Taking a Closer Look at MLB

Yes,  since football has started, Major League Baseball, often labeled "America's Pastime," has taken a back seat.  In light of the upcoming MLB postseason, I propose several reasons for MLB's decreasing popularity in American sports:

1. 162 games. Most of you have heard this one before. Quite simply, the season is too long.  Playoffs included, MLB generates $7 billion in total revenues, with 162 games.  That is certainly a lot of money, but compare that figure to the $11 billion generated by the NFL, with only 16 season games.  In short, the NFL is kicking MLB's ass.  

Here is what I propose: Reduce the season to finish as College Football and the NFL are starting.

2. The new wild card rules are stupid. For the 2012 season, MLB implemented the change to include 2 wild card teams in the playoffs, as opposed to 1.  For extra revenues, I understand this move.  But, if one wild card team is significantly better over the duration of 162 games, then why decide who proceeds in the playoffs with 1 game? Consider last year as an example.  The #1 Wild Card Braves (94-68) were 6 games ahead of the #2 Wild Card Cardinals (88-74).  The team with the better record (Braves) lost in the single-elimination playoff game.  Not to disrespect the Cardinals, but for those of you who know baseball, if a pitcher has a dominant performance in 1 game, it doesn't matter how good the other team is, the dominant pitcher will likely win.  In other words, the worst team in the NL last year, the Chicago Cubs (.377), could have won a single elimination game against the Braves.

Here is what I propose: 162 games represents a pretty large sample.  If a team is 6 wins better than another, they are likely a better team.  Since adding a 5 game playoff for Wild Card teams would further drag out an already long season, if a Wild Card Team #1 is 4 games better than Wild Card Team #2, then the single elimination game is not played.  If Wild Card Team #1 is 3 games or less better than Wild Card Team #2, then include the single elimination game.  For, at the end of last year, Baltimore and Texas had identical records for the AL Wild Card spots.  I am fully in favor of them playing a single game elimination. 

3. Superstar Issues. Compared the NFL (Manning, Brady, Rodgers, and several other emerging stars) and the NBA (James, Bryant, Wade, etc), MLB has experienced superstar issues. One of three things has seemed to happen to superstars: a) they get huge contracts and drop-off in performance (Pujols), they take illegal performance enhancing drugs (Rodriguez and many others), or they play in more irrelevant markets (Cabrera).  It is hard to be fanatical about a league in which there aren't representative faces of the league.

Here is what I propose: Stop the outrageous contracts. 

4. Majestic. Ok, this is more of a humorous reason, but who sponsors MLB's jerseys? Majestic.  That's right, who? People are brand loyal, and I don't know anyone loyal to Majestic.  Lots of people like Nike (NFL) and Adidas (NBA). 

Here is what I propose: Consider Under Armour.