Major League Baseball: 2012

Shucks, the Yankees are off to play October golf. I'm crushed.

[QUOTE=tatertots;281737]The Yankees got booted out of the playoff race and the Bruins hoisted the 2011 Championship banner last night. It was a pretty great night for Boston sports yesterday. :D[/QUOTE] Except for the part where we lost, but I agree, a good night. There was redemption from what I thought was the Yankees playing dead to help the Rays in the Sox demise. In the end, they lost because they [strike]were not that good[/strike] under performed. There was not a conspiracy. They just [strike]sucked[/strike] under performed. I will sleep better at night this off season. [I]Roar.[/I]

Wow. Halladay was amazing! Carpenter was better. Quite the duel. I hate to be cynical, but no matter how this turns out we will probably see one of the least watched world series in a decade (more likely, ever - Especially with a Detroit/Milwaukee match up.)

[QUOTE=TheFeedMachi;281766]Baseball ratings have been on the decline for a while now. The Yankees and Phillies game 6 only got 22 million viewers in 2009. Florida vs New York in 2003 got 23 million viewers in game 6. If the 2009 WS was played in 2003 it would probably have been 30-35 million viewers.[/QUOTE] True, but the teams playing also make a difference and there has been a decline of marquee match-ups over the last 10 years. The best games have generally been in the ALCS/NLCS (although this year I think viewers will tune them out as well.) You want horrible ratings? Throw a team into the mix that not even the hometown fans watch (aka Marlins, Rays, Dimondbacks.) There is the possibility this year that soon to be cancelled NBC dramas will put up better numbers than the series. I'll watch because I always do. The casual fan will not.

[QUOTE=TheFeedMachi;281796]The Red Sox were not the 3rd best team in baseball. If you are basing it on how tough a team would be in the playoffs then the Yankees wouldn't be a top 3 team because they are built to dominate the regular season but not for the playoffs. If you are basing it on how the season was, the Red Sox are not a top 3 team. I would also all 4 of the remaining teams in the playoffs to beat the Red Sox in a playoff series if it was played on September 1st or October 1st.[/QUOTE] You are somehow confusing "record" with "best" when making your analysis. Everyone knows the toughest division in baseball is the AL East and thus their overall records will reflect that being they have to play each other so many times. Interesting stats: Every team in the AL East had a winning record against the AL Central. Every team in the AL West had a losing record against the AL East. Only one team in the AL East was below .500 on the season. Only one team in the AL Central had a positive run differential (which was less than that of all 3 AL East leaders.) The AL East had three teams with 90+ wins (which is a third of the total.) If baseball gets rid of divisions and moves to 15 team leagues, it would help alleviate divisional disparity and would allow for a better measure of teams' performance based on a more evenly distributed schedule (Heck, even the Blue Jays might have a shot at the playoffs.) The Red Sox had one of the must damaging offenses in baseball, but down the stretch they lost focus, lost discipline, had management issues and lost hope. That doesn't take their hitting stats off of the board. Just looking at the last month, all the games but one which they won had scores in double digits.

[QUOTE=Lionsfan780;281828]Read through alot of the previous posts about how bad the ratings are going to be, how the best teams aren't the ones who are still in the playoffs and how great the A.l East is and it is all a bunch of crap. The 4 teams that are left in the playoffs are the best teams they PROVED it on the field.[/QUOTE] I say it is more luck of the draw than anything. Really, it was one game by each team (including the Sox) that set this in motion. Had Boston made the playoffs by the Yankees beating the Rays in that series with Detroit winning just one more game and Texas losing one more game... Then we would have had Texas vs. New York and Detroit vs. Boston. New York was 7-2 vs. Texas on the season and Boston was 5-1 vs. Detroit. Everything would have been different. But, alas it is not. Thus, the masses tune out. Honestly, I blame this outcome on revenue sharing. The whole thing! Had the Sox and Yankees not been paying the Rays to play (while their fans could care less) there would have been a different outcome (i.e. they could go back to being poor and sucking.) As for proving it on the field, the ALDS/NLDS should not be 5 games. Everyone knows this... Five leaves too much to random happenstance. [QUOTE]Who gives a flying **** if they had a winning record against the A.l Central and West because in the playoffs they got shown up by those two divisions.[/QUOTE] I sense hostility! Poor lionsfan. His Rangers just get no respect. :D

[QUOTE=Lionsfan780;281838]Exactly, and it makes me a tad angry. But I got it out of my system so i'm good now [/QUOTE] You do know that no matter what happens, you will never be able to distract the Sox, Yankee and Philly fans from their bloated self evaluation of the sport and the place their teams hold in said sport. It's literally impossible! Hahaha. It is all about us and when we don't win, it is a wasted year. :wink2:

[QUOTE=jbo29j;281846]It's not just us, I'm sure Selig feels the same exact way. But seriously, the rangers have a good team and would deserve it, if they win it. At this point i can only hope Ellsbury wins the MVP and that the Brewers win it all.[/QUOTE] I'll take a ticket on that train! You are right though. The demise of the big market teams will cost baseball hundreds of millions, if not billions in future rights negotiations and that should make the front office nervous (which is why I think we will see two 15 team leagues.) Instead of Fox and Tbs, future world series could be on Versus, hah. Oh and the total rights to said games would be 1/3 of McCarver's current salary... Worst case scenario, but that is what revenue sharing does. It takes the markets out of the equation. You can have a competitive team that has no fans.

Just wait until this year. The first game of the ALCS pulled a 1.7 and I have a feeling that we will see even lower numbers before this is all said and done. So why would Fox want to spend billions on baseball when they would cancel a show with those numbers (which they only spent a few million an episode on?) Repeats of House put up better numbers... There is the prestige factor, but it doesn't match the cost. Baseball is about to take a pay cut and it will change everything.