Is Baseball too slow?
College baseball is a good amount faster than a professional game. Yet, college athletes are just that, student athletes. The kids playing are not being paid, and need to wake up early for classes. Being a student first can become a hassle to a college player who has a chemistry test on Friday, and a baseball game the night before.
Graduating SUNY Oswego student Sam Watkins knows all too well the struggles of college athletes. Watkins has spent the last two years serving as Sports Director of the campuses student run radio station 88.9fm WNYO. In his 4 years covering sports on campus Watkins has seen a plethora of problems that come from being a student athlete.
Watkins said, “Watching a professional game compared to a college game, I’d be lying if I said the pace wasn’t more enjoyable for college games. There needs to be a middle ground though.”
So where does that middle ground lie?
It seems few and far between for collegiate and professional baseball. At times it seems like there are more differences than similarities.
Professional baseball as a whole has changed quite a bit over the last decade. Replay has been integrated into a sport that for so long focused on the eyes of the umpires. Add on frequent pitching changes, and television breaks… Boy, baseball sure seems to be getting longer.
Yet, there has been an effort by the league to speed up the game. Timed commercial breaks have been introduced in an attempt to create a steady flow of game.
Collegiate baseball has failed to adopt man of the changes that professional ball has.
Does this benefit it?
Quite possibly.
One major difference between college, and professional baseball is the speed of a game. College, and minor league games have adopted the idea of having runners start at second base in extra innings. This has been created in an effort to prevent games going into deep extra innings.
College baseball has not needed to adopt the changes the MLB has to create a faster game. However, it could benefit from cutting a few games from its schedule.
So how can the speed of the game be fixed?
Should the MLB scrap entire innings out of the game?
“No. No. No.” responded senior SUNY Oswego student Matthew Drexler, “All records and statistics would be ruined and we wouldn’t see starting pitching anymore. Starters would go 4 innings and then the team would just go to their three best relievers the rest of the way because there’s only three innings left.”
Watkins had a similar vocal point saying, “Definitely not. That is not the issue. This isn’t high school baseball. There are other things that can be done to shorten the game, but removing innings is just detrimental to the quality of games.”
Similarly, SUNY Oswego student Nicholas Peacock said, “I think nine is good where its at right now, I don’t think there would be too many benefits to playing seven.”
Two similarities were found among all baseball fans that were interviewed. Firstly, cutting down to seven innings is unneeded and unwanted. Secondly, Cutting the league schedule is a viable outcome that could benefit the sport.
Every interview came to the conclusion that professional and collegiate baseball should cut a few games from the schedule. Current Spots Director at WNYO and Editor and Chief at the Oswegonian Cole Parzych said, “The MLB schedule is far too long… Even cutting out eight games would not only help the players’ health, but also make it seem as if the post season isn’t as short.”
Cutting down to 154 games a season would certainly be a load off to all professional baseball players. One week, and one day extra off means fewer chances of injury.
Matthew Drexler and Sam Watkins went even further with cutting games out of the season. Drexler said, “I would like to see the MLB cut their number of games down from 162 to 150. It was originally at 150 and I think those 12 games would mean a lot to teams.” Watkins further solidified the point saying “Instead of 162 games, make it 150. The playoffs can start sooner, so they won’t have to go into the late fall, where the weather becomes more of an issue. This also brings up the problem of the one game Wild Card playoff, which a lot of people have issues with. If the season is shortened, there is enough time on the schedule to make it a best 2 out of 3 series. Because part of the beauty of the playoffs is a series.”
Ideally a shorter season will create a better quality aspect for the League. If the league begins to cut too many games it runs the risk of losing out on some major revenue. Cutting 12 games or less is a completely legitimate option. Money will most certainly be lost, but viewership might go up sooner rather than later. Player health will also vastly increase, benefiting all teams involved.
What about college athletes though?
They still play far too many games as well. The length of their schedule is too daunting for a student that has to deal with his studies on top of playing his favorite sport.
Watkins said, “The collegiate season is something that I think should be shortened as well. Especially with Division III games; we have to remember that these are students. Playing two or three doubleheaders a week makes it very difficult for these students to balance class and their team, and there have even been some players on the Oswego State baseball team who have had to quit school because of anxiety issues. We have to remember that they are students before athletes.”
Anxiety issues? After all it is just a game right?
Unfortunately the world may not be ready for almost thirty baseball games a spring semester. The students can do it, but some slack should be given to them. Playing this many games may be rewarding at the end of the season, but is quite a lot. Baseball may be a non-contact sport, but that doesn’t mean playing it doesn’t create real life injuries. Playing “America’s National Pastime” is all fun and games until your first Tommy John surgery.
Converting to the speed of game that collegiate baseball operates on would be a much more fun aspect for most involved. Yet, it is obviously less than likely that the MLB will reach such a verdict. The league seems stuck to the scheme that made the sport so popular in the early and middle parts of the 20th century. The league cannot help that today's population that is so fixated on getting information quickly. We crave it as a world due to the smart phone, and the Internet.
It seems like this generation cannot connect with baseball as Drexler said, “I also think this new generation is just impatient and doesn’t appreciate the craft of baseball. They just want to see cool dunks and big hits in football.”
Baseball is undervalued in today’s society. It is not technically a dying sport, but the chinks in its armor are present. A batter fighting off ten or more pitches during an at bat is not valued by the younger generation of sports fans. Baseball may not be highly regarded sport it once was, but it fans and players will benefit from cutting out a few games on the professional, and collegiate level.
