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Is the baseball season too long?
Results so far:
| Yes | 37% | 58 votes | Total: 155 votes | |
| No | 63% | 97 votes |
Yes
by Michael Fox
Created on: February 20, 2010
The baseball season lasts 162 games every year. This sounds like a good amount of time but at the same time this is something that causes a great deal of toll on the players who play the game. It also makes it difficult for some games to be played including ones that are later in the season.
A major problem is that throughout the year baseball players have to play for eight or more days in a row. This is difficult in that this can cause players to become worn out and can be especially taxing on teams that have to travel often. Not every baseball player can last for games on end like Cal Ripken Jr. was able to. With this in mind many players are being forced to take days off and as a result it is going to be tough for certain players to truly establish themselves or to even make decent attempts to try and break some records.
In addition to this the long season causes baseball playoff games to be played way too late in the season. Baseball games are being played in late October and early November. This is a ridiculous time in that at this point in the year the general public will become more interested in football and in some cases the start of the hockey and basketball seasons.
Another thing about how games are played this late comes from how difficult it is to get some playoff games handled. This is especially the case with World Series games. In some instances games can be played in freezing temperatures that can get to where the games have to be delayed by a day or two. This could be considered a great point as to why this debate was created in the first place. Unless a team plays in a warm climate or in a stadium with a retractable roof it is going to be very difficult for some games to be able to be played.
With this in mind I feel that it would be easier for Major League Baseball to consider cutting its schedule down by a bit. I feel that a 150 game schedule is fine enough in that it allows for enough competition while allowing for the season to end at a reasonable time and to keep players from wearing out easily. The occasional days off will still be available for teams of course.
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No
by Dave C
Created on: May 09, 2010
From when pitchers and catchers report in mid-February to Opening Day in April to the crowning of a champion in October (or November as has been the trend recently), fans and the media alike are captivated by the sport. The daily lineup moves, the call-ups and send downs, the slumps, the hot streaks, the trades, and the broken records are what we have come to love most about the game and they all play out so splendidly during the six-month regular season. Any abridged version of this most beautiful sport would be an injustice to Americana.
162 games is an out and out slug fest of a season; it is designed to weave out the undeserving and ensure that only the best are playing for the trophy. Yes, it is true that some of that has to do with the structure of the playoffs: four teams from each league get in whereas hockey and basketball send eight per league and the NFL sends six per. The NBA often sends below average teams to its playoffs and the NFL has witnessed the 9-7 Cardinals get hot at the right time and come within a Santonio Holmes toenail (or arrest before the game that would've prevented him from playing!) away from winning the Lombardi. Major League Baseball is designed so that the eight teams playing for it all are without a doubt eight of the best ten teams in the sport that season. The beauty of the game is encapsulated by such teams as the 2008 Rockies, a story that could never have been written if the season was only, say 145 games.
I believe that baseball and football have been blessed in finding the perfect lengths to their seasons. If anything, I would argue that the NBA and NHL seasons are way too long, a point I contend is confirmed by their playoff systems. More than HALF of the teams in both leagues get in and the postseason, particularly in hockey, is full of more upsets than Danny Bonaduce's life story. Baseball's regular season means everything while the fallacious system of these other two sports invalidates their regular seasons.
From Mark Buehrle's Opening Day web gem to Ubaldo Jimenez's no-no to Starlin Castro's sterling debut to the crowning of a World Series champion and everything in between, the 2010 baseball season will only serve to once again prove that the length of baseball's season is pure perfection.
Learn more about this author, Dave C.
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