On August 14th, MLB owners will vote for a new commissioner to replace the retiring Bud Selig. Many in the industry believe it’s a foregone conclusion that MLB’s COO Rob Manfred, who is to Selig what Adam Silver was to David Stern in the NBA, will be elected. The other two candidates are MLB executive vice president for business Tim Brosman, and Boston Red Sox chairman Tom Werner. But, apparently, there has been some dissention against Manfred as essentially an extension of the Selig regime, with Chicago White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno spearheading a movement to garner enough votes for Tom Werner to effectively block Manfred’s election.
Either way, some rich guy with close ties to MLB is going to be the new commissioner and, more than likely, change will come slowly, if at all. But, since we’ve all played variations on “if I was in charge,” I thought I’d jot down some thoughts on what I’d do if I was the commissioner of baseball.
It Doesn’t Count Anymore
The All Star Game shouldn’t determine home field advantage in the World Series.
The ridiculous idea that the All Star Game is anything else but an exhibition has to be put to rest. If this was a “real” game, the starting pitcher would actually pitch more than one inning, starting pitchers wouldn’t be used in relief situations, and the manager wouldn’t go out of his way to make sure everyone played.
Here’s an idea. How about the team with the most regular season wins gets home field advantage? Doesn’t it make sense that the efforts of an individual MLB team over 162 games should “count” for more than the efforts of an exhibition team thrown together by fan votes in one game on a Tuesday in July? Oh, and I’ll even go one step further. Wild card teams can’t have home field advantage in the World Series unless they happen to be playing another wild card team.
Charlie Hustle, You Bet
A partial reinstatement of Pete Rose is long overdue. I don’t think he should be allowed to work in baseball, but he should be able to make appearances at official events, and he should be allowed to be placed on the ballot for the Hall of Fame. It’s absurd that the all-time hits leader in baseball history isn’t in the HOF. And, yes, you can write on his plaque that he gambled on baseball while managing a baseball team (Rose denies ever betting on his own team).
Shorten the Season
No, I’m not advocating playing fewer games. One hundred sixty-two games are perfect.
By eliminating the Japan or Australia or wherever else next year series and beginning all MLB games the third week in March and adding roughly five double headers, an all but extinct practice, MLB could shave two weeks off the season and have it end closer to Labor Day than the end of September. Yes, it would cost the league some money for the double headers, but my next suggestion would replace the lost revenue and grow the game.
Playoff Scheduling Reform
Baseball is not a one and done kind of sport. I know casual fans love the one game wild card playoff, but now that I’ve shortened the season, the wild card can expand to best of three.
Also, you don’t have to tell me that television is king, but the three and four days between games and series has to stop. Play the games and series organically. There should be one day off for travel and that’s it. No more play game one, stay in the same city, but take a day off. Play two. Travel. Play two. Travel. Kill 2-3-2 and adopt 2-2-1-1-1 like the NBA went back to this last season. When a team wins a series and has an opponent ready, start playing. The loss of continuity by the current playoff / TV schedule is bad for the game.
And another thing. Start the games at 7 p.m. in the local time zones, not 8 p.m. EST. Then maybe kids on the east coast who are back in school can actually watch the end of a game, and they might grow up to be lifelong baseball fans.
Umpire Accountability
Between PitchF/x and slow motion replay, everyone in the world knows whether an umpire got the call right, whether its reviewable under the challenge rule or not. MLB should take that data and grade the umpires. In an age where these very same tools are being used to evaluate the baseball talent on the field, there is no reason it shouldn’t be used to evaluate the umpiring talent on the field as well.
Umpires who score high by getting the calls right get rewarded with bonuses or post-season assignments. Umpires who score low by missing too many calls get replaced.
Fix the Oakland Athletics Stadium Issue
MLB needs to tell the San Francisco Giants that they don’t have territorial rights to all of Northern California and allow the Oakland Athletics to get the hell out of O.co Stadium. Now the A’s recently finalized a new 10 year lease on the dump of all dumps, but if the Raiders leave, there is an out. So, with my imaginary commissioner powers I’m going to secretly collude with the NFL and move the Oakland Raiders to San Antonio and then move the A’s to San Jose.
Fix the Tampa Rays Stadium Issue
I’m not so certain that building a new stadium for the Rays in Tampa is the solution to their financial woes. After all, the Marlins new stadium only garnered early increased attendance before dropping off with the latest Jeffrey Loria fire sale. Of course, the Rays organization actually understands how to put together a winning product on the field, but has similar issues to the Marlins with transplanted fan bases not gravitating to the team.
I wonder if Portland would like a baseball team. I can make that happen since I’m the commissioner.
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