All in for big changes to MLB’s schedule, for now and the future
I’ve been surprised by the silence of baseball purists as MLB considers playing a drastically shortened season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Guardians of The Game, a group that includes current and ex-players, usually have a lot to say about big change. Baseball is famously resistant to it, in large part because it is obsessed with the integrity of its records.
Greg Maffei seems to be a lonely voice bringing up that concern. Maffei, CEO of Braves owner Liberty Media, contemplated a truncated season during a CNBC interview last month and said “The real question is, will we have enough games to be able to have a full, credible season that allows us to ... produce winners of divisions and the like?”
That question isn’t being asked much even as recent reports indicate the season could end up including about 80 games. MLB has scheduled 162 games per season since 1962. It’s never played fewer than an average of 107 games per team in the modern era.
I guess it’s hard for traditionalists to care as much about the season’s credibility under the circumstances. Massive challenges must be overcome to have any season at all in 2020.
I still expected to hear more griping from some baseball people about the possibility of a gimmicky season. Franchise owners and players are arguing over money, but no one seems concerned about whether the season will be credible.
I think that’s a good thing. Baseball could use a jolt to divert it from its maniacal focus on tradition. The current circumstances, awful as they are, provide a chance for MLB to make big changes with few objections from those who normally would protest.
The reported proposal of about 80 games per team and seven postseason bids per league (up from five) sounds great to me. I’m all in for a sprint to the postseason that has spots for nearly half the teams, instead of a crawl that ends with 10 of 30 in the playoffs. That sounds fun.
It’s the kind of thing that would generate excitement even if people weren’t desperate for entertainment while staying at home. MLB is proposing to start the season in July. We could immediately get into the spirit of postseason races instead of waiting and waiting for the standings to sort themselves out.
I’m not a wild-eyed radical calling for big changes to baseball. In fact, the thing I like most about baseball is that it’s a hard game. Great athletes also must be skilled and consistent to be good at it. It takes time so, unlike with basketball and football, even the best prospects would be overmatched if they immediately played at the top level.
Those are reasons I like the 162-game schedule. The long slog through the summer produces legitimate results. Players can’t live off luck for that long. Teams can’t win their division on a few fortunate bounces.
Fewer games and more playoff spots would mean luck plays a bigger factor in results. If that makes the season less fair, it also would make it more interesting. Unpredictability can be entertaining. I think I’d like an 80-game season with extra playoff slots, even if it comes at the cost of some things I like about baseball.
MLB may be forced into accepting a radical schedule change because of the COVID-19 pandemic. My hope is that MLB will be inspired to keep taking chances with its schedule once the pandemic is contained. Based on MLB’s history, any big change will take a long time.