MLB or MLBI “Major League Bad Idea”

We live in a fast pace society with 24 hour news and an application for everything. I mean I haven’t found it yet but I think there might be an App for taking a shit! The point is in an ever changing fast paced global world, a product of the rat race mentality of most of us. American history has been filled with many events some good some bad and a lot of them that changed the world. But in the midst of this all, throughout time in bad times and in good ones there has always been one constant thing. That thing is what we have called the American pastime baseball! Much like the history of the world baseball has its different era’s that we are able to keep time through. You have the golden era, the dead ball era and unfortunately the steroid era. Baseball is a thinking person’s sport and the best decisions are not made in haste they take time and consideration. Time can also be measured through baseball in real time as well. We know its mid winter when the winter meetings start, we know its mid February when pitchers and catchers report for camp. We know its March when spring training games start, we know its April when the season starts. We know it’s summer when the season is in full swing and we know its fall when the playoffs and ultimately the fall classic when the World Series is on. Baseball has always been a way for the common people on a Friday or Saturday night or Sunday afternoon to relax, forget about their problems and misfortunes if only for 3 or 4 hours. The ballpark and the game is an escape and for some it is also a place to socialize and throw back a few adult beverages.

With all that being said this is why I cannot understand why Major League Baseball wants to take on the personality of the rest of society and move to make sweeping changes to a game that is already enjoyed by all people of all races and creeds and religion. Is nothing sacred anymore??? When the league moved to speed up the game with the idea of the pitch clock I thought well that’s different but okay that’s not that bad. When they moved to keep batters from stepping out of the batter’s box after every pitch, to adjust themselves and their batting gloves I thought well I guess that’s not that bad could speed up the game a little as well. The latest idea MLB has been floating around is so ridiculous though, I really hope they never consider it seriously. The bad idea is this. Shorting the game from traditional 9 inning games that baseball has been playing since 1857 to 7 innings. Really! This is not major league softball folks. This isn’t my beer league or a church league this is Major League Baseball “you know THE SHOW” “The BIG LEAGUES”. If they seriously ever did this they might as well just drop all the way to 6 innings like little league. Hell we can then change the name from MLB to NWMT NOT WORTH MY TIME or the original title of this blog MLBI MAJOR LEAGUE BAD IDEA!! Why would owners and TV sponsors want to shorten the game, concessions sells, and advertisement time anyway??? Not all tradition is bad and not everything that isn’t broke still needs to be fixed. It really is okay sometimes to just leave well enough alone. Baseball records are made to be broken not frozen. If the game every shortens to 8, 7, or 6 innings then you might as well throw out all the record books and erase the entire history of the game because at that point it will not matter anymore. As we approach a new season and all the hopes and joy it brings through spring training to the opening day pitch in all the major league cities across America. Let us not part with this part of American history. Make America great again is a disaster and the architect of that Idea is a fool. Don’t let Major League baseball’s top brass pull a Trump on the American Pastime.

J. MASS