Top 10 Reasons Why MLB Sucks
79Counting Down the Downfall of Baseball
I am a baseball fan first and foremost. I am a teacher of the game at many different levels. But somewhere between being a kid that loves the game and being an adult who gets paid to play the game a transformation happens. The purity of the sport is not represented at the Major League level. Here are my top reasons why...
#10-The players are overpaid. With no salary cap Major League Baseball has let a whiny bunch of babies be the face of the organization. Granted there are some hard nosed athletes which could be considered baseball purist still around, but the Mark Graces of the World are few and far between.
Jimmy Franchise Post #14
#9 Too Many Tampered Seasons
This blemish dates all the way back to the Sox throwing the World Series. Contemporary craziness is Pete Rose betting on baseball, strikes, and now the "roid rage." There are just too many factors to list! It just well...sucks! The game has been tarnished in so many ways. Now we have records that are going to have undeniable question marks beside them. Too much controversey for the fair weather fan, they are probably Nascar fans now. At least Jeff Gordon's helmet size didn't grow two sizes in a single season.
#8 No Salary Cap
This is a problem. I know the revenue sharing scam that MLB has put into place to hush up the small teams enough for them to keep a star of two, but this is out of control what these players make. The Yankees payroll is out of control! Lucky for us the remaining fans that talent and money doesn't always win championships. Baseball has a unique dynamic that is reffered to as chemistry, and it isn't for sale!
#7 No Parity in the League
Parity is defined as:equality, as in amount, status, or character. You can find it the dictionary, but don't look for it MLB clubhouses. League expansion is a cluster of uncanny proportions. The already thin pitching talent being spread across the league to play in empty stadiums. And the small teams get hit the hardest..these teams survive by calling up the next great hope from AA or AAA to fill a gap. They give the poor kid a cap and a prayer and send him out there to compete. Too many prospects are being forced up too early. This of course helps prepare them for free agency. These types of players survive their MLB bootcamp with Kansas City or the Reds and then after those teams can no longer afford them they have them well groomed for the "big money franchises." The rich get richer, the poor keep calling up rookies!
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#6 Pitching
Now that Nolan and the Goose have hung up their cleats who is left to make these lumber lugging neanderthals look retarded at the plate. Where did these types of pitchers go? The intimidators, not on roids --I might add --where are they in the league. The problems are many for this little pickle the MLB has put itself in. Hitters have developed, even without the use of human growth hormones, the art of hitting a round ball with a round stick squarely has become a science. Pitching is relatively the same. There isn't a whole lot more coaches can do to teach players to throw 100 mph. Pitching is usually something you have that is innate and polished, hitting can be developed and is so more effectively in all the ametuer ranks of baseball. So how does pitching get back to where it was..Let's start a couple more expansion teams..that will fix it.
#5 Boring Commentary
The T.V. ratings are falling because people would rather watch people drive around in a circle at high rates of speed then listen to another has-been drooling all over the microphone about baseball. I love the game. I like the commentary, but it isn't exciting television. This is the shoot'em up Nintendo generation here that we are trying to interest in our beloved sport. Spice it up a little bit, if Golf can up their ratings due to Tiger and a few dicy commentators..what is MLB or the broadcast networks doing to change it up?
#4 Free Agency and the Death of the Franchise Player
Free agency is a curse! This has destroyed the franchise player. The small market teams will never hold onto a franchise player, and this hurts the fanbase. Even the struggling Reds lost Ken Griffey Jr., no he is not a franchise player for Cincinnati. He put up Hall of Fame numbers while in Seattle. But without a doubt he wanted to be a Red, even though they were horrible. To me that is a player that should get to stay whereever he wants, and the MLB market should be to a point that some salary could be eatin' by the Reds to ensure the Hall of Famer goes out exactly as he wanted to go. But no the franchise players are as dead as the suicide squeeze in the MLB. The free agent market paired with large market clubs will snuff out any such chances of restoring that to baseball.
#3 George Steinbrenner
Don't get me started on this figure. He is the anti-christ of the purist movement. Ole' George will do whatever it takes to win because he loses so grasiously. The head of the Yankee player monopoly will pout until he wins another World Series. He has publicity stunts that take the focus off the game, and puts on a show for our young adoring fans about the urgency to win, and gives them a seminar on the art of whining about losing. This is what happens without a salary cap. The only thing that makes it bearable for a fan is they are in third place, and they haven't had a World Series monopoly.
#2 The Designated Hitter
The designated hitter was devised in 1979 by the American League to up attendance and run production...blah..blah..blah. Its a joke that MLB pulled in order to do away with having pitchers go to the plate and flail out the ball in crucial parts of the game. They also forgot that it took away some fundamental aspects of managing. The double switch, the bunt, and the art of the pitcher moving a runner over. Or heaven forbid, my favorite arguement, a picher that might be able to hit (Babe Ruth ring a bell). For a purist of the game the DH opened a window for a single tool baseball player to make it to the bigs. It let's good hitter loose empasis on defense, and it takes away from the original nature of the game. Your best 9 against my best 9, everybody hits!
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#1 Loss of the Inner City Development
Just when you thought I had nothing intelligent to say: The main reason that Major League Baseball is below average is because the inner cities do not produce baseball players like they have in the past. There are fewer African-American playing the game of baseball today then in the 70's. MLB has been slow to move on this, but some initiatives are starting to funnel money back into developing solid inner city youth baseball programs.
It all goes to say, baseball has lost the interest of the African-American community. Maybe its boring, maybe their are no role models, maybe they have no place to play? For whatever reason there has been a lost link, and it shows. Baseball hasn't been able to appeal to elite African-American atheletes. Maybe the other 9 reasons the MLB sucks has something to do with it!
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I agree this was on my short list, but because of the AL audience I felt the need to be politically correct.
ya im done with mlb.been a reds fan for several years but why follow a team that simply cant contend??...now i know people will say the rays are small marketed franchise and they went to the world series but i have to say this....the rays didnt win it..lets see if the rays contend for another 10 years, the teams that spend big money are in the postseason on a consistant basis..cubs phillies red sox yankees, always contend, reds, pirates ,royals, have no chance so to heck with it,until a salary cap is put in mlb im done
Must be Reds fan syndrome of giving up on baseball. I too am a Reds fan, after that I am a fan of certain players, not teams, after that I am a fan of any team playing the Yankees.
I so agree with you. I loved playing the game as a kid. It kept me off the streets, and kept my nose clean. I felt I owed Baseball something, so I Coached and Managed my kid's teams. But it seems as if the Major Leaguers do not feel an obligation to the sport. Instead, they feel it owes them something, and they will strip all they can out of the game to get it.
What a shame, because my kids will not be able to feel the same way about such a great sport, as I once did.
Great Article here! I enjoyed the read.
By far the worst and most boring sport on tv
MLB has its problems, but those who think it is boring on tv tend to not know what they are watching.
You forgot -WORST UMPIRES in the HISTORY of SPORTS! Yesterday, Home Plate Umpire gave win to TWINS. Today- call at third base in 2nd inning was disgusting (just happened). MLB SUCKS BEYOND BELIEF!
I have been a fan of a small market team, the Minnesota Twins, since I was about 5. As much as it kills me I think I am finally done. Major league baseball is a joke, it is strictly business. Spending by teams in huge markets in out of control...we ship our best players off in their prime to the highest bidder because financially we can't compete. The only question left to answer is where will Joe Mauer go? New York, Boston, Chicago or L.A.?
Baseball players make a smaller percent of their sports' revenue than any other major American sport.
How is that exactly Laney B? I am not denying it, just a lack of understanding random quotes with no facts. I think the sallery cap proposition is more for the sake of competition than it is to spread the wealth of the sport. Not too mention that your comparison probably includes major market clubs with lower market clubs in which profits compared to payouts could be skewed in the owners favor, but overall I don't see how the players make less of the total profits and revenues on a percentage than they do in any other major sport.
I agree with all this. The MLB needs to change something. Players are getting paid way way too much. The MLB's gonna heve problems supporting itself soon with all the economic problems. Players are gonna demand more and more money and some team is going to give it to them. Baseball needs to make some big changes
You forgot one or maybe it is included in #1 - Politics in Basball. It starts early. Not only does it effect inner city kids but kids in the 'burbs as well. It does not matter how good a young player is but who and where he/she plays. The advent of AAU, USSSA and other such traveling squads have made it difficult for kids of modest means to be seen. These traveling teams and the tournaments they attend have made scouts lazy. Why attend a HS game where at best you see a couple of dozen players,when you can attend one of these tournamnets and see hundreds?
Great article. The only solution is for fans outside of NY, Boston, Chicago and LA to STOP SUPPORTING THEIR TEAMS! As long as we keep throwing hard-earned money at a lost cause, nothing will change. It's like a woman staying in an abusive relationship -- just leave! I really hope the Padres do well each year, but I know even if they eke into the playoffs only to get swept in the first round, it was a perfect set of circumstances that will probably not be repeated for another 10-15 years.
MLB is a complete joke. Why even have a draft? Why shouldn't the Yankees be able to lock-up every talented HS/college player they want? Because there are supposed to be rules in place that prevent one team from having a competitive advantage over another. Team salary is the most obvious advantage, but as long as we continue to support the current fraud of a system, nothing will change.
Really this all just makes me sad...and the yankees make me want to puke...cheering for the yankees is like cheering for a 7 foot Kareem against a midget in a game of one on one...and when Kareem wins, how can you really go crazy? The small market teams are the midget, hoping that kareem has a really bad day, and they are able to hit some magical threes...that's mlb...pretty well done with it. Only the stupid can still be thrilled by it. It's sad...I love the sport...have realized it's not worth cheering for anymore.
Somebody hit a tater
Who the hell wants to watch NATIONAL LEAGUE BASEBALL??? Ya, the automatic out from the 9 spot is real exciting. A great rally killer. Maybe if baseball actually got the pitchers to be legitimate hitters, I would agree the DH is dumb, but since they have NO interest in developing pitchers into hitters, the DH makes PERFECT sense to me. The fact there are 2 different sets of rules is what is dumb.
I agree with some of your points, but definitely not all of them. I disagree with 6, 5, 4, and 2. There are plenty of great pitchers in this league still. Not many that will win 300 games anymore, but there are plenty of quality pitchers out there. And if you understand baseball the commentary is usually pretty good. I love watching on tv. I disagree with the free agency. If a player really wants to stay with a team he would take a slight pay cut to stay with them. Case in point, Joe Mauer. He could have demanded over 100 million more on the open market but chose to stay with the small market twins. What makes the DH so bad? I like that it protects pitchers from injury. I dont think its affects the integrity of the game at all. It provides a little different competition and makes pitchers in the AL work harder and learn the hitters and how to pitch better.
I agree with everything you said. Especially the designated hitter, personally, I like watching pitchers hit, and without the DH I think it makes baseball a little bit more strategic.
This article is trash. Baseball is america's pasttime. Ok the budget is too high but i get over it by watching it and loving it!!!!!!!!!!
I am open to all opinions, but it is awfully tough to hear many complaints from a Yankees fan.
Clearly the author has limited knowledge of baseball.
#6 is pitching? Seriously? There were two perfect games this season already (and there should have been one last night). Halladay, Jimenez, Lincecum, Santana, etc...
Furthermore, your #2 spot (Designated Hitter) completely contradicts #6 (pitching).
Do a little more research about the sport before you attempt to trash the sport.
I agree..... It all start with the COMMISH.... BUD probably the worst Commish the game ever had....
Bug Selig is horrible for baseball.
Poor umpiring and LONG games
I am a big baseball fan, and while I agree there are some things that could be improved, I think the game itself stands out as one of the more entertaining sports. If all you care about is your team winning the World Series, you probably will be frustrated more often than not. But, if you can just enjoy a day at the ballpark or watching your team's best pitcher shutout the competition, then baseball is a lot of fun.
wtf this is
#6 can be fixed by raising the height of the mound back to where was when Ryan, Goose and Gibson were bringing heat at a steeper angle.
Author is a moron. DH is genius, who wants to put out a pitcher like Verlander and risk him getting an injury?
I agree as most others do, but let me ask this; where's all the white guys in the NBA ?
sean 3 years ago
excellent writing, agreed 100%. I would definitely move the DH to number 1 though, who in the hell wants to watch american league baseball? I cant even wrap my head around it. If it wasn't for the national league I wouldnt even bother watching baseball.