But Major League Baseball has defrauded its players and fans for nine years – this year will make it an even 10 – and it’s time to admit the gimmick hasn’t worked and a new link for homefield advantage for the World Series is needed. ...
The most interesting development stemming from the gimmick is that it hasn’t accomplished the sole reason for its creation. Despite this harder played, better managed game, the Fox ratings for the game have fallen six times in the 10 years of the link’s existence, including the last two years, when the ratings have been the lowest ever for a Fox televised All-Star game, 7.5 in 2010 and 6.9 last year. Viewership has also plunged to its lowest, 12.1 million and 11 million in the last two years, respectively.
These numbers unmask M.L.B. as the fraud that it has been in concocting the All-Star gimmick. Even worse than the gimmick has been the spin – I call it lies – baseball and Fox have used in trying pathetically to explain and defend the All-Star gimmick. ...
Have the outcome of the 252-game interleague series determine homefield advantage for the World Series. The champion of the league whose teams prevailed in the interleague segment of the schedule would get homefield advantage. That benefit would be decided by 252 legitimate games, games that count in the standings, not a single exhibition game that otherwise counts for nothing and has no reason being put in such a critical position. ...
My suggested system wouldn’t do anything for television ratings, but baseball doesn’t have to worry about Fox’s All-Star ratings.
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
1. The Pequod Posted: June 29, 2012 at 09:12 AM (#4169280)I love this idea
That may be; but it is Murray Chass's idea, and BTF GroupThinkFactory will soon have you tarred and feathered.
Wait for a respectable blogger to think of it.
OTOH, it could add some impact to an otherwise meaningless San Diego-Seattle game on the final day of the season.
I would say win it or lose it. So the advantage would change hands after a tie. Another alternative is to use the All-Star Game or last year's World Series as a tiebreak.
I don't understand why this would matter. Plenty of teams don't know if they're making the playoffs until the last week of the season.
Even a blind pig kicks an apple once in a while.
I like Best of 3: All-Star game result, interleague play, better record among WS participants. I don't like best record by itself, because a team with a better record in an inferior league can get HFA. With Best of 3, it goes to the team with the best record unless that league has failed to ID itself as superior in the only two on-field ways we have of comparing leagues.
The other upside is it makes interleague play interesting for something , which it currently is not.
Logistical problems will prevent what is otherwise a very sensible idea.
Given a choice, I like the idea proposed in post 9 the best. But ultimately it really doesn't matter. I personally think the hfa advantage is with the team with the middle three games.
Make twitterer a position and have the fans vote. Each league would then have a designated twitterer to keep us up to date on onfield hijinks.
National League fans will never go for that.
Well, that all depends on whether McCarthy gets onto the ASG roster or not.
I like Best of 3: All-Star game result, interleague play, better record among WS participants. I don't like best record by itself, because a team with a better record in an inferior league can get HFA. With Best of 3, it goes to the team with the best record unless that league has failed to ID itself as superior in the only two on-field ways we have of comparing leagues.
This is indeed a terrific idea.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main