No other sport in the world provides as much drama (good and bad) as Major League Baseball does. Last week I reviewed the positive and negative of the NHL, and this week i'll determine whether or not Major League Baseball is Serious or Delirious.
Serious
- MLB's on-field product is great. Unlike other sports, they haven't needed to make drastic rule changes to improve the quality of the game. Sure, watching a nine inning game is boring for some, but the game has remained fun and exciting for those who watch it for what it is.
- Year after year MLB produces amazing crops of new talent. Sports like hockey and football usually only have a few standout rookie and sophomore players, while in baseball younger players seem to reach elite levels faster. This can be attributed the baseball's minor league system which is the best in all professional sports.
- Since baseball introduced the wild card it seems like as long as you can get into the playoffs, you have a great chance of going all the way. It doesn't matter if your payroll is $200 million or $50 million. It seems like every year there's just as many small market clubs in the mix as there are big spenders.
- Baseball fans are arguably the most passionate in all of sports. What other sports do you hear about fans getting attacked due to their loyalties to their favorite team-http://blog.masslive.com/redsoxmonster/2007/10/file_this_under_ridiculous_sox.html
Delirious
- Baseball has way too many games in it's regular season. How are fans supposed to stay interested for an entire 162 game season and then the playoffs. Playing baseball late into October is way to long.
- Unlike in other sports, baseball doesn't have one player who stands out as 'The Guy'. The NBA has Lebron and the NFL has Manning, but baseball doesn't have a player who is recognized as the best in the world. Some would say it could be A-Rod or it should have been Bonds but their both generally disliked by the public which makes them hard to promote to fans.
- Why is baseball still having problems with steroids? Baseball has been battling steroid allegations for years now, and what have they done about it? Absolutely nothing. It seems like there's a story each week about someone getting busted. I'm sure just as many NFL players have used steroids, but we never hear about it. Baseball has to officially put an end to this and stop dragging on all these investigations.
- Baseball needs a salary cap. It's almost impossible for low market teams to even bid for marquee talent. While some teams are stacked from one to nine, other teams look like a triple A team. A salary cap made the NFL the worlds best and most popular sports league, while the NHL is improving because they added one.
-Final Verdict: MLB is completely delirious. Sure, the on field product is good, but there's way too much negativity and bad press going on off the field. They didn't properly manage the steroid problem a few years back and now they're screwed forever. Also having such massive gaps between team payrolls ruins things for the fans. The Marlins spending $25 million a season is just as bad as the Yankees and the Red Sox spending over $200 million. The best thing baseball can do is find a better way to manage team and player salaries and find some type of resolution to the whole steroid mess.
-Joe Osborne
