Rambling with Alex

  The MLB wisely scheduled opening day two weeks earlier than usual this year, because let’s face it; baseball in the snow is like ice fishing in the Bahamas. It doesn’t work, it’s not meant to be.

Playoff games, while still an amazing experience, are harder for fans to enjoy when they can’t feel their toes. For players, the thought of getting jammed by a Mariano Rivera cutter in twenty degree weather sounds as appealing as flossing an alligator.

Two weeks may not seem like much, but the difference in weather between the first and third week in November, in cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia andDetroit can be quite drastic.

Ending their season two weeks earlier also marks two less weeks the MLB has to fight with the NFL for ratings. This is a major plus because the MLB, as they have realized, will most likely lose that battle.

However, the MLB season shouldn’t even leak into November. Ideally the season would be cut by another two weeks, and not by starting the season earlier. What the MLB should do is return to their roots. They should cut the season from 162 games back to the original 154 game format.

The season as is, is too long. It feels dragged out. With the season beginning in March and ending in November, it’s hard for even the most die-hard baseball fans to keep a pique interest throughout the whole season unless their team is in contention

 Also, if the idea of adding another wild-card playoff round comes to fruition, a team could end up playing some 220 games in a season counting spring training, regular season and postseason games. 

The thought of that is absurd.

Players’ bodies already struggle to handle the strain. Pitchers wear down on a regular basis, causing teams to experiment with six man rotations and different training programs. Players also break down emotionally and mentally. Eight less games may not reduce these issues drastically, but would only help.

I know those against returning to a 154-game season would argue baseball is a game that relies on its’ tradition, its’ records and its’ history.

Well, the 154-game season is baseball’s history. In 1961 the American League expanded their schedule to 162 games and the National League followed suit in 1962.

Before that Jackie Robinson broke into the major leagues in a 154-game season. Ted Williams hit .400 in a 154-game season. Lefty Grove won 31 games in a 154-game season and Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs in a 154-game season.  The 154-game season is baseball’s heritage.

Of course, many important records have been set since the MLB expanded to a 162-game season. More specifically, the single-season home run record has been broken multiple times.

In 1961, the first year the MLB played 162 games; Roger Maris hit 61 home runs to break Ruth’s record. It’s worth noting it took him more than 154-games to get to 61.

Mark McGwire then hit 70 home runs in 1998 and Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001.

 McGwire and then Bonds holding the single-season home run record has been very controversial among baseball fans and experts, because both guys were more juiced up than Ronnie from Jersey Shore when they set the record. Neither are likely to get elected to the Hall of Fame. Baseball fans have to recognize Bonds’ record, but they don’t want to.

 By going back to a 154-game season for good, the problem would essentially solve itself. All of a sudden, the single-season home run record would once again belong to Babe Ruth with 60.

 The 162-game records would not be erased. They would have their place in the record books, forever pointing to a 50-year era in the games’ wonderful history. The basis of the games’ history however, needs to return where it belongs; the 154-game season.