Diamond Sports looks to drop 11 MLB teams from Bally Sports regional networks
MLB wasn't meant to have a long end-of-season playoff where all the championship leverage is determined.As for as the MLB Playoffs going on now... these games become strangely empty-feeling when ‘Your’ team is no longer playing.
Sure, there is the skill of the remaining players to enjoy and the spirited contests among the remaining teams... but it’s so much more empty from when your own favorite team is involved. And so much more fun when they are.
At least College Ball keeps us engaged now and the NHL is gearing up. Thank God for Seasons overlap.
As a St. Louis fan, my "ideal" of what a pennant race should look like will always be 1985. The Cardinals and Mets battled pretty much from June on in an epic race. Everyone knew only one of them was going to the playoffs. The Mets won 98 games that season and didn't make the playoffs because the Cardinals won 101 games.MLB wasn't meant to have a long end-of-season playoff where all the championship leverage is determined.
Works great for the NBA and NHL, but different sports are different.
MLB was most popular when pennant races dominated the late season and then the few teams that had proven themselves superior over that long sample size collided together having played each other rarely or not at all during the season.
The sports industry is throwing that kind of excitement overboard as fast as it can.
As a St. Louis fan, my "ideal" of what a pennant race should look like will always be 1985. The Cardinals and Mets battled pretty much from June on in an epic race... Today, there would be zero drama associated with that type of season. Both teams would be in the playoffs comfortably. Baseball is so much worse because of that.
Does that scale infinitely?This is how we learn what Sports is really all about: Money, of course.
The more teams that make the MLB playoffs the more interest in those cities is goosed up in August and September and and media exposure and attendance, etc. increases. More money for owners and media folks. Fatter contracts for all involved.
… and many of us dream of one day making the bigs.
We engage in sport for the love of the game … and many of us dream of one day making the bigs. That’s it.