For years, the general consensus has been baseball needs to play less games. And it looks like we may finally get just that in 2020. According to multiple reports, the league sent a proposal to players that includes an 82-game schedule, mostly against divisional opponents, along with 14 playoff teams.
The proposal will never see the light of day as is, but one thing is for certain. MLB isn’t playing 162 games this season.
And that’s a good thing.
There are two types of people who believe the MLB season needs to be 162 games. First, there are the owners who want teams to play as many games as possible in order to make more money. And second, we have a militant sub-section of fans who don’t think baseball rules should ever change for any reason.
The latter group is essentially the sporting fan equivalent to pro-second amendment yokels who equate a rule being old to its innate goodness. Oh, and by the way, baseball has only been playing 162 games since 1962. Before that they played 154.
Anyway, most people think the baseball season is too long. Even current MLB commissioner Rob Manfred admitted he was open to the idea of a shorter season. Of course, he would have rather it been on his terms, but sometimes change is forced upon us.
Baseball will come back. No one is going to care if they are playing 82, 162 or 12 games in 2020. The event itself will be great. And unlike the NBA and NHL which have the yoke of an already played season burdened upon them, it’s a clean slate for the MLB. Every team from Seattle to Miami has a chance to make the playoffs. At least they do in theory.
More importantly, baseball fans will see a shorter season isn’t a bad thing. It could actually be more exciting. There is no way MLB should go to an 82-game season moving forward, but a schedule with 120-140 games would be ideal for everyone. Apart from owners and fans of stats that is.
If we’re being honest, we know the best team doesn’t always win the World Series anyway. That is a pipedream that died when the wild card was introduced in the 1990s. Last year the Washington Nationals won it all and you’d be hard pressed to find people would think they were the best team.
The Houston Astros cheated their way to a World Series victory while the Marlins couldn’t win their division but are two-time champions. How is playing 162 games helping us find out who the best baseball team in the world is? Playing a 140-game season isn’t going to fundamentally alter things.
Going to baseball games is one of the greatest experiences available to the public. Watching it on television is good too. But most people aren’t spending three hours or more for 162 days a year to watch the sport. Less baseball is a good thing and hopefully we are about to find out why when the 82-game season starts in July.
