MLB Completes Its "Regular" Season

The COVID-19 regular season of Major League Baseball has stumbled to the finish line.  Most of the season was less than what we have come to expect in quality.  For starters, the team rosters expanded up and down as needed, a lot of the pitchers on double header days were Triple A players who frankly weren't ready for the show.  And to top it off the doubleheader games were only 7 innings.  Again, not what one would expect from MLB baseball.

The season was only 60 games long for most teams, less for others.  But, with the use of a host of made up as you go tiebreakers, MLB now has 16 teams that qualified for post season play.  And outside of the first round playoffs which are best of three affairs, the division and league championship series will be played at neutral sites.  Why?  Because baseball could have a hard time getting games played on time in cities such as Minneapolis, Buffalo (home of the Toronto Blue Jays this year) and Denver.  So, in its great wisdom MLB will play in "bubble" sites in four warm weather cities.  This way the games will be finished by the end of October and MLB will get a giant paycheck from its television partners.  Which is why MLB has pushed this sham for the past two months.
 

I don't really care who wins the World Series this year, because whoever the team is will be a joke.  Sure, I've been a long time St. Louis Cardinal fan, but this year I just don't care if it wins or not.  Ultimately, every record from this season should have an asterisk placed next to it so future generations know the season was a scam.

Rants and Rambles

Happy October!  The weather has finally cooled off to more seasonable temperatures and fall has finally checked in where I live.  Instead of highs in the low 90s temperatures are now in the upper 50s.  I welcome fall, but wait until this winter and I will bitch about how cold it is.

In no particular order here are a few things I have been thinking about.

-NCAA Football.  My beloved Missouri Tigers are 3-2 on the young season and play at Tuscaloosa this Saturday night against the top rated team in the country; the Alabama Crimson Tide.  'Bama is a 28 point favorite and the over under number is 74.  I think if I were a betting man I would take the over number.  Mizzou has generated offense in every game it has played this year, but it's secondary leaves a lot to be desired and will have a hard time getting stops against the Tide.

-Times of games.  The NCAA still needs to figure out a way to speed up its games.  They are way too long and I am getting tired of sitting in the stands at Mizzou games watching the teams stand around and do absolutely nothing.  For starters, when a 30 second timeout is called, make the teams stay at the line of scrimmage and start play 30 seconds after the timeout is called.

-Baseball has done absolutely nothing and despite all of the hype about limiting the number of visits to the mound the games are still way to long.  The playoffs have brought the games to a crawl, with too many now taking over four hours to play.  This is ridiculous.  As I wrote earlier this year, keep the hitters in the box and the pitchers on the rubber, and limit the number of commercials and the games will have more action.  Oh, and have the umpires call the strike zone as it is written in the rule book.

-Baseball Predictions.  I think it will be the Red Sox and Brewers in the World Series.  And I think the Red Sox will win it all.  The Sox won 108 games this year and seem to have it all.  I look forward to both of the League Championship series too. While I like the Sox and Brewers, I may be wrong since Houston and the Dodgers seem to be peaking at the right time.

Well enough for now.  But, I will leave you with a picture I took while on vacation of a spot I had always wanted to visit.  It is the new Yankee Stadium at 161st Avenue in the Bronx.  The view is looking down the first base side of the ballpark.  I hope you enjoy it.

The Games are Too Long

I am a fan of Major League Baseball and a fan of NCAA Football.  Each sport shares the same problem.  The games are too long and getting longer.

I've watched as much of the MLB post-season as I can, but I just don't have four hours a night to invest in a baseball game.  Last night's Game Five in Houston will go down as a classic, but because I was tired I could not stay awake and went to bed in the eighth inning.  When I watched the highlights this morning I saw what all the shouting was about. The game which started at 7:10 p.m. where I live, didn't finish until after 12:30 a.m.  Sure, it lasted ten innings but the time to play it was way too long.  Baseball needs to cut back on the amount of commercials between innings and keep the batters in the box and the pitchers on the mound.  That will go a long way to speeding things up.  But, something else that will help is having the umpires call pitches as the strike zone is defined in the rule book.

The NCAA is now apparently owned by ABC / ESPN.  That TV network keeps adding commercials to each TV timeout it imposes on the game.  Again, if the NCAA would cut back on the number of commercials allowed in its breaks and make the teams stay on the field when play is stopped, the games would not last three hours and 45 minutes on average.  I love college football, but the length of the games has me thinking about not renewing my tickets next year.

MLB is a Week Late This Year

Don't look now, but Major League Baseball opens it's season on Sunday night when the Braves take on the World Champion Phillies.

In case you haven't noticed, it's a week later than in past years. Why you ask? Well it's all due to the greed of MLB and it's __________(you fill in the blank) commissioner Bud Selig. Selig and his cronies decided to hold another stupid World Baseball Classic again this year. It's a joke in that the only ones who care are MLB and it's idiot partner in crime ESPN which showed way too many games in an attempt to legitimize the "event". (I suppose if the so called "World Sports Leader" showed tiddlywinks enough someone would actually think it's a sport, but I digress). The real reason for the tournament is to sell a bunch of worthless MLB crap to wannabe fans in third world nations. Bottom line; money.

So with that farce running in the background Spring Training in Arizona and Florida has stretched on for what seems like six months. But, now the fun begins and true baseball fans can watch their favorite teams battle for the next six months. Oh, but I forgot to tell you. With the season starting a week later, the season will also finish up a week later. And the playoffs will start a week later. Bottom line is the World Series will end a week later guaranteeing that the World Series will stretch into and end for the first time ever in November. Way to go Bud!

Random thoughts on the World Series

It's been an interesting World Series to this point. The Rays and Phillies are both fun teams. I have enjoyed what I have been able to see of it. But Major League Baseball (MLB), as I have written before, has sold it's soul to the devil (Fox Sports). Otherwise, I and many, many millions of others could have stayed awake to see a great game three last Saturday night. I finally turned it off at midnight. Think about the poor fans in the Eastern time zone who had to sit up until almost two in the morning to see the finish.

The umpiring has been bad and so has the weather. Why is it that one guy can change the rules of a great game that has been played for years? Each umpire calling home plate is a little different. But, the rules book clearly defines a strike and a ball. So, why don't they all call it the same? And, it's not just the plate umpire. A horrible call was made at first base Saturday night and an even worse one made on Sunday night at third base. If these guys are the best baseball has...then it is hurting. As far as the weather Commissioner Bud Selig says they will stay in Philadelphia until Thanksgiving if needed. Gee, I wonder how that makes the Rays and their families feel? You can almost hear the execs in the NFL suite laughing from here.

Despite the poor management by Selig and his moron advisers, the game thrives. Just think how much more popular it would be if someone who knew what they were doing was actually calling the shots.