Baseball Needs a Revolution

[Quazzum69]

If someone told you to describe a sport/game in one sentence, what would you say?

Basketball: get the ball through the hoop

Football: get the ball across a line (or kick it through two poles)

Soccer/hockey/handball/field hockey/lacrosse: get the ball/puck in the goal

Golf: get the ball in the hole

Darts: hit the center of a circle

Billiards: hit the balls in the holes

Tennis & other net/racket sports: hit the ball in play such that the opponent cannot get it

Pretty much every game has a nice, compact description that gets to the very essence of the game quickly. Yes, there are details and rules but each game has a straightforward description of the overall objective.

How would you describe the game of baseball in one sentence? I don't think it can be done without a lot of additional explaining and asterisks (which is perfect for baseball. ZING!).

I would argue that baseball is too convoluted. In today's 140 character society, the quirky rules of "pastureball" are no longer enjoyable to the masses (has baseball had any major changes in the past 100 years?). The Major League needs to find its identity and get to the essence of what the game is about: hitting and pitching. One v. one.

What today's pitchers can make a ball do do is astounding; actually hitting the ball probably more so. There are no athletes in baseball so don't try to pretend a throw to home or a double play even compares to Lebron James or the NFL. Why not eliminate the extra stuff that made sense in the 19th century or to people actually playing the game?

Give points for every hit proportional to the distance hit. It would be simple: just get rid of outs and have a set number of batters/points and assign a point system for distance hit; walks are points and strikeouts are no points. Maybe then we could answer:

Baseball: hit the ball as far and as often as possible.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

A. The object is to get around the bases any way you can, as often as you can, by walking, running, hitting and stealing, either individually or with the help and sacrifice of your teammates.

B. Don't tell guys like Manny Machado, Yasiel Puig, any SS or the KC outfield they aren't athletes. Even Bo kmows you have to be more than an athlete to play baseball. Michael Jordan and Billy Beane couldn't.
The "problem" with baseball is not baseball: its societal changes.
It doesn't make great national tv, but attendance is great and local tv numbers are strong.
It will never be what it was nationally, but as FB fades b/c of head injury issues, baseball will do better.

 

[NailstheCusefan12]

 

[Hoo's That]

IIRC there's a t-shirt that says, "A day without lacrosse is like 9 innings of baseball."

 

[Knicks411]

Baseball has done ok for itself. There are things I would change, there are things I would change about every sport. But nothing like what OP is suggesting.

 

[Bayside44]

3 of the 4 games in the Nats- Giants series were decided by bunts...post-season play the game seems to get a bit small.

However, nothing like the ballyard on a summer night.

 

[pfister1]

Baseball has done ok for itself. There are things I would change, there are things I would change about every sport. But nothing like what OP is suggesting.

Shorten the games....eliminate as much idleness as possible.
Shorten the season....162 games is too many if you are going to allow 12 teams into the playoffs.
Shorten the post season. I'd be ok going to a two round format. The team with the best record in the AL plays the the team with the second best record. Same in the NL. Two teams meet to crown a champ. Get it over before the weather changes in the NE.

 

[Knicks411]

Shorten the games...eliminate as much idleness as possible.
Shorten the season...162 games is too many if you are going to allow 12 teams into the playoffs.
Shorten the post season. I'd be ok going to a two round format. The team with the best record in the AL plays the the team with the second best record. Same in the NL. Two teams meet to crown a champ. Get it over before the weather changes in the NE.

For sure shorten the idleness in the games, that has gotten out of control. I'm cool with shortening maybe the playoffs as well; if they wanted to go from 162 games to 154 also, I'm ok with that. Any fewer than that, I would be against. But the WS should never be scheduled to end in November. Never.

 

[moqui]

maybe its because I live in a region with two players who look like they are going to be all-time greats and they are still in their early prime (Kershaw and Trout), but I think baseball right now is the best it has been in my lifetime.

it's funny - my two favorite sports are basketball and baseball, and they are the polar opposites of each other. Basketball is generally fast paced (except college ball recently), it fits perfectly on the TV screen, and is the definition of a team sport. Baseball is leisurely paced, it doesn't fit well on the screen, and it is much more a collection of individual efforts rather than a synchronized team sport.

 

[PoppyHart]

"You throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball."

- Bull Durham

 

[br801]

I would argue that baseball is too convoluted. In today's 140 character society, the quirky rules of "pastureball" are no longer enjoyable to the masses (has baseball had any major changes in the past 100 years?). The Major League needs to find its identity and get to the essence of what the game is about: hitting and pitching. One v. one.

What today's pitchers can make a ball do do is astounding; actually hitting the ball probably more so. There are no athletes in baseball so don't try to pretend a throw to home or a double play even compares to Lebron James or the NFL. Why not eliminate the extra stuff that made sense in the 19th century or to people actually playing the game?

Give points for every hit proportional to the distance hit. It would be simple: just get rid of outs and have a set number of batters/points and assign a point system for distance hit; walks are points and strikeouts are no points. Maybe then we could answer:

Baseball: hit the ball as far and as often as possible.

What you are proposing contains certain elements of the sport, but it's not baseball. It's akin to saying someone whaling away at a golf ball on a driving range is playing the game of golf.

Despite it's problems, the current game of baseball is alive and well, and will endure.

 

[moqui]

I


Baseball: hit the ball as far and as often as possible.

that's called the Home Run Derby, and it's a once-a-season gimmick, not the salvation of the game