Is Baseball a Boring Sport?
As we near the MLB World Series, families huddle next to their TVs, filled with excitement, to see who will be crowned the new world champion. However, all I am filled with is relief-- relief that it is finally over. To me, baseball is like going to the movie theater except the tickets cost about $50, you have to wait in traffic, pay for parking, and ultimately get seats so high up it makes your nose bleed. You then sit there for about three hours watching nothing but a blank screen that changes colors every 10 minutes for three hours straight (which is then called “entertainment”), then at the end, everybody gets up from their seats and starts cheering. The rabbit hole of flaws in the game of baseball is deep, but today, I am going to illustrate the main reasons why baseball is not and never was “America’s Favorite Pastime” (I guess they had to settle for pastime when Football already took the title as America's Favorite Sport).
This year’s MLB regular season lasted approximately 187 days and each team played 162 games. With 30 teams in the MLB, 4,860 games are played in only 187 days, and they all last for about three hours. While fans can keep track of their favorite team, the fact that 20 games are played a day makes it impossible for them to even follow all of the games throughout a single day, let alone an entire season. Hardcore fans have already gone through the agony of multiple seasons, but the huge amount of time needed for even a few weeks surprises and deters new viewers. For the new viewers that do stick around, the only way for them to know which teams are good or bad is to scroll to the top and bottom of the league standings.
The 162 games played by each team not only take a toll on fans but also on the players. This is shown when many players will take off days and not play multiple games in a row just to recover from the consecutive days that they were in the lineup. This can make many of the games feel pointless to the fans since star players decided to rest for the night and there are 20 other games ready to replace them every night. For comparison, teams in the NFL only play 17 games, and teams in the NBA play 82, excluding playoffs. Due to the decrease in games, we only see players rest unless they are actually injured instead of wanting a day at the spa. While some may argue that the 162 games played for each team may cause more wear and tear on the players. It is easily broken by asking the simple question, what is the need for 162 games? (other than greed by owners)
Many avid baseball fans try to justify the absurd length and time wasted while watching baseball by stating that basketball and football have similar durations. However, what separates basketball and football from baseball is that something actually happens. Both basketball and football rely on nonstop action and quick pace to keep their viewers engaged, which is the exact opposite of how baseball is played. Instead, baseball relies on you to forget to turn off the TV while you go do errands for increases in viewership. Or, they rely on you to be one of the most patient people on Earth, and Americans are notoriously impatient.
However, baseball does hold one of the most famous actions throughout sports: the home run. While home runs have increased for the past couple of years, it still is a rare commodity that is usually the only highlight of the entire game. This may be one of the most well-known and adrenaline-pumping actions in sports, but the rest of the game has almost nothing worth watching for.
That is essentially the timeline or life of a baseball game, it is filled with fly balls, strikeouts, and the occasional thrilling single. However, once a home run is hit, the fans get out of their seats and cheer loud enough to rival the noise generated by a buzzer-beater in the NBA or a touchdown in the NFL. Then, they immediately sit back down and go back to their phones because nothing happens for the rest of the game. Even in games where there is nonstop action and home runs aplenty, it doesn’t even matter because it is most likely a great team against a terrible one, and that type of domination is expected.
As stated before, a baseball game lasts about three hours but could be easily shortened to an hour and a half. I understand that the implementation of the pitch clock (the ball must be pitched in 20 seconds or less) has helped decrease the time of the game, but many useless elements can still be cut. One key flaw is the pace of the game which is similar to that of a senior citizen playing golf. While the defensive team is forced to move quicker than normal because of the pitch clock, the team on offense slowly seems devoid of life as they lumber toward the plate, just like how an old man walks from hole to hole.
This is because the pitch clock doesn’t start until the fielders are ready, and when the offensive players finally get up to the plate, most of them miss the ball anyway. The channel broadcasting the game might as well run a 15-second ad during this period because it changes absolutely nothing, besides putting more cash in their pockets. However, this isn’t even the most heinous waste of time during the game, that award goes to the breaks when teams switch from offense to defense or vice versa.
They legitimately take a two-minute break just for two teams to walk from one side of the field to the other, and you can’t even make the excuse that the players need to rest. Rest from what? I understand that the pitcher may need to take a break, but most pitchers suck at hitting the ball so coaches sub them out anyway. What excuse do other players have? Most of the players that are on defense just sit around doing nothing or slowly walk up to a fly ball and catch it, the rest of the time they're picking at the grass or chewing on sunflower seeds. This begs the question, why doesn’t the pitch clock start sooner since the fielders never need to get out of their position? Meanwhile, the players on offense rarely even hit the ball consistently enough for them to sprint to the bases, and when they do they are exerting their maximum amount of energy for less than 15 seconds. Even when a home run is hit, the players that are scoring look like they are going for a light jog around the park, instead of playing one of the most popular sports in the world.
While I have pointed out my reasons for why baseball is doomed to fail, the MLB has seen an 8% increase in viewership for many of its games and has been open to changing many of its rules. Their most important rule may be the aforementioned pitch clock, which has cut the duration of a game by nearly half an hour. Another change that I think will be beneficial to baseball will be the decrease in the number of games. With 162 games for every team, fans may think that some of the games are unnecessary and pointless. It can also lead to rest days for many players because of how many games they have to play in a row. If the MLB were willing to decrease the number of games by a few weeks, it would give both the fans and players enough time to rest and stay excited for the rest of the season. Baseball is still one of the most popular sports in the world and won’t just disappear because of the flaws that I pointed out. (although I wish it would) The new rules that are being implemented will help attract new viewers and sustain their success and popularity.
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