Keep the Kids in Mind

 Last night, the Cardinals-Brewers NLCS game started at 8:05 ET; a good time to start the game for the local fans as in central time it would be 7:05 ET. May I remind you though that the majority of baseball fans live on the east coast, and baseball needs to appeal to the younger audience as less and less kids are playing baseball each year. Most studies show that a teenager needs about 9 hours of sleep to be fully ready for the day. A game that starts at 8:05 ET would usually end at about 11, unless it is a Red Sox game and then it would between 12am and 1 am. Here are three ways to keep all of America happy for baseball.

  1. Start the Game Earlier
         The most obvious of the reasons, the earlier the games start the earlier they will end. Sunday night games are tough because you do don't want to have to compete with the 4pm football games, but there is always a night marquee game. This poses a question for MLB; pit a game against a typical 4 o' clock game or against the 8pm game that has been advertised for heavily for the past week. Personally, I would rather go up against two fan bases instead of a national audience.
        A 7 CT game starts at 5 o'clock west coast time, very early in the day, but starting the game at 4pm wouldn't make that much of a difference in viewership. I believe that baseball wouldn't lose viewers by starting earlier, but definetly loses them by starting the games so late. A 7pm start time on the east coast would end at 10, allowing the youth to watch the whole game. Last night, I made it to the top of the 4th inning, sure I was tired from the day, but I should be able to watch more than half the game.
    On a side note, in my opinion that game was lost for the Brewers in the first inning when Weeks
didn't pick Lucroy's throw on the stolen base attempt. After that, Pujols and Berkman get on then Holliday grounds out to end the inning.

2. Find Ways to Speed Up Play
 The game of baseball should not take three and a half hours to finish. A game should reasonably end within 2 and a half hours. The problem is that pitchers take 40 seconds in between pitches and the last 2 innings of a close game usually take an hour. Some may blame the slow pace of play on commercials between innings, but baseball is a sport that commercials fit in perfectly with the framework of the game. Pitchers need about a minute and a half to warm up, perfect for 2 or 3 commercials.
 The problem with the game is batters stepping out of the box for 10 seconds between pitches and pitchers taking 40 seconds to check the runners and take the sign. With no one on base, there should be about 10 seconds between each pitch, the pitcher has no need to shake off signs unless they are in Toronto and there are no runners on base for them to check on. When runners are on base, 20 seconds should be the goal for pitchers. This gives enough time for the catcher to run through the complex signal order to keep their signs from being stolen and for the pitcher to look at each runner and decide whether or not to pick off. People who say that baseball should come up with a game limiting pick offs don't realize that would just increase scoring by a bizarre number and make catchers with good arms almost useless.

 Another problem is that the catcher has no limit on the amount of times he is allowed to call time to talk to the pitcher. Baseball has a rule in place to limit coaching visits, one time an inning and the second time the pitcher must come out. I propose a rule that limits player called time outs to 10. This only covers players who do not have the ball in their hand. If a fielder decides to call time so they can send the ball back to the pitcher without worrying about players advancing bases, they should be allowed to do so as long as they do not create a conference on the mound. Everytime a catcher or a hitter calls time, that counts. This would cause players to think a lot more during the course of a game, is it worth it for a hitter to call time in the 2nd inning when their pitcher could use that during the 8th inning when the game is tied.

3. Expand the Strike Zone
  Since the 90s the major leauge strike zone has been almost wider than it is tall. Going from above the knees to the belt and about 4 inches off each side of the plate. I feel that they need to make the strike zone the width of the plate again, stop rewarding pitches that are thrown almost nowhere near the hittable zone.

If only they would call the right strike zone

The zone should also be expanded upwards to halfway up the chest. Right now umpires don't call anything above the belt a strike. Personally as a hitter I believe that the way outside pitch is harder to hit than a pitch up. Pitchers would no longer try to pitch around guys as they would be able to challenge them up, meaning less at bats that are 5 to 8 pitches. That may not sound like a lot but it could add up to 20 minutes by the end of the game.

 The truth is that baseball needs to start appealing to younger viewers and right now they are doing a terrible job. All baseball needs to do is move up start times, change the strike zone, and get players to play the game.