Game One of the World Series took well over 4 hours and the Braves were leading 5-0 by the third inning. For the next THREE HOURS nothing really happened. Last night's game took 4 hours.
You could blame the added commercials. That’s a factor but not the major one. It adds about 18 minutes to a game. But then there are all the pitching changes, even with the new rules where pitchers must face three batters. Managers still manage to throw ten pitchers out there a game. In the case of the World Series, Dusty Baker can add 18 minutes himself just by walking out to the mound. And batters now take five minutes between every pitch to adjust their batting gloves.
Another problem is all the in-game challenges. On the one hand, it’s good to get the calls right. Too much is at stake. But on the other, baseball has assigned some of the worst umpires to officiate these games. Angel Hernandez, Laz Diaz, Tom Hallion —these guys should never be permitted to step on the field during a playoff game. They blow calls that result in challenges where most of the time their calls are overturned (because they’re terrible). Behind the plate they're a disaster.
Major League Baseball has a big problem. When the audience is bored by your crown jewel, when you turn off fans who only watch the playoffs, when people on the east coast can’t see the end of the game if they can’t stay up till 1 am, when kids and the future generation of fans can’t stay up past the second inning - you’re shooting yourself in the foot.
I’m a huge baseball fan. I used to hang on every pitch during the playoffs. I would cancel appointments to be in front of the TV. Now I’m surfing the net, writing blog posts, and turning it off because JEOPARDY is on. So if MLB can’t even keep ME…
The new warning for Cialis should be "If you have an erection that lasts the length of a baseball game, go to the emergency room."
from By Ken Levine
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