re: What can MLB do to gain popularity/ratings?

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Speed the game up.

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Yeah, it needs to be more fast paced like the NFL. Run a 4 second play then stand around for 35 seconds. Then run a 5 second play.

I'm pretty sure the average MLB game is shorter than the average college or NFL game.

but football is a LOT more complex than baseball, so that makes sense

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I don't think they need to end it that early, but if they shortened the season to 154 and had double headers every other saturday, the season would be short enough to where they wouldn't overlap with football too much.

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Yes, but the less they overlap with football, the better.

I've been on the 154-game, scheduled double-headers train for about two or three seasons now.

And there can't be an argument that the 154-game season would tarnish the record books in any way, because the season used to be 154 games back in the day anyway.

Some random observations from an old time baseball fan.

1. I agree with the 154 game schedule and double headers. That's how it was when I was a kid.

2. Ticket prices are too high. When baseball was king a 12 year old boy could walk to the stadium every day during summer vacation and sit in the bleachers for 3 dollars. Even when dad drove me and bro to a game parking was free and the concessions were cheap.

3. Related to '2'. Salaries drive high prices and force out lower/middle income fans. When a middle infielder batting .200 commands a $3M contract it makes Mendoza turn over in his grave.

4. The golden age of baseball was when radio was dominant and TV rare. Baseball translates very well to radio. A good announcer can paint a word picture. Football is a rectangular game that fits a TV screen. On radio it's Jim Hawthorne saying "3 yard gain, it's second down and 9."

5. Baseball is a game of statistics, probabilities and math. Especially geometry. Women don't like math.

6. Baseball is a game that must be learned early in childhood. For the past 30 years Americans have been into steering their young children into a wide range of sports. They don't want to specialize at too young an age. You can't pick up baseball at age 10.

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For the past 30 years Americans have been into steering their young children into a wide range of sports.

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Uh its the complete opposite, they are making kids play one sport all year round.

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Ticket prices are too high

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WHAT? Maybe at Yankee Stadium. Everywhere else you can get a good seat for 10-20 bucks.

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When baseball was king a 12 year old boy could walk to the stadium every day during summer vacation and sit in the bleachers for 3 dollars

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Its called inflation

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Also they need to get rid of their no tolerance online video policy. Its ridiculous that ANYTHING and EVERYTHING Pro Baseball gets taken off youtube.

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For a sport obsessed with the past, they do very little to let you EXPERIENCE the past. If it's not on youtube, it didn't happen. Baseball has this deep well of history, and they just limit it to NY-Boston.

How the hell can you not sell the Tigers and the Giants? Detroit and San Fran are pretty big markets, and these are two of the most storied franchises in baseball. Yet they treated it like two nobodies.

And playing baseball near November is absurd.

Baseball has been pwned by steroids and society's dwindling collective attention span.

Not sure if there's anything they can do to help significantly, really...

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Uh its the complete opposite, they are making kids play one sport all year round.

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I can see your point vis-a-vis the old time in one regard. There was a lot of cross-skill application. IE, in the 50s a kid played football in the fall and ran track in the spring. Then played baseball in summer. All of those skill sets helped baseball.
But no one played soccer, golf, tennis, etc. That's the diversion I'm talking about.

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WHAT? Maybe at Yankee Stadium. Everywhere else you can get a good seat for 10-20 bucks.

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1. Sorry, I don't believe that.
2. What about parking?
3. What about concessions?

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Its called inflation

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Totally wrong. MLB salaries and prices adjusted for inflation are out of kilter.

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I'm a huge baseball fan and I forgot that game 3 was on Saturday until the 3rd inning.

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Part of that is because a lot of people get their major dose of sports news from ESPN. But since ESPN does not broadcast the WS, they aren't going to make it a priority to get you to watch it.

All they do is cross promote. Yet another reason ESPN not having legitimate competition is hurting sports.

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I don't get this either. People in this thread act like this was a disaster matchup. Except for the NY teams, Boston, LA, Philly, and STL this was the best possible matchup for baseball.

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Markets that would have drawn better than SF and DET:

Tier 1
NYM
NYY
LAA
PHI
CUBS

Tier 2
TEX
STL
SF
DET

Had a team from Tier 1 been in the WS, I think baseball would have seen remarkably better ratings. Instead there were 2 teams that draw well (especially among themselves) but the rest of the country doesnt really care about.