Now that every Major League team has (finally) played a game and students are able to rock T-shirts around Grounds, it finally feels appropriate to talk about baseball. And because I have this platform and some things to say about it, we're going to discuss how to make the MLB better.
Quick preface: At the forefront of things to correct about professional baseball are no doubt the dreaded S-word and its now popular sidekick HGH. Instead of including that problem in this critique of the national pastime, we're going to ignore the elephant in the room -- much the same way MLB's governing body has for the last two decades. Think of it as me tossing Dumbo bags and bags of peanuts (in honor of the return of baseball) to keep him quiet during our discussion.
With that mammoth asterisk (get it?) out of the way, let's move on to some of the things that could realistically be done to improve the game.
What better place to start than the issue of Opening Day? Or should I say Opening Days? Much to the dismay of baseball traditionalists, the MLB once again decided to begin the season outside the friendly confines of the United States. I can live with games in Japan but not as the opening of the season (not sure how else it would work though). From a fan's perspective, this is supposed to be "America's pastime," but recently Opening Day has catered more to the Far East. Japan is already interested in the MLB because it has the best players, including Japanese-born stars like Ichiro, Dice-K and Hideki Matsui.
On top of that, the first game in the States was Sunday -- a primetime game featuring the Braves visiting the Nationals for the opening of their new ballpark. I would let this slide since I can't wait to go to Nationals Park, but it goes against the principle of the matter. When the classic Opening Day Monday rolled around, it felt like the third act and lost much of the luster it deserves. Opening Day should be a league-wide celebration that includes every team's first game as part of an all-day, all-afternoon, all-night baseball barrage.
One of my changes would admittedly take some time to get off the ground. I'll be blunt: There needs to be a salary cap in baseball. For too long we've seen owners of about a fifth of the teams in the league throw money around like the kid in "Blank Check." It was fun for a little while, especially since it led to my Red Sox winning the World Series twice in four years, but now it's gotten old. I am often told that the Sox are just the new Yankees, which makes me want to put my head in an oven on a regular basis as a result of that stigma.
On the actual field of play, only eight teams make the postseason each year, and well-run teams suffer if they can't keep up salary-wise. The richest players would be against a salary cap because it puts a limit on what now seems like an infinite potential for higher contracts. The richest owners want the freedom to spend as much money as they want and have a distinct advantage over the negotiations.
With that said, the league would be better off regulating how much each franchise can spend -- forcing them to develop players in the minor leagues and to make better decisions in trading and free agency. The competition for high-payroll teams comes from mid-level franchises, and a salary cap would be an effort to level the playing field. While teams with the highest payrolls do not always make it to the World Series (cough Yankees cough), there is still a better chance of parity across the league with something to regulate how much money each team can dole out.
Speaking of the World Series, even the Fall Classic needs a little tweaking. Not in the game-play, but rather in deciding who gets home field advantage. Currently, the league that wins the midseason All-Star Game receives home field in the World Series.
How could you not think this is ludicrous?
The arguments against it -- that it amounts to guys from non-playoff teams deciding a significant factor in the game's ultimate prize and that it was more damage control from the tie game in 2002 than anything else -- have been beaten to death. But I haven't heard many solutions for the problem, apart from going back to the old method of alternating the host between the American and National leagues.
Well, here's my solution: Give it to the team with the best record after combining both the records during the regular season and the playoffs.
This system would make the regular season even more important than it already is and would force teams to play their hardest until the very last game. It would also prevent teams that have locked up playoff bids from overly resting their players, thus creating a better product for the fans up to the last game.
This also would help teams that have weaker regular-season records but go on late winning streaks to make the playoffs, like the Rockies last year. Even if you had the worst record (of the playoff teams) going into the postseason, you would still have a chance at home field in the World Series if you got on a hot streak (or as in Colorado's case, you won every game leading up to the Fall Classic). At any rate, it would be a better plan than making an exhibition game as important as the entire regular and playoff seasons.
So there you have it. Fix these things and then all that's left to do is figure out what to do about the mess Dumbo created.
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