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MLB 2015 - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

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Re: MLB 2015 - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

Hammer said:
Free agency, interleague play, and most importantly, the increase in access to out-of-market games combined to erode the popularity of the All Star Game. Back in the days of dinosaurs, you got a few of your team's games on local TV, a Game of the Week on Saturday, and that was it. As a Tiger fan, I didn't get to see Mike Schmidt, the Dodgers, the Cards and the Reds with the exception of one night in July. Now, seeing these teams is a nightly occurrence if you so choose. Back then? Game of the Week, or make sure you watched This Week in Baseball. That was it.

The only mistake MLB made of the above-mentioned was interleague play. They weren't stopping the free agency train, nor were they going to do anything about the proliferation of the televising of games. Those was going to happen regardless. It's not 1965 anymore, fellas.
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As Kepler, Ralph, and I can attest, if you lived in reach of the NY television stations in the 60's and early 70's, you got 162 Mets games and 100 or so Yankee games each year PLUS the GoTW. We were spoiled. Back then I saw that the Dodgers only televised their 18 games with the Giants.

Then came cable and team owned cable stations (NESN, YES) and the end of free TV came to an end.
 
Re: MLB 2015 - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

joecct said:
As Kepler, Ralph, and I can attest, if you lived in reach of the NY television stations in the 60's and early 70's, you got 162 Mets games and 100 or so Yankee games each year PLUS the GoTW. We were spoiled. Back then I saw that the Dodgers only televised their 18 games with the Giants.

Then came cable and team owned cable stations (NESN, YES) and the end of free TV came to an end.
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Sure. But the rest of America simply wasn't like that.

I grew up 60 miles west of Detroit. We got maybe 40 Tiger games per year in the mid-80's, because we were on a farm and Dad sure as hell wasn't spending for cable or satellite. Thank God for WJR back then. Take tonight for instance. Anibal Sanchez took a no-no into the 8th inning. In 1982 there would have been a very good chance that my only shot of getting access to that game would have been from Ernie Harwell through the speakers, and highlights on the 11PM news.

This is a radically different world that we live in now, from a media access standpoint (take everything else somewhere else, boys). The Tigers were very good in the 80's, so for the most part I got to see them on a lot of Saturday afternoon NBC telecasts. Monday Night Baseball on ABC was a BIG DEAL then. HUGE. That was the only shot someone like me got to see any of the National League, other than snippets of Mel Allen telling me about them on TWIB. Sometimes that was all the baseball I got to see for a week. I was certainly far from the only one in that boat.

THAT is why the All Star Game was such a big deal. If you could have seen Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Reggie Jackson at the rate we see Mike Trout, Miggy Cabrera, Albert Pujols and others now, I guarantee you that the All Star Game would not have been a big deal when you were younger, either. That was your one chance to see all of the best players in the game. I can see them on any given night now, and not just when my team is playing them. It's simply not such a rare occurrence. Television and internet access are to thank for that. Could you imagine if there had been an MLB channel in the 1950s and 60's?
 
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Re: MLB 2015 - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

Interleague sucks. I hate it. It REALLY made the WS special, IMO.
 
Re: MLB 2015 - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

Brenthoven said:
Interleague sucks. I hate it. It REALLY made the WS special, IMO.
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THAT is where I think the error of interleague play comes in. The World Series. I don't think it moves the needle on the ASG.
 
Re: MLB 2015 - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

The only argument I would listen to is that the ASG was the only other game where you could see players from both leagues play each other.
 
Re: MLB 2015 - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

Brenthoven said:
Interleague sucks. I hate it. It REALLY made the WS special, IMO.
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I think a little interleague is OK. Seeing Twins/Brewers, Cubs/White Sox, Yankees/Mets, Royals/Cardinals and other natural rivalries is really cool. However...as a Twins fan...I couldn't give less of a crap about seeing the Rockies, Padres, Diamondbacks, Phillies, or Marlins. Stick with your own sister division for interleague.
 
Re: MLB 2015 - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

In the last 100 years the Phillies have played 8 nine inning games that have lasted 4 hours or longer. 7 of them, including last night's 10-7 loss to the Dodgers, have been since 2002. Baseball has attempted to speed up the games this season, with some success, but the number of 9 inning games lasting 3 1/2 or more hours is still ridiculously high. But I don't think there is really much else that can be done, since 90% of the reason is the ridiculous number of pitchers that see action in a given game. LA used 7, including 5 over the last 4 innings. Against the worst offense in the NL. Do you really think it takes 5 pitchers to hold the Phillies down? Fernando Valenzuela probably could have thrown 3 or 4 shutout innings against the Phils.
 
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Re: MLB 2015 - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

Dude Love said:
I think a little interleague is OK. Seeing Twins/Brewers, Cubs/White Sox, Yankees/Mets, Royals/Cardinals and other natural rivalries is really cool. However...as a Twins fan...I couldn't give less of a crap about seeing the Rockies, Padres, Diamondbacks, Phillies, or Marlins. Stick with your own sister division for interleague.
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At least the Twins have a geographic rival. The Tigers have been "natural" rivals with the D-Backs, Rockies, and Pirates during Interleague. The only thing Detroit has ever hated Pittsburgh for is Sidney Crosby.
 
Re: MLB 2015 - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

Spartanforlife4 said:
At least the Twins have a geographic rival.
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Except I don't think the Twins and the Brewers have ever been rivals. They were always my second favorite team as a kid.

Now the White Sox? Different story. But they have a more obvious "rival" in the Cubs.
 
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Re: MLB 2015 - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

WeAreNDHockey said:
But I don't think there is really much else that can be done, since 90% of the reason is the ridiculous number of pitchers that see action in a given game.
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There's something to do. Only one pitching change allowed in an inning. Problem solved.
 
Re: MLB 2015 - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

Actually, capping the bullpen size would be a better idea.
 
Re: MLB 2015 - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

dxmnkd316 said:
Actually, capping the bullpen size would be a better idea.
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Either the bullpen or how many pitchers you can roster or dress. Hockey does it with goalies. Most teams carry 13 pitchers now and the handful that don't carry 12. A generation ago it was 10 and occasionally 11 on the 25 man roster. A change I'd also make is requiring 6 innings for a win. The so-called quality start requires 6 innings, why not a win? The fraternity of starting pitchers would likely lobby for more innings if they knew pitching 5 would not get them a win. How many times this year has a starter been removed after 5 innings despite pitching effectively?

I cannot think of a thing about pitching that has changed in the last two generations that has made the game more enjoyable to watch. I also don't know if 6 man rotations, pitch counts, rosters that sometimes have as many as 14 pitchers on occasion and shutting down your superstars so they don't get injured (I'm looking at you Washington) have lengthened the careers of pitchers or made them less injury prone. Of course I guess if you are not pitching, you can't get hurt throwing a pitch.
 
Kepler said:
There's something to do. Only one pitching change allowed in an inning. Problem solved.
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Way back in the dark ages of daylight World Series and All Star games, the National (?) League had a limit of 2 visits per pitcher. On the second visit - out you go.

How about this. 28 man roster. 25 dressed per game. Limit of 10 pitchers per game. Oh - and the DH is a position. You can move the DH to the field without having the pitcher bat.

You're allowed 9 defensive shifts per game. If the game goes extras - one per inning.

The pitch clock is ruthlessly enforced. 9 defensive conferences per game with one additional for each extra inning. No more than 2 per inning and 1 per at-bat.

It is a strike if the ball is above the waist.

Now, back to the Ashes.....
 
Re: MLB 2015 - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

How about fewer rules instead of more? If you don't like baseball, I doubt shortening it 20 minutes is going to change your mind.

Next we'll have no-pitch intentional walks, and no base running on homeruns. Must be taking notes from the NFL rules playbook.
 
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Re: MLB 2015 - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

Second most wins in baseball.
Third best winning ratio.
Second best team in the NL.

But second best team in the NL Central. :(

The Cardinals are preventing everyone from noticing the Pirates ... or is that a good thing. ;)
 
Re: MLB 2015 - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

joecct said:
Baseball/Hockey fan first. But there's no baseball on now and the Ashes is the World Series of cricket.
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Isn't the World Cup the <strike>World Series</strike> World Cup of Cricket
 
Re: MLB 2015 - Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!

God I forgot how bad Hawk Harrelson is. Just turned on the Cubs game, and I already want to rip my ears out after five minutes.
 
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