second half to comeback to defeat the Colts.  Matt Cassel had his best game of the season, tossing 4 TD passes.  If he continues to connect with Dwayne Bowe they way he did this week, bringing back memories of last season, the Chiefs could become dangerous again.
• Curtis Painter came out firing, looking like vintage Peyton Manning in the first half while hooking up for 2 TDs with Pierre Garcon.  Then in the second half he essentially disappeared, as the Colts were shut out in the second half.
• In case anyone needed a reminder that Adrian Peterson is the league's best RB, he came through with 122 yards and 3 TDs to lead the Vikings to their first win of the season. Almost all of the damage was done in the first quarter, but the Vikings still managed to hang on to their second half lead this time.
• The Seahawks went on the road to stun the Giants thanks to three New York turnovers in the 4th quarter, one of which was returned for a TD.  Eli Manning had one last chance to make a desperation comeback, until his last INT ended the game.
• After leading the league in INT's last season, Manning came into this game on a league high streak of pass attempts without a pick.  His three picks this week more than doubled his season total and set the Giants back in their quest to take over the NFC East.
• Victor Cruz had another big game (161 yards) and may get credit for the best TD catch of the season thus far.  Manning launched the ball into double coverage, resulting in a tipped ball that Cruz somehow managed to juggle into his arms before taking it the rest of the way to pay dirt for a 68 yard TD catch.
• Tavaris Jackson exited the game with an injury and was replaced by Charlie Whitehurst.  The Jesus look-alike showed a lot more in limited playing time than Jackson has all season, throwing the TD pass that put Seattle ahead for good in the 4th quarter.
• The struggling Steelers put a charge back into their season with a convincing victory over the Titans.  Ben Rothlisberger led the way with 5 TD passes.
• Rashard Mendanhall missed the game with an injury, but the running game didn't miss a beat thanks to a strong performance by Jonathan Dwyer.  One uneventful game last season was the only other appearance of the second year back's career, but he came out of nowhere when needed with a 107 yard performance.
• A week after his first 100+ yard game of the season, Chris Johnson followed it up with another sub par performance.  He at least did score his first TD of the season.
• Speaking of RBs that signed expensive new contracts this off season, DeAngelo Williams had his first 100+ yard rushing game.  Most of his yardage came on a 69 yard TD run where there wasn't a defender that came close to bringing him down.
• The Saints won a thriller in Carolina after Drew Brees threw the game winning TD pass with under a minute remaining. 
• As great a rookie season as Cam Newton is having, putting up impressive passing numbers in the box score isn't what makes an elite QB.  The veteran Brees showed the rookie that the elite QBs put together game winning drives with clutch plays.
• Two rookie QB's squared off against each other, but it was Andy Dalton getting the better of Blaine Gabbert this time.  Dalton is doing his best to make people forget about Carson Palmer, who continues to sit at home rather than come play for a team... that is actually winning.
• Needing a score as time was running out, Jacksonville attempted to move the ball on their final play by lateraling the ball as defenders swarmed the ball carrier.  A total of 3 different Jaguar players fumbled the ball on the play before a Bengals defender was finally able to recover the ball, returning it for the game clinching TD with no time remaining.
• A sad weekend for the Raiders following the death of Al Davis ended with a silver lining, as the team rallied in the 4th quarter to do exactly as their long time owner had always demanded that they do - just win, baby!
• The NFL will miss having an interesting character like Davis around.  I'll miss getting to use Crypt Keeper and Weekend at Bernie's references.  They don't seem quite as funny now that he's really gone.  RIP Al Davis.
• Houston could really have used Andre Johnson at the end of this one.  Needing a TD to reclaim the lead, the Texans marched the ball all the way down to the Oakland 5 yard line after Matt Schuab connected with Joel Dreessen for 34 yards to set up 1st and goal in the final seconds of the game.  Just when it looked like they would pull off a miracle comeback, Schaub's next pass resulted in an INT in the endzone that ended the game.
• The 49ers embarrassed the visiting Tampa Bay Bucs in a 48-3 beat down.  
• Tampa was so bad, they managed to make Alex Smith look good (3 TDs).
• Since being temporarily removed from his position as the starting RB last week, Frank Gore has looked like a different player as he has earned his way back into the role with a second straight strong performance (125 yards, 1 TD).  
• I had a feeling that a Broncos loss this week could result in a QB change in Denver, with Tim Tebow getting his long awaited chance to take over after the team's Week 6 bye week.  As it turns out, he didn't even have to wait that long.  A miserable first half that saw Denver fall behind by two scores was enough to get Kyle Orton benched at halftime.  Fan favorite Tebow came in and nearly led an improbable second half comeback, engineering two TD drives in the 4th quarter and putting the team in position to have a chance at a win with a last second hail mary.  They came up just short this week, but it was a promising audition for the young QB.  Tebow will reportedly take over as the starter following their bye week, and it makes little sense for them to keep flipping between the two.  At this point they might as well see what they've got with Tebow.
• The Chargers have been winning, which has masked the poor season Philip Rivers is quietly having. Through 5 games, he has more turnovers (8) than TDs (5).
• The Patriots helped avenge last year's playoff defeat at the hands of the Jets by taking Round 1 of the season match up between the division rivals.  Ben Jarvis Green-Ellis rushed for a career high 136 yards and scored twice to help lead the way.
• The Patriots are known as a dominant passing team, with Tom Brady on pace to break all kinds of records.  However, few realize that New England actually ranks 6th in the league in rushing yards per game and 10th in rushing attempts. They are also one of only two teams in the league that has a running attack that has yet to fumble the ball all season.
• As expected, Wes Welker saw plenty of attention from Revis this week, but the league's leading receiver hardly found himself trapped on an island.  While Revis did do a good job of taking Welker out of the play on several occasions, Welker also managed to find himself free a handful of times on his way to a 124 yard day.  His biggest catch of the day came when he burned Revis for a 73 yard catch to help set up another TD drive.  Welker would have scored himself on the play had the speedy Revis not recovered in time to chase him down and make a TD saving tackle.
• The much maligned Patriots defense, which came into the game giving up a league worst 477.5 yards per game, had their best game of the season, holding the Jets to only 255 total yards.
• That was nice of the Packers to spot the Falcons 14 points early in the first half.  Of course that led to the Packers finally turning it on by scoring 25 unanswered points the rest of the way to cruise to another victory.
• Aaron Rodgers completed passes to 12 different receivers.  A lot of teams don't have completions to that many receivers all season.
• Atlanta lost their first regular season home game since December 2009.  The only other home loss during that stretch came in last year's postseason - against these Green Bay Packers.
• The loss also snapped a streak of 23 wins in games they led at halftime.
• The Lions are 5-0 for the first time since 1956.  You would have to ask your grandparents if they remember a Lions team that started this well.
• Jhavid Best showed that the Lions offense has another dimension outside of the Stafford-Johnson connection.  He entered the game having never rushed for over 100 yards in a game, but broke free for an impressive 163 yards (with an outstanding 13.6 per carry average!) against the Bears. His biggest play of the night saw him cut behind his blockers and find a hole that led to an 88 yard TD run.
• Matt Forte was overshadowed by the huge performance by Best, but he once again contributed a solid game.  He's clearly Chicago's best weapon, both running the ball and as a receiver.  He's not happy about his contract situation, so the Bears better take care of that quickly.  Their offense would be going nowhere without him.
• Detroit now leads the league in point differential (+70), while Green Bay is 2nd (+62, tied with Baltimore).  What a division race the NFC North is turning out to be!
• The Rams have scored the fewest points in the league (46), but are coming off a bye week.  What's Jacksonville's excuse?  Their 59 points through 5 games trails every other team in the league, including the other teams that had their bye weeks.  Baltimore has more than twice as many points (119) in their 4 games.
• It seems that defenses are finally starting to catch up, as we're seeing less big passing performances around the league.  This week, only 6 QBs threw for over 300 yards and 2 of them had over 400 yards.  Ok, so that's still a lot, especially when you consider that 6 teams had the week off, but it's still a decrease from what we saw earlier in the season when it seemed that just about everyone was on pace to break Dan Marino's all-time passing record. 
• 10 QBs (11 if you count both Orton and Tebow for Denver) were held to under 200 yards passing this week, so while we may not be done seeing big passing performances, it appears it is starting to even out a bit more.