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Football Beats Baseball

CTListener said:
The NBA lets more teams into its playoffs than MLB does, and teams can go a week between games if they wrap up a series quickly. Yet we never see the 12th best and 15th best teams (based on regular season record) in the Finals. Why? (Other than the NBA playoffs being a rigged competition dictated by television interests.)
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If that was true, Denver would have never swept the Lakers in the playoffs last year. The NBA plays best of 7 in every round. The better team will usually win. In a best of 3 baseball series, that's very different. 2nd round is best of 5 which is where Atlanta and LA lost.

Years ago only 4 teams made the playoffs. The AL/NL East played the AL/NL West in a best of 7. Winner went to the World Series. That format valued the regular season, but money changed that. More TV playoff games means more revenue...
 
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tbolt909 said:
If that was true, Denver would have never swept the Lakers in the playoffs last year. The NBA plays best of 7 in every round. The better team will usually win. In a best of 3 baseball series, that's very different. 2nd round is best of 5 which is where Atlanta and LA lost.

Years ago only 4 teams made the playoffs. The AL/NL East played the AL/NL West in a best of 7. Winner went to the World Series.
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And in 1973, that system put the 83-79 Mets in the World Series, which they very nearly won.

AFAIK, the conjecture about the rigging of the NBA playoffs started when someone noticed that home teams were winning nearly all Game 7s. It turned out that 20 (IIRC) straight such series ended that way, with wild celebrations and ecstatic fans,making for much better television than a clincher in the other team's building. And then you had the Jordan Rules, Tim Donaghy, and the long sad history of fixing and point shaving in college ball.
 
CTListener said:
And in 1973, that system put the 83-79 Mets in the World Series, which they very nearly won.

AFAIK, the conjecture about the rigging of the NBA playoffs started when someone noticed that home teams were winning nearly all Game 7s. It turned out that 20 (IIRC) straight such series ended that way, with wild celebrations and ecstatic fans,making for much better television than a clincher in the other team's building. And then you had the Jordan Rules, Tim Donaghy, and the long sad history of fixing and point shaving in college ball.
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It would seem that it's harder to fix games in Baseball. A batter still has to hit the ball even if he knows what pitch is coming. Football and basketball can easily be manipulated by players and officials. Point spreads can be "shaved" in many ways. The NFL used to distance itself from gambling, now they embrace it...
 
TheBigA said:
Viewership was closer this week, although Monday Night Football still won the night

tvline.com

Ratings: World Series on Fox Challenges Monday Night Football for Monday Wins

Get TV ratings for "The Voice," "Ghosts" Halloween reruns and more
tvline.com tvline.com

Baseball was just a half million viewers behind.
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Surprising, considering all the hype surrounding the Lions this season. Makes me wonder what a Sunday night game on NBC would have done against mediocre Chargers vs. even worse Bears.

The networks always have their share of wrong calls when it comes to these prime time showcase games -- teams that they took the pundits' word would be contenders or at least improved that turn out to be neither. At what point in the schedule can they start swapping out stinkers like Chargers-Bears for more enticing matchups? Next week's Monday game is Bears-Saints. Is that carved in stone?
 
CTListener said:
The NBA lets more teams into its playoffs than MLB does, and teams can go a week between games if they wrap up a series quickly. Yet we never see the 12th best and 15th best teams (based on regular season record) in the Finals. Why? (Other than the NBA playoffs being a rigged competition dictated by television interests.)
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Hard to put into words, but I'll try. Baseball is more variable/unstable, since it is more reliant on if you can throw a ball past another player for a strike and whether they hit it. If the pitcher can't hit the strike zone, or the hitter hits a slump, the whole game might be lost for that team. The NBA does have the variable of shooting well, but over a 7 game series the best shooters usually take over, and you have the physical play of defense and rebounding that is hard to overcome if you are weak in those areas. Baseball players never physically interact with each other. Plus with only 5 players on a team at a time, the great players on a team can dominate the lesser players for the whole game. Baseball has more players, so even the great hitter only has a few chances a game to make a difference.
 
KeithE4 said:
The Bears/Saints game is an early Sunday game on CBS. Monday Night is another Game of the Weak, Chargers at Jets.
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Hmmmm, coulda sworn I was looking at a list of Monday night games, guess not. But the same holds true: the Chargers have little national appeal, while the Jets are unworthy of prime time exposure without Aaron Rodgers, but their games are stuck there until the networks can flex them back to early Sunday.
 
CTListener said:
Hmmmm, coulda sworn I was looking at a list of Monday night games, guess not. But the same holds true: the Chargers have little national appeal, while the Jets are unworthy of prime time exposure without Aaron Rodgers, but their games are stuck there until the networks can flex them back to early Sunday.
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Monday Night games can only be "Flexed" between week 12--17. Upcoming Sunday Night games include Jets at Raiders and Vikings at Broncos. Those aren't too exciting.
If the NFL got rid of Thursday games, they would have better options for Sunday & Monday Prime Time games.
Bears at Vikings is the Monday Night game in Week 12. That could be switched out.

All of this "Flex" scheduling gives the conspiracy folks ammunition that the league is "Scripted Entertainment" and not real football...
 
tbolt909 said:
Monday Night games can only be "Flexed" between week 12--17. Upcoming Sunday Night games include Jets at Raiders and Vikings at Broncos. Those aren't too exciting.
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The Vikings just went into tank mode, dumping salary at the trade deadline after losing QB Kirk Cousins for the season last weekend. Too bad the World Series isn't being played on Sundays and isn't best 11-of-21 or something like that. It might just beat those NFL suckfests.
 
CTListener said:
The Vikings just went into tank mode, dumping salary at the trade deadline after losing QB Kirk Cousins for the season last weekend. Too bad the World Series isn't being played on Sundays and isn't best 11-of-21 or something like that. It might just beat those NFL suckfests.
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The World Series used to start on Saturday. They would play Saturday and Sunday night. Baseball has conceded Sunday Night to football.

It's interesting that Miami vs Kansas City is being played in Germany (930 AM Eastern Time). That's a game that NBC would have wanted in the Sunday Night slot. All the of the networks hash out the schedule with the league. Obviously, they can't get every game they want...
 
tbolt909 said:
The World Series used to start on Saturday. They would play Saturday and Sunday night. Baseball has conceded Sunday Night to football.

It's interesting that Miami vs Kansas City is being played in Germany (930 AM Eastern Time). That's a game that NBC would have wanted in the Sunday Night slot. All the of the networks hash out the schedule with the league. Obviously, they can't get every game they want...
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The NFL used to avoid that sort of situation by sending non-contenders overseas, not the defending Super Bowl champion and a team on the rise. Why the Chiefs and Dolphins are going to Germany is puzzling. Yes, the league wants to give its newest regular-season market an exciting game, but really, what does it matter in the long run? Little, unless the long-term plan is to establish a full-blown European division or even a conference, with teams playing only each other until the playoffs.
 
This past Monday (October 30th), the Monday night NFL game outdrew the World Series (this only counted ABC's viewership; the game was simulcast on ESPN, which probably contributed a couple of million additional viewers).

If Major League Baseball retains the Friday-Saturday-(off day Sunday)-Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday (if needed)-(off day Thursday if needed)-Friday (if needed)-Saturday (if needed) schedule for the World Series, I can actually see the Monday World Series game start at 5:15 P.M. Eastern time to avoid conflict with the NFL.

It would be problematical for some (especially in the western United States), but the baseball game might get more viewers as it wouldn't (barring extra innings or a rain delay) go head-to-head against King NFL.
 
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Joseph_Gallant said:
If Major League Baseball retains the Friday-Saturday-(off day Sunday)-Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday (if needed)-(off day Thursday if needed)-Friday (if needed)-Saturday (if needed) schedule for the World Series, I can actually see the Monday World Series game start at 5:15 P.M. Eastern time to avoid conflict with the NFL.

It would be problematical for some (especially in the western United States), but the baseball game might get more viewers as it wouldn't (barring extra innings or a rain delay) go head-to-head against King NFL.
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That's never going to happen. People who prefer baseball to football and are not fans of the two teams playing in the Monday night NFL game are going to watch the World Series. Starting the baseball game at 2:15 PST/3:15 MST prevents a big chunk of those people from seeing all or most of the game because they're at work. Come 8:15 EST, those people are getting home from work and the baseball game is over. Bottom line: The World Series game would reach fewer eyeballs nationally, while the football game's numbers would get even healthier. How does that benefit MLB or the network carrying the World Series?
 
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Baseball has slipped to 3rd place behind the NFL and NBA.
Hockey is still a fringe sport in most of the country. Baseball is trying to speed up the game, but it's still not a great TV sport. You see all the action better in the ballpark. There was a time when the World Series would get more viewers than a Week 8 NFL game. Those days are over...
 
Baseball and hockey are both best appreciated in person. Football and basketball are perfect for TV. That's been so ever since the TV sports era began. Baseball's big problem is its aging fan base. That's what the faster games and more athletic style of play are supposed to reverse, but it's going to take time and, frankly, a little luck. Big stars on big teams making it to the Series would help. So would an epic seven-game Series full of ebb and flow and final-inning drama. This season's World Series, which now stands 3-1 in favor of Texas, has supplied only one memorable game so far, the opener, and because Texas and Arizona are the teams involved, the casual fans aren't watching. They don't even have players they know to attract them: No Shohei Ohtani, no Aaron Judge, no Mookie Betts. Not even brilliant young stars like Ronald Acuna Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr. and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

If this Series goes the full seven games, the viewers will be there for it. If it's a classic, maybe it gives baseball a bit of a rub going into 2024. But Texas in 4 games, with a lopsided Game 5, leaves the sport with the same task ahead of it. Patience is the key.
 
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