When I was younger, I loved to play baseball.  Growing up in the Midwest, it was something that most young boys did in the summer- starting with what they called “Pee Wee” League (there wasn’t anything called T-Ball back then), then on to Little League and then to Pony League.  The hard-core ball players went on to American Legion baseball, while the rest played some softball.  Or we did not play at all, and devoted our summers to fast cars and chasing girls.

I always try to watch the World Series.  I think it was my dad that turned me on to the World Series, as he would have it on our one and only TV during the fall when he was home.  We would gather around the old black and white TV and watch the game.  

We had some neighbors who listened to baseball games on the radio all the time and if you ever needed to know something about baseball, they could almost always answer it – long before we had Google or SportsCenter.

These days, I don’t watch too much baseball during the regular season because I find it boring.  I normally follow the standings and when it starts getting near playoff time, I start paying attention.

I do think Major League Baseball (MLB) should cut the number of regular season games played.  Here we are at the end of October and we are in the middle of the World Series.  Game seven is scheduled for November 5.  Earlier this month, a divisional series game was cancelled due to snow.  Baseball is better when the weather is warm.  They start the season in early April and end it in November, which is much too long.

MLB also has too much competition from football, basketball, and hockey in October.  Starting the playoffs in early September would be best – and taking a month of games off the regular schedule would help ensure the season was completed before the snow flies in most places.

The reason for long seasons and playoffs is that the major sports leagues just want to make more money, but that hurts the product.  The NBA playoffs stretch on and on into the summer.  Same with hockey.  NASCAR starts in early February and ends November 22.  Yawn.  Meanwhile, the NFL season started on September 5 and ends with the Super Bowl on February 7.

This season, MLB has had some problems with bad calls during the postseason.  The game last night featured two blown calls.  They need to use the technology available to them to get the calls right.  An umpire in the booth upstairs watching the replays via the television station covering the game would be great, not to mention easy.  The umpire could have communications with the crew chief and contact him if a bad call was made.  There would be no need for “challenge flags” or anything like that.  I think most umpires would like to have that second set of eyes.  Being someone who officiated a few games, I know I would not mind having another set of eyes making sure I got the calls correct.  We are all human.

Baseball is still entertaining to me during the playoffs.  They just need to shorten the season and use today’s technology to make it as fair as possible.