Just Another "Who Cares World Series"

In a little under an hour the 2018 World Series will begin in Boston.  I predicted Boston would win it all earlier this summer and missed when I incorrectly chose Milwaukee to beat the Dodgers in the NL Championship Series.

But, honestly I don't plan on watching much of what Major League Baseball (MLB) calls the "Fall Classic".  I am not invested in either of the teams and both clubs have an unfair advantage over their smaller market opponents.  But, the real reason I won't watch is I just don't have three and a half to four hours a night to devote to the games.  Thiis is why I call it a "Who Cares World Series".  This was the headline of an East Coast newspaper prior to the start of the 1985 World Series between the Kansas City Royals and the St. Louis Cardinals.

The average time of the National League Championship Series games was 3:33.  And if you add in the 13 inning game between the Brewers and Dodgers the average time becomes 3:53.  This is too long and much of the time there is no action.  (Unless you want to say batters stepping out of the box and adjusting their gloves is "action".)

And the American League is worse.  The average time of the AL Championship Series games was 3:57.  Three hours and 57 minutes on the average to watch a nine inning game.  And while MLB would tell you it was a classic, Game 4 lasted 4 hours and 33 minutes.  The final score was 8-6 and it was a nine inning game.  That amount of time for a baseball game is way, way, way too long.

And what makes this all worse is grade school kids won't be able to see the end of most games unless they live in the Pacific time zone.  Based on the average times of the NLCS and ALCS contests, games in this World Series games will take about 3:45 minutes to play.  For those living in the Eastern Time Zone the games probably won't end until several minutes before midnight.  For the Pacific Time Zone it is a little more manageable for children in that the games should end about 8:53.

MLB brags about record attendance figures every year but the bottom line is the people who will be paying for tickets in ten to 15 years will be shut out from seeing the World Series games to their conclusion.  MLB my advice to you is wake up! (No pun intended.)