I played baseball as a kid, and I was also into watching it on TV. I remember in 2001 (when I was 9), I was a big Arizona fan and liked Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, and I remember watching them win the world series year. Very memorable series. In 2010 I became a big Yankees fan (having grown up in New York). I would sit through entire games on TV, and I was pissed when they lost in the playoffs in 2010, 11, and 12.
However, I have not watched baseball since the 2012 season. It has been cucked just like the NFL (albeit in a slightly less obvious way). Prior to the 2012 season, Major League Baseball introduced a new collective bargaining agreement, an that is essentially what ruined the league.
First of all, the one-game wild card is absolutely RIDICULOUS. One-game playoffs are for football, where the entire season is only 16 games long. Baseball has a 162-game season. You don't decide a 162-game season with ONE GAME. Especially since the 2 teams playing in that one-game playoff may have completely different win-loss records. For example, in 2012, the Atlanta Braves won 94 games. Although they lost their division to the Washington Nationals, who won a league-best 98 games that year, the Braves were the clear winner in the wild card race, with 2nd place going to St. Louis, who only won 88 games. In any of the previous 17 seasons (since the wild-card concept was introduced), Atlanta would have been in the playoffs. But since 2012 featured 2 wild card teams (Atlanta and St. Louis), all St. Louis had to do was win one game, and that erased the fact that Atlanta was 6 games ahead of them in the standings.
Not to mention, Atlanta had gotten fucked over by St. Louis the previous year (2011) when Atlanta collapsed at the end of the season and St. Louis caught up to them and won the wild card. in 2012, Atlanta avoided a late-season collapse and finished 6 games ahead of St. Louis, and still got fucked due to the rule change.
Remember when we would see division rivals face off in the NLCS or ALCS series? Remember when Boston and the Yankees faced each other in the ALCS in both 2003 and 2004? Remember how exciting that was? Well, now that cannot happen unless one of the two teams first wins the one-game wild card playoff. Additionally, even if they do win, the division rivals will likely play each other in the LDS (first round, best-of-5) rather than the LCS, which could not happen under the old system.
Additionally, there is a reason why baseball playoffs have always been a series and not just a single game. Baseball teams have a pitching rotation consisting of 5 starting pitchers. A team with a rotation of one great pitcher and 4 shitty ones is going to be inferior to a team with 5 solid (but not great) starting pitchers. However, in a one game playoff, the team with the one great pitcher is going to have an unfair advantage that they would not have if they were playing a 5- or 7-game series. To be honest, I always thought the best-of-5 ALDS/NLDS series were too short. You need it to be at least best-of-7 to really decide who is the better team.
Aside from the one-game playoff (which in itself was enough to get me to stop watching baseball), the rest of the 2012 collective bargaining agreement was also shit. I am no lawyer and I don't know the details, but I do know that prior to 2012, the Yankees were always a great team because they had the money to buy the best players. Free market competition, just like they have in European soccer leagues. No salary cap or any of that bullshit. And then as soon as the new CBA was passed in 2012, there were immediately reports of "the Yankees will be cutting some of their highest-paid players before next season, in order to avoid paying a penalty for having too big a payroll." And since then, the Yankees have gotten successively worse each year, while small-market teams who never used to be relevant are now winning the world series each year. That might work in football, but baseball was never like that. Maybe I'm being biased because I'm a Yankees fan, but it's depressing to know that the Yankees will never be great again, and will always be mediocre just like every other team. Every team needs to have their "turn" to win the world series. Otherwise, it's "unfaaaaaiir."
Also, the amount of Hispanics in the Majors, many of whom do not even speak English, has always pissed me off. There were always Hispanic players, but it has been increasing every year. Now, close to 30% of players are Hispanic, and they are certainly not American-born Hispanics. The vast majority of them are fresh off the boat from Dominican Republic.
Just last year, we had baseball's new commissioner, Rob Manfred, talking about instituting a pitch clock. They even tested it out in minor league games. Although the proposed clock would only be used when there were no runners on base, it is still a total perversion of the game of baseball. I'm someone who considers even the DH rule to be a perversion of the game. The reason for the proposed pitch clock? "Games are taking too long, and therefore people aren't staying up late enough to watch them." So, money. That's the reason.
Bud Selig, the old commissioner, was a communist and friends with Castro. Now his replacement wants to pervert the game for a few extra bucks. Oh, the hypocrisy.
Sorry for the rant. I just hate to see something I loved as a kid being cucked and perverted to the point where I haven't watched it in 4 years.
However, I have not watched baseball since the 2012 season. It has been cucked just like the NFL (albeit in a slightly less obvious way). Prior to the 2012 season, Major League Baseball introduced a new collective bargaining agreement, an that is essentially what ruined the league.
First of all, the one-game wild card is absolutely RIDICULOUS. One-game playoffs are for football, where the entire season is only 16 games long. Baseball has a 162-game season. You don't decide a 162-game season with ONE GAME. Especially since the 2 teams playing in that one-game playoff may have completely different win-loss records. For example, in 2012, the Atlanta Braves won 94 games. Although they lost their division to the Washington Nationals, who won a league-best 98 games that year, the Braves were the clear winner in the wild card race, with 2nd place going to St. Louis, who only won 88 games. In any of the previous 17 seasons (since the wild-card concept was introduced), Atlanta would have been in the playoffs. But since 2012 featured 2 wild card teams (Atlanta and St. Louis), all St. Louis had to do was win one game, and that erased the fact that Atlanta was 6 games ahead of them in the standings.
Not to mention, Atlanta had gotten fucked over by St. Louis the previous year (2011) when Atlanta collapsed at the end of the season and St. Louis caught up to them and won the wild card. in 2012, Atlanta avoided a late-season collapse and finished 6 games ahead of St. Louis, and still got fucked due to the rule change.
Remember when we would see division rivals face off in the NLCS or ALCS series? Remember when Boston and the Yankees faced each other in the ALCS in both 2003 and 2004? Remember how exciting that was? Well, now that cannot happen unless one of the two teams first wins the one-game wild card playoff. Additionally, even if they do win, the division rivals will likely play each other in the LDS (first round, best-of-5) rather than the LCS, which could not happen under the old system.
Additionally, there is a reason why baseball playoffs have always been a series and not just a single game. Baseball teams have a pitching rotation consisting of 5 starting pitchers. A team with a rotation of one great pitcher and 4 shitty ones is going to be inferior to a team with 5 solid (but not great) starting pitchers. However, in a one game playoff, the team with the one great pitcher is going to have an unfair advantage that they would not have if they were playing a 5- or 7-game series. To be honest, I always thought the best-of-5 ALDS/NLDS series were too short. You need it to be at least best-of-7 to really decide who is the better team.
Aside from the one-game playoff (which in itself was enough to get me to stop watching baseball), the rest of the 2012 collective bargaining agreement was also shit. I am no lawyer and I don't know the details, but I do know that prior to 2012, the Yankees were always a great team because they had the money to buy the best players. Free market competition, just like they have in European soccer leagues. No salary cap or any of that bullshit. And then as soon as the new CBA was passed in 2012, there were immediately reports of "the Yankees will be cutting some of their highest-paid players before next season, in order to avoid paying a penalty for having too big a payroll." And since then, the Yankees have gotten successively worse each year, while small-market teams who never used to be relevant are now winning the world series each year. That might work in football, but baseball was never like that. Maybe I'm being biased because I'm a Yankees fan, but it's depressing to know that the Yankees will never be great again, and will always be mediocre just like every other team. Every team needs to have their "turn" to win the world series. Otherwise, it's "unfaaaaaiir."
Also, the amount of Hispanics in the Majors, many of whom do not even speak English, has always pissed me off. There were always Hispanic players, but it has been increasing every year. Now, close to 30% of players are Hispanic, and they are certainly not American-born Hispanics. The vast majority of them are fresh off the boat from Dominican Republic.
Just last year, we had baseball's new commissioner, Rob Manfred, talking about instituting a pitch clock. They even tested it out in minor league games. Although the proposed clock would only be used when there were no runners on base, it is still a total perversion of the game of baseball. I'm someone who considers even the DH rule to be a perversion of the game. The reason for the proposed pitch clock? "Games are taking too long, and therefore people aren't staying up late enough to watch them." So, money. That's the reason.
Bud Selig, the old commissioner, was a communist and friends with Castro. Now his replacement wants to pervert the game for a few extra bucks. Oh, the hypocrisy.
Sorry for the rant. I just hate to see something I loved as a kid being cucked and perverted to the point where I haven't watched it in 4 years.