Not including bringing back majestic uniforms, that’s a given.
The number one thing and it's not even close.
Nah changing the commissioner is number 1; blackouts 2
um...maybe the bloody price of a game?
I think that’s more of a market issues to be honest, and not necessarily a total MLb issue. Concession cost are a different discussion. Even with the Yankees you can join the yankee universe membership for $60 and get two tickets to a game. Relative to other events I don’t think it’s that high.
I can get tickets to Twins games for $20, sometimes cheaper. I think that’s a pretty fair price, but we are a small market
This is the one
The only answer.
Blackouts 💯
As an Orioles fan living in VT, it is always so remarkably frustrating having a division rival (Boston) totally unwatchable for me even when I pay for MLB single season.
I want All stars to wear their own uniform for the game again.
This was a firmly established tradition that dates back to the beginning of it. I realize that back in the day....you only had one national game of the week plus your teams local broadcasts....so it was especially gratifying to see your favorite stars on the national stage representing your team. It may be special to the player who wears that uniform all season to have that all star jersey as a badge of achievement.....but this game is for the fans so do what the fans want.
200%> I understand they want to sell new stuff but man was it cool seeing them all in their home/away unis
Absolutely agree. That was always one of my favorite things about watching the ASG when I was a kid.
Put the games back on regular every day TV.
I watched my Phils almost every night when I was a kid, just put on channel 17 for free. Now I need six streaming services for $120 a month. I watch one game a week, maybe.
Saturday afternoon on NBC with Garagiolo and Gowdy
This week In Baseball, though replacing Mel Allen would be difficult
Dofu sports app. Free
On throwback days, the players should have to wear an onion on their belt, as was the fashion at the time.
That’s a paddlin’.
Bring back nickels with pictures of bees on them !
Get rid of Angel Hernandez & other power trip umps.
Umpires should be like players. If you're not performing, you get sent down and a better ump gets called up
Trade Angel Hernandez to the Siberian Baseball League?
Just send him to Siberia
No gambling ads and partnerships.
Can’t believe this doesn’t have more upvotes. I simply don’t let my kids watch sports anymore… when every single ad is a booze/gambling/pharmaceutical company, don’t pretend this is “family friendly” entertainment… how many vices you got? There’s an ad for that….
This is such a great point. It really isn’t family friendly. The gambling ads are obscene
This is such a great point. It really isn’t family friendly. The gambling ads are obscene
Hard salary cap & floor.
All games in your home market on over-the-air broadcast. Premium packages to buy out of market games.
I see you, fellow small market fan.
i would change the amount of games my team wins to more of them
Me too. I’m an A’s fan!
Get rid of the ghost runner in extra innings.
No blackouts.
Cheaper beer.
The other night against the Marlins, ghost runner scored off a dinky hit that bounced off our pitcher’s ass and flew between first and second. Dumbest way to lose a game.
Probably should have scored in the top of the inning then.
Compromise: no ghost runner in the 10th, but starting with the 11th put a guy on second.
If we have to keep the ghost runner I’d say no runner in the 10th. Ghost runner on 1st in the 11th.
10th: runner on 1st
11th: runner on 2nd
12th: runners on 1st & 2nd
13th: runners on 1st & 3rd
14th: runners on 2nd & 3rd
15th and after: bases loaded
D. All of the above!!
Can a choose C multiple times?
Dammit today I agreed with an Astros fan
Keep ghost runners in the regular season, get rid of them for playoffs. I hated staying up late because both teams couldn't get on base
Even with the rule change, there have never been 'ghost runners' in the playoffs
Get rid of blackouts. More organists playing in downtime instead of EDM.
Less giant scoreboards attempting to hype up the crowd
More bunts and every time a bunt attempt is made the home team mascot hands out mini bundt cakes.
Dude I was at Petco last night. I wanted to see the scores, but the little circumnavigous led strip that shows them kept changing to crowd hype messages at the exact time I looked. Balls and strikes, and out and innings would disappear in exchange for “make some fucking nnoiiiiiiizeee!”
Jesus I just wanted to see if the Dodgers scored in extras.
Yeah, I don’t want an analog scoreboard, just something simple that provides info on the game without distracting me from the game. Plus bundt cakes.
Maybe if you made some noise, they wouldn’t need to display those messages.
Or the constant music in general. Cincinnati loves playing Lil Jon trying to pump up the crowd on repeat and it’s obnoxious.
hungrily prays for bunts
Cold take
If they get to shoot the Bundt cakes out of a T-Shirt cannon at the crowd then I’m for it.
Your stadium does a soft hot dog drop while playing Belinda Carlisle and you want Bundt Violence for the rest of us?
No dice.
Yes! I dont know how many times I've yelled at the TV for the bunt! Man on second, no out, #9 hitter at the plate? Get the GD bunt down. Ernie Clement laid down a beauty in extras for the Jays yesterday.
Umps being held accountable!
- Eliminate blackout restrictions and reign in all broadcasting rights to "rebrand" MLB TV app to include all 30 MLB franchises, and assign a dedicated team within MLB's broadcasting division to rework contracts with preferred broadcasting teams in their respective markets to keep the fans happy.
One of the BIGGEST threats to MLB right now is distribution and rights of broadcasting MLB games and they've handled it HORRIBLY! It's alienating current fans and stunting growth of the market for new fans.
Blackouts
Back to two divisions per league. Or three and a wildcard at most. Make the playoffs a serious reward for teams that made it through the regular season. Constantly adding more playoffs is just making the regular season worse and worse and the World Series less and less interesting.
End travel ball, and IMG academy type schools. Have kids go back to kids playing for their local high schools. We might end up with more interesting players and less robotic baseball automatons, and maybe, just maybe some American kids from non-priviledged backgrounds.
Also knuckleball scholarships for little leagues, high school, and colleges. MLB needs more of these.
- Don’t blackout games
- Fire Manfred
- Find a new uniform and merch maker.
- Force A’s ownership to sell the team and sell to someone committed to keeping them in Oakland.
That would be a start.
I would bring back the DH in the National League
Fewer playoff spots, maybe back to 10
No ads on uniforms
No gambling ads
Unless I’m seeing things they now have the DH in the national league
Sorry I meant bring back no DH in the NL
Nah I don’t vibe with this one, think it was an overall net positive change. The only real rule it affected is the double switch, still used though today some.
Same here. I was ride-or-die about no DH in the NL. Now that it's gone, it's hard for me to understand what I was so worked up about.
The gambling is so tacky. I mean do yourself a favor, have some class and get a bookie.
Or have your translator get a bookie.
Or have your bookie get a translator
Or hire your bookie as a translator
I hate ads on uniforms. Looks like little league. May as well put “Sponsored by Smith’s HVAC” on it. Honestly, I keep expecting to see it one day…
The ghost runner in Xtra inning needs to go back to the way it was
Robo strike zone. Leave the umps behind the dish and give them tech so they know the call and can make the hand signals.
Let pitchers use sticky stuff. Stop policing tobacco use by players.
Let the players fight. Hockey rules. Ejections come after. But if they wanna go, let em go.
Get rid of the blocking the bag/plate rule. It’ll sort itself out. Get in the way? Get run over.
More bunts.
Get rid of the runner on 2nd for extra innings.
Fix the fucking blackouts.
Fire Nike/Fanatics. Ban sponsors on team sleeves.
Electronic strike zone
No blackouts. Ditch the Manfred Man in extra innings. Fire Angel Hernandez.
People calling it "the MLB."
Get rid of “the.” Just MLB. It’s cooler.
And the correct phrase. The major league baseball is not correct
I bet you’re an entrepreneur.
The umpires
Fuck the ghost runner, umps are autocorrected when they miss a strike/ball call, John Fisher/Jerry Reisendorf/Rob Manfred are out of the sport
Quit nit picking the pitch clock. Just have it a universal 20 seconds.
No Ads on uniforms. It looks incredibly tacky
This should be applied to all sports not just baseball.
The pitcher on the winning team that gets the most outs should be the Winning pitcher
We need more rivalry games. We need more old-school, my team hates your team games instead of the Cubs vs. Tampa on a Tuesday.
Blackout restrictions need to end.
Ghost Runner in extras needs to end.
The MLB draft should be after the end of the season. NBA and NFL do this, and it acts as an extension of the league during the offseason.
I'm totally with you on all points, especially since the draft dates are ridiculous. Do it before or after the spring or post-season.
Add a salary cap so the league isn't half professional farm teams
I think you mean salary floor. The luxury tax already acts as a defacto cap.
Yes, we need a salary floor. If you can’t spend 100 mil on players per year you simply don’t deserve to own any MLB team.
Judging by your flair, I bet you'd relish a change in ownership rules along those lines
Yes, a new owner in Pittsburgh was needed yesterday. Take this with a grain of salt because I don’t know the validity of what I’m about to say… but Mario Lemieux, owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins who saved them from bankruptcy and possible relocation offered to buy the Pittsburgh Pirates many years ago. Bob Nutting, the current owner replied “The Pittsburgh Pirates are not up for sale.”
Exactly. If the league would just have a luxury tax for low spenders that forces them to get above the minimum salary every few years to reset the tax like you currently see the high spenders do it would help without hamstringing poor teams.
Get rid of the ability to look at a play before you challenge it. I like that you can challenge, but the delay and zoom in on the manager holding up his hand at the umps as he waits for an answer is dumb. Either challenge it or don't. Give each team 3 per game so they aren't as afraid to use them.
Back to colorful uniforms.
Easy - cap, floor, and expanded revenue sharing
i would like my team to be good again. but seriously, the ghost runner in extras needs to go.
Everyone goes through the draft. International players. American players. Japanese players. Guys coming back from playing overseas. Cuban players. Everyone. You can trade picks and we drop the weird slot money system that makes teams draft someone other than the best player.
Also expand the draft back to 150 rounds or whatever. Teams can just autopick players for those later rounds with statistical programs so it's not like it's that much of a waste of time.
There are 450,000 high school players in the US.
There are 45,000 college players in the US.
There are 4,500 professional players in the US.
For each level, 90% of the players do not advance, but wouldn't it be cool if every player who makes a team after high school were drafted? Imagine how attached fans would be to MLB teams if their family member were drafted by one.
I despise the runner at second in extra innings.
Blackouts. Get rid of Angel Hernandez. And Get rid of the extra innings runner on second rule!!!!!!!
I want to bring back the McGwire, Bonds days
How bout each team gets one designated PED user
Lol.
Mandatory PEDs for all.
you say that like most of the league isnt using PED's now.
Anything they are using now isn't getting the job done. I want my baseball players to look like peak Schwarzenegger. Whether they can actually lift their arm over their head to throw the ball isn't important.
well, flexibility is kind of important in baseball.
Greenies until their eyes pop out of their heads and their hands are shaking please
Get rid of the stupid ass oven mits.
robots. and on close plays they have to battle it out to see if the runner is safe or out.
BASEWARS
part of me is kinda surprised nobody has tried to make an XMLB where the players need to duke it out to resolve the play.
Removal of Philadelphia
Same as every other sport
Can we add LA to that list?
Sincerely, a San Diegan
My biggest ones I’d like to change is
Seeding based on record, not division win (the Yankees won 107 games a couple years ago and were a wild card team, seems dumb to me)
I’d like to see a stiffening in penalties of over the cap teams (like the NBA’s first and second apron)
I think Rookie contracts should be shorter, 2 years on rookie scale, 2 years of Arbitration (most guys don’t get called up until age 23/24/25 meaning they hit FA at 30 or later, I’d like to see them get paid sooner)
John Fisher should be forced to sell the A’s (yes some teams are just bad but you’re blatantly trying to not win - get out)
End all market blackouts (I don’t get why MLB is making it harder to view their product, their marketing sucks as it is)
There's no cap. But the penalties for going over the CBT does have stiff penalties
Automated strike zone
Get a new commissioner, stop DH in the National League, bring back This Week In Baseball, stop franchise movement, bring back Game of the Week on Saturdays.
Lots to do in this sport. NBA and NFL have passed MLB like they are standing still.
So, time travel to the 70s?
I’d settle for just a new commissioner. The only reason I mentioned those “free tv” shows is that it’s hard to see MLB related content, and the DH is just a person preference.
Every team gets a few “Owners Nights” where the fans complain about how players are overpaid for playing a kids game. All concessions will cost 300% their normal prices for the poor, ailing owners who need public funds just to scrape by.
/s
We need more hotdogs from heaven
A commissioner that doesn't suck
Get rid of black outs
Introduce a salary floor
Expand to 32 teams. 4, 8 team divisions. First place advances to LDS. 2 and 3 in each division play a 3 game series on consecutive days. Winner plays division winner who gets 4 home games.
Playoff Seed based on record
Bring back proper stirrups.
Blackouts would be huge but also have a better system of relegation for umpires. Hold them accountable. Fire Angel Hernandez
No blackouts. AND get rid of the immediate guy on 2nd rule in the 10th. Give them 2 or 3 innings for a legit winner before the free guy on second rule kicks in.
Get robot ump system asap, remove blackouts, force teams to release proper injury reports and increase pitch clock by 5 seconds
Some kind of restructuring of umpire and their god awful calls. Cancel the free 2nd base runner in extra innings.
One streaming platform for every single MLB regular season game with no blackouts. Similar to the MLS Apple TV deal! With a couple of national TV games that are simulcasted on the platform!
Also restore the joys of Sunday night baseball
Blackout games when you purchase the package.
NO ADS ON JERSEYS OR HELMETS
Able to challenge strike/ball calls.
The gatekeepers
Too many teams. Too long seasons. Fire umpires even in the middle of a season for making bad calls. Umpires are the worst in the seventy years I have followed the game. Ball and strike calls by computer can’t come too soon. Owners who refuse to spend money like Nutting and Fisher should lose their ownership status.
I do not like the Manfred Man on second in extras. Such an odd thing to add.
Get rid of the nepotism in their media staff hiring process so people like me from outside the US can get onto the ladder - I’ve seen 5 sons/nephews etc of Marketing execs land starter 50k video/social media roles with a degree in communications when 5 years of specialist training and experience running 1M+ subscribers YT sports channels won’t even get me an interview
Sorry for the rant but it’s my honest answer to the question
Get rid of the runner on second starting extra innings .
Agree 💯
Balls that bounce over in fair play are now ground rule triple
Throwing your glove at ball is now allowed. I want outfielders hurling gloves at homerun balls.
I would shorten the season to the traditional 154 games. I'd start the season 5 or so days later and end it 5 or so days earlier. This way, there would be no March or October regular season games, no November playoff games, and 154 has a nice retro feel.
Hard salary cap and floor for payrolls. Less interleague play. No ghost runners unless the game reaches the 11th inning, etc. Bring back the bullpen carts!
Let pitchers use 'foreign substances' and hitters cork their bats.
Players can knock the shit out of catchers...I miss collisions at home plate.
Allstars wear their normal uniforms.
Since they obviously want more offense, get rid of the Picher's Mound. And add a Designated Runner that can be used once an inning without having to pull the player from the game.
No more intentional walks without having to throw 4 pitches.
No ghost runners until 3 full extra innings have been played.
Bring back more division games.
Lastly- Rip up the Nike uniform contract and pay whatever it costs.
MLB uniforms should be made in the USA.
I miss Baseball Tonight being on every “tonight”.
Let me watch my Tigers if I get a subscription for the MLB App streaming service.
Make games on steaming services be broadcast on the team’s local TV market like what the NFL does to Thursday Night Football.
marketing. market your stars and get all the old farts out of the sport that have been holding the sport back with their archaic ways of thinking.
Robo Umps for balls & strikes or at minimum challenges like they have for tennis. Go to the big screen, show whether it clipped the zone, adjust the count if necessary, and move on. You keep the challenge when it’s successful but you lose it if you’re not, and have a limit of three per inning
I like this idea. They do it in the minors and it seems to work well in the games I’ve attended.
There can also be a structure where umpires who either have a low rate of overturned calls or a low rate of challenged calls get selected for postseason series and if a team wins a certain number of challenges in a single game, that umpire can’t call balls and strikes for that team anymore
No DH. Sorry over the hill players…
bring back running over the catcher
*End extra innings games in the regular season. Ties after 9 go in the book as ties, move to a points system for standings instead of straight W-L. Old extras with no Manfred man are on for the playoffs.
Everyone wins. No more super long regular season games so MLB players and advertisers are happy, fans get the drama of extras but only during the playoffs when tensions are even higher so fans enjoy it.
*Probably knock 10-12 games off the schedule and expand rosters to 30.
*Move the trade deadline to August 15th
No interleague. Bring back the aura of the world series.
Stop promoting gambling
Make the season 148 games and play best of 7 in the divisional series.
I’d incarcerate Rob Manfred and hire a mole to destroy the umpires union
Somehow you should be able to bring back a player that was taken out of lineup later in the game, it would be tricky but it could be done, it’s silly that once a player is removed they can’t play again
Add two more team, go to 4 divisions of 8 and do a version of the NHL playoffs
More small ball. Every batter wants to hit a home run instead of moving a player from 2nd to 3rd with one out.
I would lower the price of food and drinks. Hotdog and soda is over $15
Wiffle Ball
Half the owners
Equal payroll accounts for each team - no matter the market
check swing. If the ball can hit the bat and go fair it should be a legal swing.
Blackouts. Remove them. Permanently. Let locals watch the games for crying out loud.
Cheaper concessions. Beer about the same, but everything else on the cheap so families can keep going to games.
And I would lean more in content. People love Cut4 and the drama between players and teams. You get far more fans with that than a pitch clock.
- No blackouts
- 130 game season
- less playoff spots
Add 5 seconds to the pitch clock. I feel like speeding up the game is leading to more injuries as Justin Verlander and other aces have said.
Get rid of the strike box overlay in broadcasts. Every time I watch a broadcast without I feel like I can just watch the game instead of hyper analyzing an inaccurate and often contradictory artificial thing.
Blackouts.
And the 162 game schedule. No need for a team to play a game almost every single day.
Manfred
Blackouts is the only answer, but I will expand that and just say a more modern approach to making games available. The NFL is doing it right. Even Sunday Ticket is better than the MLB version which is saying a lot because Sunday Ticket is shit for the price you pay.
Besides Blackouts because duh.
I'd allow the batter to steal first. I think that's fun AF. At any time the batter can straight up run to first and if they get thrown out they are out. So passed balls they can book it if they want to try. Or they can try to steal 1st if someone goes to 2nd and a passed ball etc.
Started typing and realized just in time that this is not the circlejerk subreddit lmao. Whew.
The jerseys
Saturday afternoon on NBC with Garagiolo and Gowdy
This week In Baseball, though replacing Mel Allen would be difficult
Less games and playoff teams to make the regular season more important. With so many games and teams that makes the playoffs, the regular season is overshadowed by the playoffs. The pennette used to make something!
No uni ads
No more pitch clock.
I would permanently eliminate the Los Angeles Dodgers
Ghost runner in the tenth
Get rid of it?
Pitch Challenges
5 per side
Umps can’t follow today’s pitching with all the movement and velocity
I've felt this way for a few years now, I get criticism for it, but I don't think you grow a "dying" sport by expanding it. I don't think baseball is dying. It just isn't nearly as popular as it was, and quite frankly #3 right now. Now, to it, I'd get rid of 4 teams, both Florida's, Colorado, and Arizona. Aside from Arizonas' success last year, let's face it, all these teams are bottom dwellers more times than not. Fan bases aren't invested (Colorado fans probably disagree), but ownership definitely isn't all that invested. The remaining teams draft the available players. Some might lose jobs, but way too many players that are 4A players at best right now.
Nashville already has a minor league team, and imo, Portland Oregon can not support a Major league team, aside from the Blazers, which again, how much success have they had in the last 30 years. I'd also cut the season to 142, way too many games, everyone knows it. Go back to 1 play in game for the wild card. Grow a pair and either acknowledge Bonds or ban him from baseball and the record. And finally, force in some way, owners to invest a certain amount into the team. Enough of Athletics and Pirates doing nothing and always losing.
Eliminating blackouts, lower ticket prices, reduce number of games by 20
Teams in Nashville and North Carolina, tv contract that gives NBC, CBS, Fox and ABC rotating World Series like the Super Bowl.
I’d ban batter timeouts after a called strike two.
Get rid of all the rule changes made in the last 7 years. No pitch clock, ghost-runners, limit on throws to first, shift all you want, etc.
umps
Besides getting rid of Hunk of Metal Rob and blackouts?
Year-round interleague play. Expansion to 32 (or contraction to 28) means it's not needed.
Bring back the 1-batter reliever rule. Who doesn't like to see a bullpen hacking up a LOOGY?
Before it becomes ingrained, get rid of the NL DH.
Take the balls and strikes away from the umpires!!!
Make it more about baseball and not swinging for the fence on every swing and striking out 30+% of the time. Bunt, hit to opposite field to move the runners, base stealing. The reappearance of the starting pitcher. Let pitchers go for 9 innings if they are doing well. Stop trying to make every pitch 100mph and scratch your head as to why your arm doesn't last.
Nothing at this time. they got me back by putting a time limit in the pitchers. Those 3 plus hours of watching was just too much.
Anything umpire related. They literally change the outcome of games.
No loud music between innings or batters
Oh, and get off my lawn
Do something about the umpires.
Every team has to have a pitcher hit once per game.
Ghost runner in extra innings
Get rid of blackouts