# There's no ducking the numbers: MLB has a bad baseball problem that's only getting worse



## Lipitor (Jun 26, 2018)

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...bad-baseball-attendance-strikeouts/718162002/



> It’s a shame Eddie Gaedel isn’t with us anymore. This is his time to shine.
> 
> You remember Gaedel. He was the 3-foot-7 slugger hired by St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck as a publicity stunt to bat against the Detroit Tigers in the second game of a doubleheader in 1951.
> 
> ...


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## gobbogobb (Jun 26, 2018)

Maybe 162 games plus postseason is just too fucking much baseball to show up live for?


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## NOT Sword Fighter Super (Jun 26, 2018)

Baseball is boring as fuck.


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## Varg Did Nothing Wrong (Jun 26, 2018)

Boo hoo, this cash cow we've been milking dry for the past 70 years is showing signs of not producing quite so much milk anymore!

Maybe you guys should reconsider paying people multiple millions of dollars a year to throw a ball around.


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## Coconut Gun (Jun 26, 2018)

So the whole story is about how strikeouts and stuff are up, yet homeruns are also up in the last few years. Also they said "The game is simply devoid of action, with players striking out, walking or hitting home runs in 34 percent of their plate appearances," as if fielding is the most exciting part of baseball, and not dingers. Unless it's a really spectacular catch, home runs are way more exciting than fielding.

Baseball teams probably figured out that strikeouts don't matter if you can hit more homers, and I assume it's a better strategy since they all seem to be doing it. It's kind of like basketball becoming more about 3-points and dunks ever since they realized it's worth it to go for 3s, or get a guaranteed 2. It's just how the sport evolved once a better strategy was figured out.

Maybe attendance is down because people realized baseball just sucks.


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## Red Hood (Jun 26, 2018)

Cheaper tickets. Cheaper beer. Cheaper parking. You do that and I'll be at every home game for my local team.

Sports are always better when it's a social experience. I'd love to be able to pile a bunch of friends in the car on the cheap and watch a game and get really really drunk.


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## Lipitor (Jun 26, 2018)

The Shadow said:


> Cheaper tickets. Cheaper beer. Cheaper parking. You do that and I'll be at every home game for my local team.
> 
> Sports are always better when it's a social experience. I'd love to be able to pile a bunch of friends in the car on the cheap and watch a game and get really really drunk.


 Some teams are doing just this! Unfortunately a lot of them are some of the worst teams in baseball. The Orioles have a great program where you can sign in using the ballpark app, and your 4th ticket is free. Hot dogs are $2.50, unlimited refill souvenir sodas are $4 a pop... and sneaking alcohol in consists of you being chill enough to just walk right in with a plastic flask in your back pocket (no pat downs, though they will check your bags).


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## Red Hood (Jun 26, 2018)

Lipitor said:


> Some teams are doing just this! Unfortunately a lot of them are some of the worst teams in baseball. The Orioles have a great program where you can sign in using the ballpark app, and your 4th ticket is free. Hot dogs are $2.50, unlimited refill souvenir sodas are $4 a pop... and sneaking alcohol in consists of you being chill enough to just walk right in with a plastic flask in your back pocket (no pat downs, though they will check your bags).


That's good enough for me! Sometimes it doesn't matter if your team wins or loses. It's worth it when your buddy loses his lunch on the bleachers in front of him.


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## Piss Clam (Jun 26, 2018)

Lipitor said:


> Some teams are doing just this! Unfortunately a lot of them are some of the worst teams in baseball. The Orioles have a great program where you can sign in using the ballpark app, and your 4th ticket is free. Hot dogs are $2.50, unlimited refill souvenir sodas are $4 a pop... and sneaking alcohol in consists of you being chill enough to just walk right in with a plastic flask in your back pocket (no pat downs, though they will check your bags).



Nobody want's to go see the Orioles. I love Camden yards, but no way I would support what is going on.

Hit pickles: https://www.picklespub.com/
Hit Camden yards.
Hit little Italy for some dinner.
Hit fells point.

None of that anymore, the Orioles are bottom feeders and the team needs to be sold.


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## Iron Hamster (Dec 5, 2020)

Necro'd this thread due to financial woes of MLB. This could be interesting as I would think they would have to open the books to prove losses and the MLBPA must be salivating at that possibility.



			https://www.thescore.com/mlb/news/2064292/mlb-sues-insurance-providers-cites-billions-in-virus-losses
		




> Major League Baseball and all 30 of its teams are suing their insurance providers, citing billions of dollars in losses during the 2020 season played almost entirely without fans due to the coronavirus pandemic.
> 
> The suit, filed in October in California Superior Court in Alameda County, was obtained Friday by The Associated Press, says providers AIG, Factory Mutual and Interstate Fire and Casualty Company have refused to pay claims made by MLB despite the league’s "all-risk" policy purchases.
> 
> ...


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## Without A Gout (Dec 5, 2020)

Iron Hamster said:


> Necro'd this thread due to financial woes of MLB. This could be interesting as I would think they would have to open the books to prove losses and the MLBPA must be salivating at that possibility.
> 
> 
> 
> https://www.thescore.com/mlb/news/2064292/mlb-sues-insurance-providers-cites-billions-in-virus-losses


If people can't get insurance coverage for lost flights and vacations, I don't expect MLB to be able to recoup money for financial loss.

Welcome to insurance.


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## Super-Chevy454 (Dec 5, 2020)

DerSandstrom said:


> If people can't get insurance coverage for lost flights and vacations, I don't expect MLB to be able to recoup money for financial loss.
> 
> Welcome to insurance.



Indeed, however the MLBPA should not salivating too fast if the losses in question are very real.


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## Beavis (Dec 13, 2020)

Make the regular season 100 games to finish before football starts and change the game length to 7 innings.


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## HumanHive (Dec 13, 2020)

Baseball is too easily rigged by ensuring only select teams get the best players. This happens in other sports sure, but there is at least enough chaos on the pitch for the possibility of upsets. Baseball  allows for very little strategy or unpredictability. So really what needs to change is how players are distributed.


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## Super-Chevy454 (Dec 21, 2020)

Beavis said:


> Make the regular season 100 games to finish before football starts and change the game length to 7 innings.



Maybe they could go even a step further, 80 games but having a playoff formula similar to hockey, basket-ball and football instead of having only the division winners and the wild card teams doing the playoffs.


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## Shroom King (Aug 26, 2021)

The Shadow said:


> That's good enough for me! Sometimes it doesn't matter if your team wins or loses. It's worth it when your buddy loses his lunch on the bleachers in front of him.



That will get you sent home from Lambeau Field... or so I heard.


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