MLB response to tanking: more playoff teams?

[DrungoHazewood]

1 minute ago, atomic said:

I don't ever watch ESPN.   But I am guessing the Poker tournament isn't costing ESPN $5.5 billion dollars to air.  I would rather watch a poker tournament than a Yankees vs the Red Sox game.  And that is probably true about most people in that they would rather watch something like poker over seeing regular season baseball games that don't involve their home team.  I suspect that most of the people watching the Red Sox vs Yankees games are either Red Sox or Yankees fans.  And the reason they can get 2 million viewers is that there are a lot of Red Sox and Yankee fans.  And that is why you don't see the A's playing the Rays on ESPN.   Even both have good teams no one cares.  

I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a pickle fork than watch poker.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

7 minutes ago, Frobby said:

You know, I don’t have any problem at all with Manfred (1) testing out possible rule changes and technological changes at the minor league level and seeing how they work, or (2) floating proposals to change the competitive structure and seeing how people react.    Testing a proposal, or floating one, is not a crime.     Some people may feel that baseball should never change anything, but I’m not one of them.    I personally like the fact that Manfred is open to new ideas.     That doesn’t mean I like all those ideas or am in any hurry to adopt them, but I think Manfred is right to put them out there for examination, testing and debate.    

As to this proposal, I’m still mulling it over, but I probably come down against it.   I read somewhere today that if this structure had been in force the last five years, a 79-win team would have made the playoffs twice and the highest cutoff would have been 84 wins.     For me, that is too low a threshold.    I’m pretty happy with the playoff structure as it is now, and personally, I love the one-game wild card.
 

I’m not against the game changing either. I like the wildcard play in game. But a lot of Manfred’s ideas seem to be let’s come up with something zany and see if the fans like it.

If losing teams regularly get in the playoffs with this proposal then it’s a nonstarter for me. I don’t see any reason the current playoff format needs fixing.

[DrungoHazewood]

12 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

When they forbid catchers the use of gloves?

Foul-strike rule was adopted by the AL in 1903.  Had previously been adopted by the NL in '01.  Previously you could foul off 23 straight pitches and the count would still be 0-0.

[DrungoHazewood]

12 minutes ago, Aglets said:

The DH?    outlawing the spitball?

Oh no, I bet Drungo is referring to the mandatory minimum outfield boundaries regulations of 1959.   

Okay, so the spitball was pretty consequential.  So maybe two since the foul-strike rule.

[DrungoHazewood]

11 minutes ago, Aglets said:

Oh and in addition to the above they lowered the pitcher's mound again in the 1960s.    I'm assuming you see that as relevant since you chose 1904 as your cutoff.

Eh, they clarified the mound rule for 1969.  Most of the problem with the 60s was that they just stopped enforcing the limit, I don't think they really changed much. A little like the catcher takeout rule - it had always been illegal to block the plate without the ball, they just tweaked things to also say it's a bad idea to give the catcher brain damage.

I think it's a major change if you're sitting in the stands and you'd notice.  You'd notice the DH.  You'd notice foul balls not being called strikes.  You probably wouldn't notice that the mound was 23" instead of 17".  You wouldn't notice if a ball just above the letters was a ball, especially since they didn't call it prior to the rule change anyway.

I suppose that makes replay a major change, just not to how you play the game on the field.

[TommyPickles]

20 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Compared to 1960?  Sure.  Compared to most other sports, maybe not so much.  The NFL changes things like kickoff and extra point placement and definitions of holding and pass interference and how you can and can't tackle every year and nobody bats an eye.  Basketball changes the 3-point distance all the time.  

My point was more that the game has changed a lot in the recent era, lets say since 2012.

-Changed playoff format

-Added Manager challenges

-Limited player visits to mound

-Adding timers to stadiums to limit time between innings 

-Changed size of roster (from 25-26)

-Changed the trade deadline 

-Changed bullpen pitcher rules (you must face three batters)

-Requiring batters to remain in the batter's box during their ABs

-Expanding netting in all MLB stadiums

 

This along with a host of proposed changes including:

 

-Expanding the League to 32 teams

-Reformatting divisions

-Adding a robotic strike zone

-Changing the rules for extra innings

-Adding pitch clocks to all MLB games

-Adding a DH to the NL

-Further changing the playoff format

 

I was just saying things have changed a lot in the past 8 years or so.  Again, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, but I stand by my original comment that its been "a roller coaster."

 

[atomic]

22 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a pickle fork than watch poker.

2019 NFL Draft rounds 4 to 7 had higher ratings than any regular season baseball game in 2019.  So did the NBA Draft Lottery. 

[Aglets]

11 minutes ago, atomic said:

2019 NFL Draft rounds 4 to 7 had higher ratings than any regular season baseball game in 2019.  So did the NBA Draft Lottery. 

Would you rather have 5M watch an event one time per year?

or 1M people watch something 90 times during the year?   (this is the most recent figure I found for ESPN MLB games)

This is why baseball revenues continue to increase.

ESPN paid 5.6 BILLION dollars for their current MLB deal.   They aren't doing that to lose money.

[interloper]

Never gonna happen. No point in discussing it further IMO. 

[Frobby]

22 minutes ago, atomic said:

2019 NFL Draft rounds 4 to 7 had higher ratings than any regular season baseball game in 2019.  So did the NBA Draft Lottery. 

That’s hilarious, and kind of pathetic.   
 

“Day one of the Major League Baseball Draft had 304,000 viewers on MLB Network Monday, down 5% from last year, when viewership was the highest since at least 2012 (320K), but up 15% from 2017 (265K). As one would expect, the MLB Draft attracted a fraction of the audience of this year’s NFL Draft, which averaged 6.1 million viewers over three days, and last year’s NBA Draft (3.07M). It also trailed last year’s NHL Draft (368K).”

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2019/06/indycar-ratings-nbc-uefa-univision-mlb-draft/

 

[DrungoHazewood]

25 minutes ago, atomic said:

2019 NFL Draft rounds 4 to 7 had higher ratings than any regular season baseball game in 2019.  So did the NBA Draft Lottery. 

There's no accounting for taste.

[MountUrCastle]

Adding more playoff spots just serves to benefit tanking even more and a reason for teams to spend less money then they already do.

You require less wins per player to make the playoffs, meaning less money spent out the gate. Then, when your team ages, you can simply tank, which will be a faster rebuild due to the lower bar of entry into the playoffs meaning less time spent tanking and less money spent overall.

[atomic]

9 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

There's no accounting for taste.

I didn't watch any Sunday night baseball on ESPN.  I did watch the NFL draft.   Well the first night. I didn't watch rounds 4 through 7. 

[eddie83]

31 minutes ago, atomic said:

2019 NFL Draft rounds 4 to 7 had higher ratings than any regular season baseball game in 2019.  So did the NBA Draft Lottery. 

What is your point? You are comparing events to a 162 game sport. It is a foolish comparison and ESPN also spends countless hours promoting those programs. 

I watch very little of ESPN except for live sports. They over saturate the network with NFL and NBA talk because of the high dollar money deals with those sports.  

[atomic]

15 minutes ago, Frobby said:

That’s hilarious, and kind of pathetic.   
 

“Day one of the Major League Baseball Draft had 304,000 viewers on MLB Network Monday, down 5% from last year, when viewership was the highest since at least 2012 (320K), but up 15% from 2017 (265K). As one would expect, the MLB Draft attracted a fraction of the audience of this year’s NFL Draft, which averaged 6.1 million viewers over three days, and last year’s NBA Draft (3.07M). It also trailed last year’s NHL Draft (368K).”

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2019/06/indycar-ratings-nbc-uefa-univision-mlb-draft/

 

It hard to get interested in the MLB draft when a lot of players in the first round won't be in the majors for years if it all.

Look at the 2014 draft.  The 1st, 2nd and 5th player drafted are still not in the big leagues.