2011 MLB Season

[gunnar hendershow]

At least we're getting both series going to at least a Game 6, again this has been one absolutely great postseason.

[Meacon Keaton]

I find that article about the Rangers kind of funny. I mean, I understand where the writer is coming from, but it's like:

"TEAM MAY GO AFTER PLAYER IF HE BECOMES FREE AGENT!"

Oh really? Seems farfetched!

[sahyder1]

Rangers Preparing To Bid For C.C. Sabathia

I know he'll almost certainly end up going back to the Yankees, and the backdoor way it's been reported is sort of spiritual tampering (something the Steinbrenner's are pretty well versed in), but it's probably a good way of making sure the Yanks are occupied while they try to bring back CJ/sign Yu Darvish. And seriously, after watching Hank basically ask AJ to opt out of his contract with the Jays in 2008 (although thanks for that Hank, BTW) to go to big money in the big apple it'll be funny if CC sees the leverage they've given him and opts out to get that A-Rod type term under his current salary.

I'd be shocked if he signs with Texas. If C.C leaves, he'll leave for a team in California. Much like last time I do not want him on the Angels though. Could the Giants make a play and then maybe trade Cain for some offense?

Given what CC's going to cost (and how brutal the terms will eventually be), why wouldn't they just pursue Reyes/Fielder/Beltran on the FA market? Do you really want to be paying a big bodied SP like CC 25 million dollars in 2018? I mean the Giants/Red Sox/Cubs/Rangers will all like him at a price, but ultimately the Yanks are going to go above that. And if it got in the way of the Giants finding a way to lock up Tim Lincecum long term, that would be a gigantic, franchise changing mistake.

Definitely not saying it'd be wise for them to go after C.C but they are the one team I could see jumping into this...however much of a longshot. I don't think the Giants will be in the Fielder/Pujols sweepstakes. They have a young 1B already and who knows....maybe Posey might have to move there eventually.

[gunnar hendershow]

I'd move Posey there as soon as possible. Too much offense to lose to injury.

I have to question the decision to have Greinke pitch Game 5 on the road when he's mediocre bordering on bad while at home he's lights out. I know you have a rotation, but it's the playoffs and you should build it all around what you excel most in. Now the Brewers are a Carpenter gem away from elimination.

[Blitz]

Rangers offense FINALLY did them dirty. 9 runs, 6 hits, 4 pitchers in the third inning.

[naiwf]

Rangers vs Tigers ALCS recap in 3 words - Cruz Your Daddy.

[Blitz]

Back to back World Series! I'm loving sports life in Dallas right now.

[Ananas]

The vastly more talented team won. Imagine that. It'll be interesting to see how they match up with two teams that definitely aren't putting on pitching clinics like the Giants were in 2010. I'm sure Josh Hamilton is glad that's it for day games.

[gunnar hendershow]

No matter who they face, it's Texas' World Series to lose. They are good everywhere and the lineup is great. That's often what it takes.

[Blitz]

No matter who they face, it's Texas' World Series to lose. They are good everywhere and the lineup is great. That's often what it takes.

That was kind of the perspective many of us took last year going into the World Series against the Giants and we got did by their rotation. The Cardinals have a great staff as well, despite their production so far in the postseason. I think it will be a great series, and the deciding factor will be which team can straighten out their rotation and save their bullpen.

[gunnar hendershow]

No matter who they face, it's Texas' World Series to lose. They are good everywhere and the lineup is great. That's often what it takes.

That was kind of the perspective many of us took last year going into the World Series against the Giants and we got did by their rotation. The Cardinals have a great staff as well, despite their production so far in the postseason. I think it will be a great series, and the deciding factor will be which team can straighten out their rotation and save their bullpen.

Tony La Russa does not know what this phrase means.

Not to say he doesn't find a way to make it work, he's got specialists for every situation in his pen (like SF last year). I don't know if his starting pitching outside of Carpenter is enough to silence the Texas bats. I like the Rangers in 5.

[gunnar hendershow]

So per the norm in the world of baseball the World Series is a quiet end to the season. Outside of the two fanbases only diehard baseball people seem to watch anymore. The overwhelming popularity of football surely plays a role (every day but Tuesday and Wednesday has a football game on in prime time), as does the start of hockey season, but I wonder if it is as much a result of the length of baseball season as any other factor. Being an Orioles fan the season officially loses hope in June at the latest, but being the only sport going it is fun to go to a game and it's the only thing on TV for 3 months of the year too.

Now the NFL season lasts a total of 5 months, there's the Draft, preseason, and free agency all of which in their own respect feel like integral dates on the league calendar. Every game is important in some way or another, I don't need to go into detail why. The MLB regular season lasts 6 months, with an added 3 1/2 weeks in October for what should be the most exciting part of the season. But for whatever reason, unlike the NFL, the country is generally apathetic to it if all but the most popular franchises (and at this point that's only the Yankees and Red Sox) are playing.

So I pose a question to you on EWB of how to change this and make the World Series feel like the second most important annual sporting event in the country again. Shorten the season? Different ways of marketing and promoting the small market teams? Making the playoffs more of a spectacle with the World Series having pregame and 7th inning entertainment?

I like the tradition of baseball, but that tradition makes every game have the same routine feel. It works great in the regular season, but something needs to be changed to make the Postseason feel more like a cultural event. Pregame and 7th inning entertainment during each WS game would be a start, hell even increase the stretch to a brief 5-10 minute concert by a popular artist. You could have said artist do a pregame concert too. More effort by MLB to "plant" celebrities at every game and interview them would make the smaller teams seem as cool and important as the Yankees. Improved marketing all season long for baseball as a whole and better TV deals (an NBC game of the week one night, Fox another, CBS another) would make it more accessible throughout the season. Finally, building up the major league storylines no matter the market. How about in between the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th innings of every game there's a national MLB update that gives scores and briefly mentions the year's big plots? It's a building project, but it's baseball and there's definitely a way to get the ratings for each game to equal that of regular season NFL games.

Anyway, my prediction for this upcoming World Series is for Texas to win in 6. Outside of Carpenter, and possibly Lohse if he's really really on, I can't see the Cards starters stopping the Rangers lineup from giving their own starters a 3-4 run lead. The Texas bullpen has been built up specifically for the next 7 games and they'll come through to give the Rangers their first championship.

[Blitz]

I think the best way to make the World Series more relevant would be to somehow make it outside of the NFL season. It would be tough, since it's already week 7 in the NFL season. I agree with you about a pre-game concert, something to make casual fans a little more interested either in attending or watching on TV.

I hope you're right about the prediction. It would suck to lose on the biggest stage in back to back years.

[Ananas]

This isn't a Rays home game. People have a remote and after whatever pre-game gimmickry is done, if they don't want to watch baseball they're not going to watch baseball. It's not like anyone who would have even basic awareness of the game doesn't know that the World Series happens around now. The sport has been engrained in American culture since before anyone alive now was born. I think at this point it is what it is, and the ratings are reflective of who wants to watch a baseball game they don't necessarily have a rooting interest in. The numbers should be better this year because of the storied Cardinals being in the series, but because it's not a one game, winner take all the ratings aren't going to be a bonanza like the Super Bowl.

[naiwf]

So I pose a question to you on EWB of how to change this and make the World Series feel like the second most important annual sporting event in the country again. Shorten the season? Different ways of marketing and promoting the small market teams? Making the playoffs more of a spectacle with the World Series having pregame and 7th inning entertainment?

I don't think it can be done. Many sports fans under 30 just don't care for baseball because they've grown up in a time where football is king, and something like March Madness probably is # 2 simply because of the interaction of office pools. I don't care much for the NBA regular season, but there's always the benefit of seeing LeBron's season end for real in the playoffs College football has the BS Championship Game which is their version of a Super Bowl. Baseball just doesn't lend itself to anything other than a minimum of four 3-4 hour games which may involve one or two teams that most people don't care about. A Jaguars/Bucs SB would still draw a monster rating because the game itself is almost secondary. The first week of March Madness is awesome regardless of the outcome of any individual game. Hell, the Big East tourney is usually more interesting than the vast majority of World Series games in the last decade. Short of making the World Series a winner takes all 1 game championship, I think baseball's time has passed it by. It's the same changing of the guard boxing is facing with MMA.

[sahyder1]

I think the extra wildcard that they will add in the next year or so will help somewhat. A big problem with baseball is that come July/early August so many teams are usually out of it and their fans have already turned into football mode. More teams in the mix in September should translate to an increase in the TV audience for playoff games. I'm not saying they'll start doing NFL numbers but there should be an improvement.

[Panni]

It's a shame because I still love baseball better than other sports. I really don't know if there's any particular aspect about the season or the series that should be changed. I certainly think having celebrities/musical acts play a bigger role during these games could only help. The pre-show should be treated more like a big deal. Back when the Yankees played the Phillies they had Jay-Z & Alicia Keys perform "Empire State of Mind" and it was pretty cool. I really think stuff like that helps the younger generation relate. I also feel MLB should do a better job of making some their bigger names stars.

Anyway, my prediction for the Series is Cardinals over Rangers in 5 games. That's just based on a hunch, and I have zero good reasons for it.

[sahyder1]

The 7th inning entertainment idea mentioned above is a terrible idea. The last thing we need is something that makes the games go even longer into the night.

[Meacon Keaton]

I think baseball is just going through a down spell. The sport has done it quite a few times, and it always comes back. It's not the hip thing right now, but it'll come back. Hopefully the next time it reaches it's popularity height, it won't be because of steroids.

Other than that, there isn't really much you can do. Like Beatnik said, it's not a one-off game, so the only people who are going to be hardcore invested in it are the fans of the team. I'll be surprised if I watch even a full game of the World Series this year. It's not that I've lost interest in the sport, it's that I just couldn't give a hoot about the Cards or Rangers.

[sahyder1]

MLB turned down a request from the Rangers to let Nowitzki throw out the first pitch during the World Series.