I know my enthusiasm for MLB dies a little every season. Part of it of course is how bad (mostly) the Reds have been the last 25 years or so. The 1994 strike took a lot of my love for the game away but it recovered, to a degree.
But if the season is delayed very much I'm not sure I'll ever be able to get back in the saddle ?
I'm not saying baseball is gonna die in just a few years. I'd say it will be a long slow death. But I do think it's dying and stuff like this seasons snafu are pushing it along.
There will always be the naysayers for MLB and their ranks are growing due to the lockout. My brother hates the fact they moved the Allstar game last year from Atlanta to Denver for a stupid political rumor. Baseball is adding fuel to the fire and I've noticed how empty the stands are these days. This is not the same game I watched in the '70s with the Big Red Machine.
I know my enthusiasm for MLB dies a little every season. Part of it of course is how bad (mostly) the Reds have been the last 25 years or so. The 1994 strike took a lot of my love for the game away but it recovered, to a degree.
But if the season is delayed very much I'm not sure I'll ever be able to get back in the saddle ?
I'm not saying baseball is gonna die in just a few years. I'd say it will be a long slow death. But I do think it's dying and stuff like this seasons snafu are pushing it along.
I'm a sports fan and like watching the big four pro sports- MLB, NFL, NHL, & NBA. Baseball was my first love as a kid among the pro leagues and I was lucky to attend many games a season at Riverfront with my dad. As a teenager I was one of those guys who could name all the players in the league but as time passes I too have less enthusiasm for MLB. I'm apathetic to the point I don't even follow league new nor do I have a take on whether it is the owners or the players ruining the game. '94 hurt, the Reds are typically not competitive, and most teams in the league start the season already knowing they have no chance of winning anything. I love baseball for its history and used to enjoy the on field strategy, but the sport just doesn't mean as much to me anymore. Maybe I changed as I got older, but I don't think the sport does itself any favors (it's not worth posting about with a furhter blah blah post lol).
(03-06-2022, 11:41 PM)guyofthetiger Wrote: My brother hates the fact they moved the Allstar game last year from Atlanta to Denver for a stupid political rumor.
I never understood the logic behind depriving myself of something I like, i.e. watching football or baseball, for some political reason that has nothing to do with the game.
Some people are turning their politics into their religion. It is crazy.
-Advertisement patches on uniforms/advertising helmet decals.
-Expanded playoffs.
-Pitch clock.
-Banning the shift.
Am I getting old? Because I am starting to hate what MLB is becoming.
Me too
I remember seeing stats over last couple seasons and the number of at bats that end in a home run, or strike out have went up like 2,000 % over the last several years.
Pitch clock is pretty cool. It was annoying how some pitchers would slow the game to a crawl when the opposing team's bats were heating up. The faster pace will help with growing viewership and potentially increase the offensive output across the league.
(03-06-2022, 11:41 PM)guyofthetiger Wrote: There will always be the naysayers for MLB and their ranks are growing due to the lockout. My brother hates the fact they moved the Allstar game last year from Atlanta to Denver for a stupid political rumor. Baseball is adding fuel to the fire and I've noticed how empty the stands are these days. This is not the same game I watched in the '70s with the Big Red Machine.
(03-07-2022, 02:11 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I never understood the logic behind depriving myself of something I like, i.e. watching football or baseball, for some political reason that has nothing to do with the game.
Some people are turning their politics into their religion. It is crazy.
And pass me that Chic-fil-A sandwich.
I've always told people that bring up stuff like this "You're not letting their politics get in your way of a good time, you're letting your politics get in your way."
-Advertisement patches on uniforms/advertising helmet decals.
-Expanded playoffs.
-Pitch clock.
-Banning the shift.
Am I getting old? Because I am starting to hate what MLB is becoming.
Yep. We're all getting old. NONE of the games we grew up playing and watching are even close to the same.
Add in bigger bases and I have no problem with any of the changes except for the DH rule. I love the shift in a strategy sense but I absolutely hate what it has done to the game of baseball.
(03-10-2022, 09:13 PM)guyofthetiger Wrote: Baseball is trying to make money and keep fans interested. I like some of the new changes. Lets see how they play out.
Yep again. Every American based sports league has learned A LOT from MLS and European soccer business wise and also how they interact with fans(very much like the younger Blackburn this year). It's been happening for awhile.
(03-11-2022, 06:24 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Me too
I remember seeing stats over last couple seasons and the number of at bats that end in a home run, or strike out have went up like 2,000 % over the last several years.
It's just not fun anymore.
I 100% agree . . . please watch the video below and Jayson Stark addresses that after Rich Eisen makes pretty much those same complaints. These changes are to help some of the numbers in the game that have been falling and rising in all of the wrong directions. My jaw dropped when they said how many singles a MLB team averages in a game.
(03-11-2022, 07:15 PM)treee Wrote: Pitch clock is pretty cool. It was annoying how some pitchers would slow the game to a crawl when the opposing team's bats were heating up. The faster pace will help with growing viewership and potentially increase the offensive output across the league.
When you're team is on their toes ready to play . . . they usually are more attentive and alert at the plate. I always got the ball back from the catcher, stood right back on the rubber and was waiting for the batter to get ready for almost every pitch I ever threw and coaches would use me as an example to the other team mates on how I got so much run support.
One pitcher would get the ball in front of the mound, take off his glove and rub the ball like Robert Stephenson while walking around to the back of the mound, step up and S . L . O . W . L . Y take his time to shake off a couple of pitches, finally get one he likes, takes a big breath, goes into his windup, delivers the pitch.
Ball 1
Go through the whole routine again
Ball 2
We're standing on our heels, bored to death and we're playing the game.
This video slightly addresses that as they tried the pitch clock in a Double A league.
The way to drum up fan interest is to change the way that teams structure payroll. Smaller market teams can certainly win, but they generally go through cycles of being awful when they can't afford to pay players after rookie deals. You end up stringing together 3-5 years of sucking, and knowing that you're going to suck because you can't run with the big dogs in spending and you can't keep homegrown talent.
People always want salary caps, and that's fine, but there need to be floors as well. Stop letting cheapskate owners skimp on payroll. The Reds are bad enough, but look at Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. The money they pay to their MLB rosters is absolutely an embarrassment.
Give as many fans of as many teams as possible hope that their team has a shot at being competitive at the start of every year. That's what the NFL does well, and that's what MLB sucks at.
DH is positive. Don't know why anyone would want to see a pitcher hit. It is like the old days in football when the QB had to also play DB. Just lowers the quality of players on the field.
Pitch clock is a great move. Baseball games were waaaaaay too slow.
Outlawing the shift is a bad move. It is just more encouragement for players to try and pull every pitch for a home run. Make them start slapping the ball to the opposite field and we will see more baserunning and action.
(03-27-2022, 10:22 PM)Science Friction Wrote: I'm getting old, too , I guess. Definitely don't like the product the way I did back in the 70's. Baseball was King, for me, back then.
Manfred Man on 2nd in extras... 7-inning doubleheaders ... Double Ugh.
They went back to full length doubleheaders. Man on 2nd for them, though, which is just awful. At least we don't have to see 7 inning "no hitters" and "complete games".
(03-27-2022, 10:45 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: They went back to full length doubleheaders. Man on 2nd for them, though, which is just awful. At least we don't have to see 7 inning "no hitters" and "complete games".
(03-28-2022, 09:51 AM)TecmoBengals Wrote: I'm with you. I do approve of the universal DH. Baseball was my first passion as a kid, but it is a sport increasingly less enjoyable to follow.
Yep
I grew up in the 70's, Big Red Machine/baseball was my first love. I ate, slept, walked, talked baseball around the clock. I had half a dozen shoe boxes full of Topps baseball cards in 1975 or whatever.
Baseball has never been a fast paced sport full of action. And it never will be. Perhaps it's just not adaptable to the new age fast food everything has to come in a nano-second, instant gratification age ?
Watching a game today is like watching paint dry. Homerun or a strikeout baseball is just not fun. Players can't bunt, there's very little hit and run, how many suicide squeeze's you seen lately ? steals ? on and on.
I grew up in the 70's, Big Red Machine/baseball was my first love. I ate, slept, walked, talked baseball around the clock. I had half a dozen shoe boxes full of Topps baseball cards in 1975 or whatever.
Baseball has never been a fast paced sport full of action. And it never will be. Perhaps it's just not adaptable to the new age fast food everything has to come in a nano-second, instant gratification age ?
Watching a game today is like watching paint dry. Homerun or a strikeout baseball is just not fun. Players can't bunt, there's very little hit and run, how many suicide squeeze's you seen lately ? steals ? on and on.
Perhaps we're just to old ?
It might be that we're too old. I loved my 1980s baseball for the bunt, hit and run, the stolen base and the guys who could flash leather. As you said, it's long ball and strike outs now. I also dislike the extent pitching has become specialized because it has slowed down the game.
I don't lose sleep over all this, but from time to time I'll think about how I enjoy the NBA & NFL more than a MLB game. 10 to 18 years old me knew every player in MLB, batting orders, stats, and so much more. Now, not so much. Life and tastes change I suppose.
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