Trying To Play a Summer Sport in the Winter
It may only be April 3 as of this writing, but the Major League Baseball season is already officially underway. Not only is it underway, it's already almost a week old. Those who only loosely follow the sport of baseball may be wondering why the baseball season is already a week old in the first week of April, especially when much of the country is less than two weeks removed from blizzards and Alberta clippers. It's a good question, and the only answer is a combination of cluelessness and insatiable greed by baseball team owners that at some point will have huge negative implications on the quality of play, particularly in the postseason when it counts most.
Over the past 30 years, the baseball season has expanded collectively by more than a month. Back in the mid-80s, the postseason had its first round of extension and the World Series that used to end by mid-October began to end in late October. A decade later, another questionable expansion of the postseason grew the season by another week, with a good number of World Series in the last 20 years extending into November. And right when I thought it couldn't get any more ridiculous, yet another expansion of the postseason is being added this year, only this expansion is pushing the season up a week. A sport that was intended to be played in the summer is now being played from March to November when, global warming notwithstanding, it's winter in about half of the MLB markets.
Growing up in Minnesota, I can remember several extended winters growing up with a late spring thaw where the snowpack didn't melt away until April 10 or later. And 2013 has had a late spring thaw as well, and in the aforementioned Minnesota, there is still substantial snowpack only an hour north of where the Minnesota Twins play in Minneapolis. So I guess the team narrowly averted a major mess given that their home opener was on April 1, only about a week after all the seats in the stadium were still buried in snow. Now in the past, it would have been common sense not to schedule a home opener in Minnesota on the first game of the season, and that was true even when the season began a week later. But not anymore. Tempting fate, those who schedule MLB games went right ahead and scheduled an outdoor baseball game in the Minnesota tundra on April 1.
And the reference to an "outdoor baseball game" is a perfect segue to the other big problem afflicting Major League Baseball in 2013. Having sensibly pivoted towards domed stadiums in inclimate markets a few decades ago, baseball is now shrugging off the need for domed stadiums at the very time that it expands its season in both directions to the time when snow falls. It's only a matter of time before Mother Nature gives us a harsh reminder of just how stupid that the overlapping decisions of repeatedly extending the baseball season and getting rid of domed stadiums were.
So what could propel the decisionmakers of Major League Baseball to tempt the weather to this extent, particularly when it pushes the critical postseason into winter weather territory? The usual: gluttony. More team owners want to get into postseason action, to where the number of teams eligible for postseason play has unjustifiably increased from four to 10 over the last 20 years, and thus allowing more greedy owners to cash in on postseason play. Unfortunately, a windfall for owners has turned into a nightmare for baseball fans, particularly those who are only able to watch postseason baseball on TV....provided they can find a network that airs it. The broadcast nations used to be patient with MLB's expansive postseason, airing the games in primetime even as it gobbled up their lineup for the entire month of October. But as postseason baseball consumes more and more calendar time, the broadcasters have lost their patience and the majority of postseason play has now been relegated to cable, meaning the average baseball fan who can't afford cable is potentially unable to even watch his or her hometown team in the league championship series.
And for those who are able to watch postseason baseball, the World Series that was so exciting two decades ago has effectively become a nonevent. I am a baseball fan and even I'm bored with postseason baseball by the time the multiple early rounds of playoffs finally end after four full weeks and the World Series finally begins around October 25 or whatever the date happens to be. And of top of everything else, the variance in team payrolls extends from the New York Yankees $225 million annually to the Houston Astros' $25 million, a chasm so wide that the number of contenders for postseason play is shrinking even as the postseason itself keeps growing. America's favorite pastime is rapidly becoming a victim of its hubris, overexposure, and foolishness....and it seems very unlikely this insanity is ever gonna be rolled back at this point no matter how unhinged things are in the eyes of the random casual fan of the sport.
Over the past 30 years, the baseball season has expanded collectively by more than a month. Back in the mid-80s, the postseason had its first round of extension and the World Series that used to end by mid-October began to end in late October. A decade later, another questionable expansion of the postseason grew the season by another week, with a good number of World Series in the last 20 years extending into November. And right when I thought it couldn't get any more ridiculous, yet another expansion of the postseason is being added this year, only this expansion is pushing the season up a week. A sport that was intended to be played in the summer is now being played from March to November when, global warming notwithstanding, it's winter in about half of the MLB markets.
Growing up in Minnesota, I can remember several extended winters growing up with a late spring thaw where the snowpack didn't melt away until April 10 or later. And 2013 has had a late spring thaw as well, and in the aforementioned Minnesota, there is still substantial snowpack only an hour north of where the Minnesota Twins play in Minneapolis. So I guess the team narrowly averted a major mess given that their home opener was on April 1, only about a week after all the seats in the stadium were still buried in snow. Now in the past, it would have been common sense not to schedule a home opener in Minnesota on the first game of the season, and that was true even when the season began a week later. But not anymore. Tempting fate, those who schedule MLB games went right ahead and scheduled an outdoor baseball game in the Minnesota tundra on April 1.
And the reference to an "outdoor baseball game" is a perfect segue to the other big problem afflicting Major League Baseball in 2013. Having sensibly pivoted towards domed stadiums in inclimate markets a few decades ago, baseball is now shrugging off the need for domed stadiums at the very time that it expands its season in both directions to the time when snow falls. It's only a matter of time before Mother Nature gives us a harsh reminder of just how stupid that the overlapping decisions of repeatedly extending the baseball season and getting rid of domed stadiums were.
So what could propel the decisionmakers of Major League Baseball to tempt the weather to this extent, particularly when it pushes the critical postseason into winter weather territory? The usual: gluttony. More team owners want to get into postseason action, to where the number of teams eligible for postseason play has unjustifiably increased from four to 10 over the last 20 years, and thus allowing more greedy owners to cash in on postseason play. Unfortunately, a windfall for owners has turned into a nightmare for baseball fans, particularly those who are only able to watch postseason baseball on TV....provided they can find a network that airs it. The broadcast nations used to be patient with MLB's expansive postseason, airing the games in primetime even as it gobbled up their lineup for the entire month of October. But as postseason baseball consumes more and more calendar time, the broadcasters have lost their patience and the majority of postseason play has now been relegated to cable, meaning the average baseball fan who can't afford cable is potentially unable to even watch his or her hometown team in the league championship series.
And for those who are able to watch postseason baseball, the World Series that was so exciting two decades ago has effectively become a nonevent. I am a baseball fan and even I'm bored with postseason baseball by the time the multiple early rounds of playoffs finally end after four full weeks and the World Series finally begins around October 25 or whatever the date happens to be. And of top of everything else, the variance in team payrolls extends from the New York Yankees $225 million annually to the Houston Astros' $25 million, a chasm so wide that the number of contenders for postseason play is shrinking even as the postseason itself keeps growing. America's favorite pastime is rapidly becoming a victim of its hubris, overexposure, and foolishness....and it seems very unlikely this insanity is ever gonna be rolled back at this point no matter how unhinged things are in the eyes of the random casual fan of the sport.
posted by Mark at 6:15 PM
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