MLB Screws Up Again

Happy last day of April. I hope it's been a good month for you. I've been working a part time gig, which makes it one of my busiest months of the year.

Baseball is back and so are some changes to MLB's (Major League Baseball's) rules. This year computer umpires are calling every pitch of the game, but so are human umpires. The human umpire behind home plate is still calling balls and strikes the entire game, but this year, pitchers and batters can challenge a ball-strike call if they think the ump missed it.

Image courtesy of nesn.com

With a lot of rain in April where I live, I've seen a lot of games. And I've seen a lot of ABS challenges. (ABS is the computer umpire calling every pitch.) I don't like ABS.

Many of the challenges show the umpire made the right call. But, everyone makes mistakes and the human gets overruled. Then a ball becomes a strike or vice versa. Teams are given two challenges per game and, as long as they are right in their challenge, they retain them. But, if they are wrong, they lose a challenge. Then miss another one, and the team has none left for the rest of the game. The problem is, as the game gets to the late innings, the challenges mess up the rhythm of the game, and it drags out the last inning or two. Combine the ABS challenges with the other challenge calls, and it slows down the pace of the game, especially if the score is tight in the last few innings.

My advice to MLB is to get rid of ABS challenges and let umpires do their jobs just as they have for the last 157 years. Maybe some fans like looking at a scoreboard image to see if the baseball touched an imaginary electronic strike zone. I don't.

Get rid of it MLB and, while you're at it, re-evaluate the other video replay challenges allowed too frequently in major league games. 

Another Long (and Sometimes Boring) World Series

The Los Angeles Dodgers wrapped up the 2025 World Series last night with a four games to three win over the American League Champion Toronto Blue Jays. Last night's game was exciting as the two evenly matched clubs played eleven innings to decide this year's championship. Unfortunately, it was another one dimensional game in which the game was decided by home runs.

I've written of the times of World Series games for the last several years. But, I'm not going into the length and boredom factor of each game as in years past. Here are the actual times of game for each of the seven in the 2025 “Fall Classic.”

Game 1     3:13
Game 2     2:36     This was the most snappily played game of the series.
Game 3     6:39     This was an 18-inning game. Had it been two games, each would have been long.
Game 4     2:54
Game 5     3:02
Game 6     3:02     Yes, it's the exact same length as the previous game.
Game 7     4:07     The game went 11 innings.

All together it was 1533 minutes of baseball. Not all of it was good when nothing happened at the plate due to walks, strikeouts, or hit batsmen. To put it another way, it was 25 and a half hours of  “America's Pastime.” Or, to put it another way, over a day of your life was gone if you watched every single game and every single pitch.

Rather than ignore the time the extra innings added to Game 3 and Game 7, I've calculated the average length two ways. The actual average time of game was 3:39. But, if recalculated using an average time per inning, the number is 20.716 minutes. Then, when that average per inning is multiplied by 9, it results in a time of game of 3:06.

While both times are still way too long for me, it's better than it had been before MLB implemented its time clock to speed up play. It's helped, but now the Major League Baseball powers that be need to go back to the drawing board and shorten the time between pitches.

Random Thoughts in the USA Midwest in the Middle of October

It's raining! Finally, it's raining! Where I live in the Middle of the United States it's been a beautiful fall. We've had daytime highs in the low 80s and night time lows in the upper 50s and low 60s. It's been terrific except for one problem. We haven't had any real rain in over six weeks. I've been watering my garden and bushes every other day. With the nice days the tomatoes have continued to roll in every day. But, as I look out the window now, it's finally raining. Glorious rain! Thank God for small favors!

The rain has motivated me to write a bit since my beloved Missouri Tigers football team is out of town this weekend. The team is now 5-1 having suffered its first loss last weekend in Columbia to a good Alabama team, 27-24. Missouri could have won the game but shot itself in the foot several times and the errors ended up costing Mizzou a win.  Tonight the team is in Auburn, Alabama to take on that breed of Tiger. Mizzou is a one and a half point favorite according to the so called experts.

-Have you been watching any of the Major League Baseball playoffs? I haven't. But, then I never went to a game all season and never watched an entire game on TV including these boring playoffs. MLB continues to focus on the long ball at the expense of other facets of the game. MLB promotional types continue to screw up at every turn. I've written in the past a monkey could do a better job. It's amazing to me how whenever MLB makes a decision its the wrong one. Keep it up MLB and you'll kill the Golden Goose.

-Just to be fair while I haven't watched an entire baseball game all year, I've not watched an entire professional football game either. The pros could care less about me and will never earn my loyalty again after having dumped on me twice when my home town teams moved away to other cities.

-There are some other things I could write about politically where I live. But, I'm not going to change anyone's mind with what I write and they won't change my mind if I let them respond to anything I write. It is what it is. And speaking of off limit topics a friend of mine has a sign he puts up every year at he and his wife's NFL Championship party.  It reads "No elections, no genuflections and no erections!"

Have a great weekend and I will write again soon.

-

Ramblings from an Angry Old Man in the Middle of the United States of America

-The more I deal with the United States healthcare industry the more frustrated I am.  A family member recently took a fall and is dealing with three compressed discs in her back.  Because of her age there is nothing the medical community can do for her surgically to repair the discs.  The doctor who visits her in the hospital has done absolutely nothing to address the underlying condition of pain in her back since we declined surgery for her. As a result she is in excruciating pain whenever someone moves her or tries to help her with other medical issues.  I won't name this particular hospital but I wouldn't take my dog to it.  I've also learned hospital administrators apparently could care less about their patients.  The bottom line at this supposed not for profit suburban hospital is the almighty dollar.

-Baseball has reached it's unofficial midway point of the 2025 season.  The game continues to die a slow death due to mis-management and poor promotion of the game itself.  Despite implementing a pitch clock two years ago the games are returning to longer play times.  This due to in part to players learning to manipulate the rules and more commercials in each game.  MLB continues to overhype home runs at the expense of the rest of the facets of the game.  If there are no dingers chances are you won't be seeing highlights of that game.

-I still haven't decided whether to keep posting or not. Not many people are reading this blog and most of its hits are coming from bots.  Still, I like to write and may continue just for the joy it brings me. Where I live it's been very hot for the last three weeks and we're less than a month into summer.  So, stay cool and thanks for reading.

World Series Game Four = 3:16 Boredom Factor = 22

Apparently, the rules implemented by Major League  Baseball before the 2023 season don't apply in the World Series.  Actually, they do apply but this game logged in at three hours and 16 minutes.  The Yankees finally got a win in Game 4 as Aaron Judge got a hit and contributed to the Yanks 11-4 win over the Dodgers.  Judge is still below the Mendoza line hitting a "whopping" .152 for the series.

The boredom factor is a metric I came up with to count the number of times a batter came to the plate and failed to put the ball in play.  There were a combined 12 strikeouts, nine walks and a hit batsman.  There were also 9 pitching changes where a national TV audience watched commercials and Yankee Fans sat around waiting for the game to continue.

The Dodgers now lead the Yankees three games to one.

World Series Game Three = 3:25; Boredom Factor is 31

The World Series shifted cross country from Los Angeles to the Bronx.  The Dodgers behind the strong pitching of Walker Buehler  won the game 4-2.  For the third consecutive game Freddie Freeman homered for the Dodgers.

The boredom factor of the game is 28.  This is a statistic I've developed that counts the times a batter fails to put the ball into play during an at bat. This game there were18 strikeouts, 12 walks and one hit batsman.

The game as you saw in the headline for this post lasted a whopping three hours and 25 minutes. The main reason for this is both managers over used their bullpens. The Yankees used nine pitchers and the Dodgers employed 8 pitchers.  The TV talking heads tried to tell the public this was exciting baseball.  But, I doubt many people who watched it agree with that assessment.  

World Series Game Two = 2:53

The Los Angeles Dodgers won for the second night in a row downing the New York Yankees 4-2 behind the pitching of Yoshinobu Yamamoto.  And for the second night in a row Freddie Freeman homered for the Dodgers.

There were a lot of dull moments in this game too as 18 plate appearances took place without the hitter putting the ball into play.  There were 13 strikeouts, three walks and two hit batsmen, both times Anthony Rizzo was hanging out over the plate when he got plunked.  Rizzo needs to remember half of that plate belongs to the pitcher.

If you are looking for the time and boredom factor in Game One you may read about it by going to this post.

Random Thoughts in Late September

It's been seven and a half weeks since I last posted to this blog. It's not I don't have anything to say, it's just that as I continue to get my life back, I have less time to write than while I was recovering from the kidney transplant.  As an update, my doctors have lifted all of my dietary and fluid restrictions and I am able to eat and drink pretty much whatever I like. I don't see any of my transplant team until mid December and my lab work is down to every other Monday morning.  So, life is good and I am keeping busy working a part time job and looking after my 97 year old mother.

I have spent the last four weekends in my old stomping grounds, Columbia, Mo. watching my beloved Missouri Tigers play football. Mizzou is 4-0 and really hasn't played anyone tough. They were rated as high as number six, but then beat 24 ranked Boston College and slipped to 8. A win last week over Vanderbilt dropped the Tigers to #11. My guess is the voters in the A-P poll don't think the Tigers schedule is as tough as the rest of the SEC teams ahead of them.  That is a logical assumption but keep  in mind Missouri has beaten ranked Power 4 opponent and the conference schedule was set by the SEC conference.  You know what's strange?  Today Mizzou climbed back into the ninth spot in the Associated Press poll despite having a bye yesterday. They've also moved up to number 9 in the coaches poll. I guess the writers and coaches think not playing anyone is better than winning.  Go figure.

As far as the NFL I haven't watched a game all season and have a lot of other things I can do on fall Sunday afternoons.  I might watch a game once it gets cold in December, but I have better things to do than waste my time on a league that has twice crapped on St. Louis football fans.

The 2024 MLB regular season came to a conclusion today with my beloved St. Louis Cardinals finishing eleven games back of the Brewers in the NL Central and missing the playoffs, again.  I haven't watched the team in over a month because they had mediocre starting pitching, a crappy bullpen outside of their closer and an offense that never came close to it's potential.  Still the birds ended up four games over .500 in a lame Central division.  If I owned the organization (the DeWitt Family does) I would give someone else beside John Mozielak a chance to be the general manager.  And, while he appears to be a nice guy, I would fire manager Ollie Marmol too.  He hasn't won in two years. It's not entirely his fault because Mozielak hasn't given him much of a team to work with.  But, as the saying goes, you can't fire the whole team.

Have people in the United States gone insane?  I can't believe millions and millions of voters say they will vote for Donald Trump.  The man is a pathological lawyer, somewhat senile and apparently thinks the voters are dumber than he is. Kamala Harris is more liberal than I care for but I will vote for her to save our democracy in the United States of America.  Now, having written that, I don't think anyone has ever said "I think I'll go look at a random blog to decide whom to vote for as president."

Does anyone know why Google no longer has a workable system for posting images on a Blogger? I've tried reading the instructions and even that doesn't work.

Have a great rest of September!

Final Thoughts on the Completed 2023 World Series

This image is owned by Major League Baseball

The 2023 World Series came to an end earlier this week and apparently a whole lot of people didn't really care or bother to watch any of it.  This year's series had two of the least watched games in baseball's Fall Classic.  Game Two had the lowest rated game in World Series history with just 9.17 million viewers nationwide watching.  As bad as that was for MLB and its TV partner Fox, Game Three was seen by just 8.15 million viewers.  What was more embarrassing for baseball is that while it was airing it's championship series, a cable network, ESPN, had more than 15 million US viewers watching a regular season game between the Detroit Lions and Las Vegas Raiders.  This should send a strong message to the MLB "leaders" it has a serious problem with its version of the game. 

The average time of game in this year's World Series was 3:13.  In fairness that includes an 11 inning game.  That first game that was won by the Rangers lasted 4:02.  Why does it take four hours to play an eleven inning game?  It takes that long because managers change pitchers at whim and umpires won't call the strike zone as written.  And the games seem longer when batters are swinging for the fences and striking out as if they just don't care.  Apparently, they don't care about how many times they whiff.  This year's average game time was only 23 minutes shorter than last year despite all of the hype from Major League Baseball about its implementation of a pitch clock.  The issue needs to be addressed again with an eye to shortening the time between pitches even more. 

MLB also made a big deal out of having larger bases this season.  It didn't have much impact on the World Series.  There were a total of eight stolen bases in five games.  And in two of the games there were no stolen bases.  MLB needs to go back to the drawing board on this too.  Despite, its efforts the game is still one dimensional.  And while, it's reviewing its rule changes, the powers that be, in New York City need to take a look at the defensive alignment rule.  Fielders learned quickly they could comply with this year's change to have two fielders on each side of second base, but frequently they were just inches from being on the other side of second base. 

I love the game of baseball.  Hopefully, MLB will take heed of declining attendance, and declining TV ratings.  I could offer more suggestions to MLB leadership but they seem content to let the game die a slow death as long as they get their TV payments from their television partners.  I hate to say it but both the TV Networks and MLB are about to get a rude awakening as the amount of money for TV rights starts to decline and ratings continue to fall.  I have said this before and I will say it again; this is not your grand-father's or even your father's game.  Wake up MLB!

Thoughts on MLB's Pitch Clock

Photo by si.com

We're two months into the 2023 Major League Baseball Season and the "new" rules seem to be helping the game that used to be America's pastime.

MLB claims games are roughly a half hour shorter than they were last year. I did a quick check yesterday and of the 16 games played, four were over three hours, three more were within five minutes of three hours and the other nine were less than 2:55 in length.

As a fan I am happy the games are shorter.  No one liked watching pitchers step off of the rubber and batters step out of the box on what seemed like almost every pitch. The 15/20 second pitch clock has made a big difference but there are still some issues needing to be addressed.

Many MLB umpires, for whatever reason, are unwilling to call the strike zone as it is written.  Many pitches near the bottom of the zone are being called balls resulting in hitters taking what should legitimately be called strikes.  This results in more pitches and batters waiting out pitchers for walks.  Walks slow down the game and add to the time needed to play the game not to mention the lack of action on the field.  MLB needs to address this immediately and force the umpires to call the strike zone correctly.  This issue can be resolved with technology that's currently being tested in the minor leagues.  The robot umpire doesn't miss any pitches in the strike zone.

Both hitters and pitchers are lobbying to increase the length of the time clock. Currently hitters are allowed to call one time out per at bat as are pitchers.  But, both sides are wanting the play clock to be longer.  I have heard some inane arguments from both sides saying the games are too fast and fans don't have a chance to go to the concession stand without missing a chunk of the game.  I call baloney.  MLB must keep the existing play clock times in effect.  If anything they can probably be shortened a few seconds with runners on base.

Time will tell if the players end up getting their way or the fans can expect reasonably played games at a relatively snappy pace.  If the games go back to their old length of over three hours and 15 minutes fans will stay away in droves and both attendance and TV ratings will continue to fall.

So Far, So Good

Major League Baseball is five days from opening day and spring training is all but a memory.  The rules implemented by MLB over the winter to speed up games appear to be working...so far.  Pitchers and hitters are on the clock and the overall time of games is reported by MLB to be down 25 minutes per game.

If you read this blog regularly you know I've lobbied for faster games for years.  Up through last  year the games had become snooze fests with batters stepping out, pitchers stepping off and fans taking a nap between pitches.

Now that spring training games are almost behind us let's hope major league umpires enforce the rules once the real season begins on March 30th.

Game Three = 3:08

Image owned by MLB

The third game of the World Series was completed last night with Philadelphia winning 7-0 in a boring lopsided affair.  The time of the game was three hours and eight minutes, which based on today's standard is not that long.  But in the long history of the game it is very long.  For example game three of the 1962 World Series between the New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants was completed in two hours and six minutes before a crowd of more than 71 thousand at Yankee Stadium.  The Yankees won that game three to two.

Last night's game was marked by the same lack of activity as the first two games of this series.  In total there were 23 plate appearances where the ball was not put into play.  There were "only" six pitching changes this game which helped to speed it up slightly from the first two games.  Still, how dull is it to sit at the ballpark and watch pitchers warm up?  Very dull.  So much so I did not watch the game.

And while I'm ranting, Astro pitchers needs to drill a Phillie slugger in the back after the hitter stands at the plate and admires a home run they've just hit.  Philly you may be the National League champ in the Series, but you've proven yourself to be a bush league team.

Game One = 4:34

Image owned by MLB

The first game of the 2022 World Series is behind us.  Philadelphia came from behind to beat Houston 6-5 in ten innings.

The time of the game, in case you didn't look at the headline was four hours and 34 minutes.  Yes, 274 minutes long.  It started just after seven p.m. where I live and didn't end until after 11:30 p.m.  That means 12:30 a.m. along the east coast of the US.  I wonder how many kids fell asleep or had to go to bed before it ended.  MLB you really need to be cultivating those young fans because your future is not bright.

For the record there were 23 strikeouts and nine walks in the game.  That means there was no action on the field outside of the pitcher and catcher where fans watching at the field and on TV waited for the ball to be put into play.  And to add to the boredom there were eleven pitching changes when fans sat around waiting for the game to resume.  Your fans are asleep MLB, but even with next year's planned rules changes to speed up the game you are in trouble.  Wake up!

2022 World Series

Baseball's popularity at the major league level continues to wane due to the lack of action it provides to its patrons.  And the 2022 post-season is no different.  This year the rocket scientists that manage Major League Baseball expanded the playoffs to permit two more mediocre teams into the post season tournament.

That hasn't worked out very well for the suits in New York as a team that has no business playing this post season, the Philadelphia Phillies, is now in the World Series.  And the best team in the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers, is home for the winter doing whatever millionaire baseball players do in the winter in Southern California.

I won't be watching any of the games from start to finish because I don't care to invest four hours in a game.  Then multiply that by up to seven depending on the number of games that are played.  No thanks.  I have a life and if Major League Baseball (MLB) really wanted me to watch, the games would start about 4 p.m. where I live in the central time zone.  But, baseball has to show them in primetime for the FOX TV network, which has literally millions of dollars wrapped up in rights payments to Major League Baseball.

If you want to know my take on this year's matchup you can read this post from earlier this evening.  I won't have much to say about the individual games outside of writing about them the same way I have the past couple of years.  I will be keeping track of the time of the games since they are extremely long and frequently become incredibly boring.  Based on the last two seasons my guess is the average length of game for this series will be about three hours and 35 minutes.  Time will tell.  Check back here after each game for an update.

Fearless World Series Prediction

As I finally get around to writing this, the 2022 World Series is underway in Houston with the Astros leading the Philadelphia Phillies 5-3 in the fourth inning of Game One.

After seeing both teams play during the regular and post-season I can say with a fair amount of certainty Houston is superior in all aspects to Philadelphia.  The Phillies momentum has taken them as far as they will go this year..

Houston has the better pitching, hitting and defense.  Phillies bats have come alive in the post season but they haven't faced the likes of Verlander and the rest of the Houston pitching staff.  I don't have a dog in this fight and really don't care who wins.  But, for what it's worth my fearless prediction is the Astros in five games.

A New Season, But It's The Same Boring Game

Major League Baseball is back for the 2022 season with a number of rule changes and gimmicks designed to speed up play and add interest to what has become a dying business.

MLB's first weekend is in the books and the times are just as long as they have ever been despite gimmicks like electronic pitch signaling and larger bases.  This year also marks the use of the designated hitter in all National League games.  This is a change the league resisted for 45 years but finally at the will of MLB "experts" was added despite numerous NL team objections.

I have yet to watch a game in its entirety because I don't care to waste time watching batters wander in and out of the batter's box and pitchers waste time blowing on their hands, adjusting their hats and walking around the back of the pitcher's mound.

Until baseball forces these players to play instead of wasting the time of thousands at each game MLB will continue to lose fan support and that translates to lost revenue for both sides.

Make the pitchers throw the ball to the plate in 15 seconds when no one is on and 20 seconds when a base is occupied and it will speed up the process and the hitter will have to be ready too.  If not, then a strike will be called against them.  Unless, a stick is poking out of their eye, the batter will no longer be granted time out at will. 

Another way to keep things moving is for the home plate umpire to call the strike zone as it is written in the rule book;  from the knees to the letters.  Currently the strike zone is being called from the middle of the thigh to the waste.  Make the hitters swing instead of waiting for called balls.  Now, when the hitter gets ahead in the count he is looking to drive the pitch into the next time zone.  This fascination with long homeruns is being fueled by MLB.  You need look no farther than the daily highlights on the business' own application.  This obsession with home runs has become detrimental to the rest of the skills in baseball.  Stealing bases and "small ball" have become a lost art.

Until, Major League Baseball starts enforcing the rules, the games will grow longer and even more tedious.  It will deteriorate even further until it finally starts hurting both the players and owners economically.  As a former season ticket holder to a major league baseball team, I guarantee you I will not buy another ticket unless the game swings back to what it used to be.

Great Year Bengals!

Congratulations to the Cincinnati Bengals  on a tremendous 2021 football season.  They made it to the Super Bowl only to lose to a west coast team playing on its own home field.  Not exactly an equal playing field.  Cincinnati ended the year at 13-8 and could have won the NFL Championship game but the officials seemed hell bent on throwing flags against the Bengals in the last two minutes of the game.

I didn't watch the game except for the last seven minutes because I refuse to support a league that dumps all over fans and pockets billions of dollars each year while hiring felons to line the owner's pockets. In fact I didn't watch any games in their entirety all season long because I just don't care anymore.  It turns out there's much more to life than watching the national felons league on Sunday afternoons.  Fall is a beautiful time of the year with many outdoor events and activities to be shared with family and friends.

I'm glad the season is over and all of the hype from the media (ESPN to name names) is over for another six months.

Now, one can only hope the greedy players and owners in Major League Baseball will fight over a new collective bargaining agreement all season and we won't have to watch what is now the world's dullest sport.

Game Six = 3:22

 

The 2021 World Series came to a close last night with the Atlanta Braves being crowned "World Champions".  The Braves won the series four games to two.  The score last night was 7-0 Braves over the Houston Astros.

There were a total of 19 strikeouts, three walks and nine pitching changes.  Houston alone changed pitchers seven times even though it was losing the entire time by a lopsided margin.

The six games lasted a total of 13 hours and 7 minutes or an average per game of three hours and 38 minutes.  This was eight minutes longer than I projected in my pre World Series post.

Game Five = 4:00

For the second time in just five games it took four hours to play a nine inning baseball game.  I don't have the time to waste on these matchups but do from time to time flip channels to see the score.  I live in the Central Time Zone and at 10:00 p.m. this one was only in the bottom of the sixth inning.  I went to bed and found out this morning that Houston won it 9-5 to take the series back to Texas.  Atlanta is up three games to two.

The game was slowed down by nine pitching changes, 16 strikeouts and another eight walks.  The "Fall Classic" is now guaranteed to not end until at least November 2nd.  MLB has to be happy the Red Sox and Cubs aren't playing.

Game Four = 3:45

 

The Braves won again at home 3-2, to take a three to one lead in games over the Astros.

The length of the game was 3 hours and 45 minutes.  The Braves came from behind to win the matchup but it certainly was not exciting unless you though your whole Saturday night should be wasted watching baseball while the NCAA offered a full slate of games.

This game was slowed down by ten pitching changes.  There were 18 strikeouts in which the hitters could not put the ball into play and eight more plate appearances where the hitters watched the ball sail out of the strike zone.

Can  you say "boring"?