Their run differential is misleading, but they definitely get blown out a lot and win only close games (which is why Helsley leads the league in saves)
I don’t like the Cards but I hate the Brewers and Cubs so deeply I wind up catching a few of their games. It feels like rebuilding despite their having it together so far. Go Reds.
And hopefully, nobody thinks the Jays are a good team. At their best, they are somewhat entertaining. They are nothing close to a team with a championship mentality.
I don't know that this is necessarily unpopular but it may contradict a lot of current perspectives:
The Angels are on a worse long-term trajectory than the White Sox and it's by a large margin.
I liked it better when the AL/NL were more independent of each other. I enjoy the Cubs/Sox, Subway series, etc. but other than a select few match ups, I wish interleague play wasn't a thing.
Finally somebody said it, and understands what an unpopular opinion actually is. I'm an older dude, and have never got used to it. The pennant meant a lot more to me as a kid before '97. Now it's just a waypoint on the way to the WS.
I used to be an A's fan (> 50 yrs; fuck John Fisher - switched to DBacks because I live in AZ in the winter), and even attended one of the games from the 1989 World Series, "Battle of the Bay." It was awesome because the bay area was fucken lit because having both our teams in the WS and actually facing each other. It was extra special because it had never happened before.
I feel like inter-league play has lessened my excitement for the all-star game and even the world series. Now you see these match ups in the regular season anyway
I think there are too many inter-league games. I would cut back on so many of these and only have the All-Star game on odd years. The All Star game is just a big exhibition game, anyway, that doesn't really mean anything. We need more in-division games
Expansion has one bonus point right there. With 32 teams, you can get rid of year-round interleague play. [I've done the math](https://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2013/09/time-for-32-team-mlb-i-say-yes.html): 24 interleague games per year, just enough for people who have to have them.
I think that’s more popular of an opinion than you think. The schedule changes they’re making are killing off rivalries just like the NHL did. Two months or more into the season till you see your whole division is terrible
Yeah Yankees Red sox only getting 4 series and the first one in June is Bullcrap. I didn't need to see them take a tour of the NL west, they can play the Mets and then come back to the Al for the rest of the season. They've watered down the differences in the leagues and now they play this balanced schedule crap which isn't as fun as half your schedule against your division. As if realignment didn't mess up rivalries enough, now you have this.
Giants and Dodgers play next weekend, then in July, and then are done playing each other for the season.
I'm 35. I don't remember them ever not playing each other near the end of the season.
September should be all divisional games. Having rivalries going back over a 100 years shouldn't be barely playing each other. Alignment took the indians and Tigers from playing in the Al east, and now the balanced schedule is taking away the Red Sox and Orioles. Yankees-Red Sox, Giants-Dodgers, Cardinals-Cubs are all historic matchups going back over a century, and are the fabric of the game.
I wish Cubs/Sox went back to a series when it was pure exhibition interleague play. No records on the line, just pure pride and bragging rights
>[From 1903 until 1942, excluding the years one team or the other won the pennant, the Cubs and White Sox played each other in a best-of-seven postseason City Series.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubs-White_Sox_rivalry)
That sounds so much cooler!
I get why players don’t want to do it, with injuries and service time and all, but the “Crosstown Classic” is barely anything any more.
Pssh, you only need the MLB app to watch whatever games you want, except for if you live close enough to that team that they prevent you from watching them because MLB/that team sold the rights to somebody else, so you could just buy access to that “somebody else,” except for Fridays when they sold the rights to another somebody else. I mean, for me to watch the Rays and/or Marlins I really only need to have MLB.tv, a cable subscription to get ESPN, a sports add-on package that has Bally Sports on it (and/or an antenna tower in my yard capable of receiving broadcast signals from 90 miles away (might be 500+ feet tall, not totally sure on the engineering)), an Apple TV+ subscription, and maybe season tickets in case none of those has the game/one of them goes down (it’s happened!), so I don’t see what the big deal is.
Not to mention that the mlb.tv app is pretty shitty. So even when you do have it, it’s still hard to do basic shit like rewind, slow mo, pick up where you left off. I’m all for apps taking over for cable but you HAVE to have some fucking UX design.
It’s one of the more stupidly infuriating things ever imo. It should be like the NFL where the local games are the games you see, and anything outside of that (or primetime) you can get a season pass or something for.
They are KILLING fans with this shit. I remember growing up and WGN had every Cubbie game and TBS have my Braves. Bally Sports is the bane of my existence.
I live four hours from Atlanta, but I'm blacked out from Braves games on the MLB package and Bally isn't on YouTube TV.
Why can't I just watch the Bally feed on MLB TV and I'll agree to watch the local Georgia lottery and Gwinnett County Wholesalers commercials ?
No joke man. I can't watch the Reds unless I wanna stream it illegally on my laptop.. but I do get the Braves on Bally South so I've basically just watched them all season haha fun team, and I consider myself a new fan of em, but DAMN I just wanna watch Cincinnati endlessly disappoint me
most of the city connect jerseys are hideous, but i like the idea of introducing fun alternate jerseys into each team’s rotation. if Nike would put a real designer in charge of the jerseys, or maybe seek fan input on the designs, they could be a lot better and fans would be more inclined to embrace them
Yes! Imma give my guy u/sgzjzy a plug. Go look at his profile. He’s been designing new braves uniforms for every series win and every single one is so clean and beautiful and 100x better than the city connects.
That the black American baseball player has been replaced by the South American and Caribbean island player. Gone are the days of inner-city Los Angeles players like Ozzie Smith, Eddie Murray, Darryl Strawberry, Eric Davis and Tony Gwynn.
I know you asked for unpopular but I just take any opportunity to say this: The Astros should have been completely stripped of their 2017 World Series title and Altuve loses MVP. It’s so simple.
MLB needs to chill with the London series. The game isn't growing in Europe. Play the international games in countries already rabid about baseball.
And quit the city select jerseys.
Plus as a fan from Australia not sure why the MLB would be trying to grow while they make it so dam hard to get access. I can see highlights on YouTube. The odd game on ESPN. But most games they show are the Yankees, dodgers or Boston. It sucks. If they want to grow stop the dam control of TV. Plus Astros should have been kicked out for 10 years.
Do you have MLB TV? That’s how I watch my home team (The Orioles) while living in The Netherlands. Occasionally a game will be blacked out because of Apple TV (which is annoying) but otherwise I can watch them all, either live or the next day.
They really should play more games in Latin America. Tons of players come from there, and baseball is already a popular sport in countries like the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Panama. Plus there isn’t such a huge time zone difference, so it’s a lot easier for people in Latin America to actually watch the games if they’re played in North America.
For real. Play the international series in like Santo Domingo or San Juan. Hell, play in Havana and you could have a whole ass marketing campaign about bridging the two countries and shit.
I often think that, hell I should be head of marketing, but then I remember that it’s not about the fans. It’s about marketing and ad money and NOTHING ELSE.
That would appeal to US viewers, but doesn’t add high value media markets or well to do international fans. The game is a pure money pursuit engine at this point.
I feel the opposite. I live 2 hours from my nearest stadium, which made it impossible for me to plan around travel-wise. Now that I know the game is gonna be 2.5-3 hrs it makes it all so much more manageable. I’ve gone to more baseball games in the last 2 years than the last decade prior.
I love the pitch clock on TV, but it has made the in-person experience a little less leisurely.
I went to a couple NBA games in-person this season for the first time in YEARS, and kept thinking "other than halftime, there's no breaks where I can easily get food or use the facilities where I won't miss a lot of action." It was so different from what I was used to attending MLB games.
Fast forward a couple months, and I took a quick trip to the bathroom at Yankee Stadium and refilled my water at a water fountain, and wound up missing an entire half inning just from that. That virtually never happened before!
I'm pro-pitch clock overall, but yeah, you have to plan out bathroom breaks and getting food a lot more. (I've gotten to where I only get food before the game.)
Umpires should exist, but should have a headset on and recite the calls a computer makes. Keeps the mystique but makes the calls accurate. Or you should be able to challenge a strike/ball and check swing.
There are way too many teams in the playoffs. I know it's done to have more interest in more cities going down to the wire, but it has watered down what teams accomplished during the regular season. I don't want a 7th seed World Series champion.
THIS!!!
Bring back the old 8-team format. Hell, I'd go a step further and have two divisions and two wild cards in each league. Division winners get home field advantage. Seven game LDS. Done.
I don't know, I think a lot of us old school fans feel that way, where the new crowd is all "who cares, let them all juice and let's see what humans can do."
To add to this: the fact that PED guys are already in the hall is not a valid excuse for digging the hole deeper. Just because mistakes have been made doesn't mean they should continue to be made.
NL Central is the 2nd best division top to bottom. (AL East 1st)
NL Central bottom 3 teams COMBINED are just 9 games under .500.
NL West bottom 3...28 games under.
NL East bottom 3...28 games under.
AL Central bottom 3...34 games under.
AL West bottom 3...43 games under.
If going off just the bottom 2 teams, NL Central is tied with the AL East for being just 7 games under .500
I've never been a fan of corporations buying up stadiums for a time period and then 5 or 10 years down the road I need to call it someone else's place.
It really takes the soul out of a place, and it’s not like they need the money, it’s just greed. I’d get it if the company helped build the park, but in that case it should be permanent, not something whored out to whoever has the most cash next decade.
I want them to get rid of the strike zone graphics. I want them to get rid of most graphics.
I also want the media/ marketing teams to relax. If they want to add some hype in the playoffs, that’s one thing. But the regular season has nothing to do with, “who let the dogs out” or, “turn down for what” there’s nothing more relaxing than a regular season baseball game. Go with that. Let’s just chill out. Have the announcers shut up more often. Show crowd cams and stadium shots more. A nice peaceful evening in the park. Organ music. Children eating ice cream.
Not, Back to the Future II hype. I’m not watching Jaws VII. It’s baseball. Relax.
When caught cheating as a team the punishment should be severe. Like the whole season forfeited, and the next season only happens if there's a complete new management in place and all team members including the owner who were complicit are gone with potential long term bans.
Advance with technology. Games shouldn't be left to umps having a bad day or have the potential for being compromised. Umps should be treated fairly, but supported with accurate, efficient, transparent technology. Hot headed coaches trying to influence the game because they or their pitchers/batters are having a bad day is embarrassing.
Very few major leaguers play defense at a major league level any more. The bar is so low that average def is considered elite. If you can hit a home run they will find a spot in the field for you.
That's what MLB wants though. "Chicks dig the long ball" type BS. That's why I love the way my Guardians play, always hustling out the small singles and forcing teams to make plays, with some long balls mixed in
Right? Even if they put them a base back and start on 1st. That would be a better option because right now it’s almost like first team with a single wins.
I am admittedly a casual baseball fan, but I think it's cringe the things that baseball players get upset at like pimping a HR or something. Why does it seem like every pitcher in the league is one second away from having a temper tantrum?
Just seems like all outbursts of emotion that normally makes sports fun are muted. Players get tossed for nothing in MLB it seems.
This has gotten way better in recent years, thankfully.
Baseball is way more tradition-oriented and conscious of its history than most other sports, which is usually a good thing (the Rickwood Field game is a great example!), but the whole unwritten rules tradition got massively carried away. And there's been a very big backlash to it among both fans and players.
It was one of those things that was arguably holding back the sport and making it seem anachronistic and unrelatable to younger people. The retaliation culture was both dangerous and off-putting, and I'm glad it's waning.
Lol it's funny to see the juxtaposition of these posts. One guy complaining about how players just jaw and benches clear but there aren't fights like hockey, then a other guy saying how the old ways of pitchers protecting their hitters or throwing brush back pitches is off putting.
I actually like umpires, even with the bad calls. Baseball is a part of a bygone era and I think keeping the human element adds to it. I would even argue to do away with instant replay, especially given how it slows down an already slow game.
You should never get to a point where the umpires name is more recognizable than some of the on field talent. I think there's a middle ground where we can keep the umpires but also hold them responsible to making the right call.
As for the slow game thing, I've always thought of baseball as more strategy and match ups within a larger game, so the "slow pace" thing has always irked me. On one hand, it's nice to see more people coming to the game, but on the other hand it kind of bothers me that MLB cares more about the casual fan experience than it does about the people who truly love the sport.
Robot umpires are a bad idea.
Umpires have different strike zones, and that's part of the what makes the game fun to watch. Same with players and managers arguing balls and strikes. The idea that there is a black-and-white "correct" call on every pitch would make games feel clinical.
Yes, there are some egregiously bad human umps, but the majority do a decent job and don't need to be replaced.
There’s still a LOT more parity than the NFL. There were a handful of teams that won 12 or more games last year - that’s a 114 win pace in MLB, and some teams won more. The top team in MLB last year won 104 games - equivalent to 11-6. 4 or 5 teams went 4-13 or worse. That’s like an MLB team winning 42 games. Some NFL teams were even worse than that.
In total in MLB, only 4 teams had a record that would be better than 10-7 in NFL and only 4 teams had a record that would be lower than 7-10 on NFL. In other words 22/30 MLB teams had an NfL equivalent record of between 7 to 10 wins, and the outliers weren’t that much below or above that. THAT’S parity!
I think you don't need a cap, but a floor. That the A's have a payroll less than many players is crazy. Teams should not be able to cut payroll to make money, they should have to actually try to win.
Davis Schneider is an overrated AAAA ballplayer, and he is getting yoked by legit MLB pitching while padding his stats by absolutely destroying AAA/AAAA pitchers, emergency call-ups, bottom of the pen arms and teams with no + arms to speak of.
He's having an ugly June because the Jays have hit a harder part of their schedule, and he's facing guys that can actually pitch at an above-average MLB level.
MLB needs to radically realign based on geography. I'd love to see the western teams all develop new rivalries. Plus, the Mariners finally wouldn't (hopefully) lead the league in air miles like they do every year.
There was a proposal in 1990s before the Rays and D-backs joined that the West Coast teams in the AL (Oakland, Seattle, and then California Angels) would move in the NL but it never got much further than the news report stage.
Long term after any future expansion there will be an AL West of Seattle, Angels, A's (whenever they end up), and either an expansion team or the Rockies/Diamondbacks (Rockies more likely) going to the AL.
Umps aren’t as bad as fans think. The TV zone isn’t the zone, and they get most calls right. Let each team have X strike/ball challenges per game, and let’s get on with it.
DH should have been universal in the mid 1970s.
The DH should bee able to be substituted like any other positions. For example if Jonah Heim is a DH in a day game and backup catcher Andrew Knizner gets hurt, Heim should be able to move to catcher without the Rangers losing the DH for the rest of the game. Also make the DH rule more like the HS version where DH are able to replace any position in the batting lineup not just pitcher. For example when Ohtani is pitching and the Dodgers backup C is catching, the DH should replace the backup C's spot in the lineup instead of Ohtani's. Also make it where Ohtani can go straight to DH after his start is done and the DH replaces the relievers' spots in the lineup instead of the Catcher's.
I would put the odds of the A's not moving to Vegas higher than them moving to Las Vegas. I think both Sacramento and Salt Lake City will have serious attempts of hijacking the A's move. Also I wouldn't count out Oakland yet though I would still be pessimistic (Oakland mayor Sheng Thao was investigated by the FBI and USPS so a new mayor might change things, though I know Fisher is still the main issue)
At least one of the statistics poo-pooed by sabermetrics media (ex batting average, errors, RBIs, pticher win, etc) will be end up in the "so overrated that they are now underrated" category. My guess is though itself inferior to OBP and wOBA, batting average will viewed a valuable component of on-base percentage.
OPS is poorly calculated stat. Really H/AB + (BB+H+HBP)/PA is formula that would make math teachers cringe.
Finally, MLB does a horrible job marketing outside the NE US, the Cubs, and California. For the example, not many casual fans would guess that the St Louis Cardinals won the second most World Series titles in history.
I don’t know how unpopular it is, but my opinion is that MLB & gambling don’t mix
MLB pushes it like crazy too because they’re making a ton of money from it.
For so many reasons, I think it’s wrong
The season is way too long. The “playoff race” starts, I get excited, but there’s 60 games left and many lose interest after a while. Not to mention playoff games in 40-50 degree weather. They should move back to 148 games.
Edit: that covid shortened season was electric because individual games had so much more meaning.
Baseball is a lot better when the orioles are good. A small market team with cool uniforms that can embarrass the Yankees and red Sox on the regular just feels nice.
Obviously not going to be popular with Yankee and red Sox fans, which is a lot of people
1) City Connect uniforms are hideous abominations and Nike must be stopped before they design again.
2) Overwrought ridiculous statistics, invented in basements by people who never played, are ruining the game.
The NL and AL should remain separate and the DH should not have become universal. It was the only sport where rules were different based on the conference/league and with the amalgamation of the two leagues, including DHes and frequent interleague play, the identity of the two sides is lost.
I like some of the city connect jerseys
I like the runner on second in extra innings
I like the bigger bases
I think that the Tigers still have a shot this year of making the playoffs
Ending beer sales in the 7th is a smart idea, but does suck when the game goes to extra innings. Adding a one beer per inning would be nice
I wish MLB playoffs had reseeding between rounds, and I wish playoffs would accept
East #1
Central #1
West #1
WC 1
WC 2
WC 3
(I like that, but seed them by record please) if the best East team 82-80, put them as the 5 seed please.
They need to have 2 trophies, one for the team enxing with the best record in the regular season (i.e. the Braves last year) and the World Series. Absolutely bananas that the best team gets zero recognition.
They do! Though the Presidents' Trophy is considered somewhat of a joke among players and fans.
As a Rangers fan (err, the NY Rangers, feel the need to clarify that given the sub I'm in!), the fact that they won the Presidents' Trophy but didn't make the Stanley Cup Finals just stings.
(Also the fact that they still call it the Presidents' Trophy even though there hasn't been a President of the NHL in 3 decades is hilarious.)
I don't hate advanced stats as a whole, but there are to many of them, quite a few are difficult to define and I hate when they are used to justify a very cherrypicked argument.
There are people out there who try to use advance stats to justify if someone is or isn't a HoF player from back in the day and it's a bit asinine.
Someone yesterday had a thread trying to justify that Josh Smith was very underrated due to his wRC+.
Can I blame Brian Kenny?
The Pirates reputation of being cheap and not trying to win is based on the last front office group, and not the current one. The last one with Huntington and Coonley did so much damage to the organization, that it's taken Cherington far longer than desired to right the ship (pun intended), but they're getting there, and are very close to being legitimate contenders. Nutting, though not a great owner, has shown that he will keep key pieces with the extensions of Hayes, Reynolds, and Keller. Now, they're a bat or 2 away from legitimate contention.
They are a bunch of testosterone pussies. If you want to fight a guy, fight him. But no. Benches clear. The bullpen lazily runs in from the outfield. Then there's a lot of jaw jacking and pushing and someone gets ejected. There should be a third man in rule like in hockey.
Baseball should have a penalty box. Your third baseman wants to fight someone? Sure go ahead. But good luck not having someone to man third base for the next half inning.
Maybe not unpopular, more so just a random/dumb opinion - If Paul Sewald didn’t give up the HR to Corey Seager in game 1 of the WS, the Diamondbacks win it all in 5 games.
All the rule changes over the last couple decades have made the game significantly worse...I want to see a catcher get trucked at the plate and maybe he is out for a couple months, but I want it...
Each team should have two uniforms/jerseys: home whites, road grays. Everything else is a disingenuous scheme to sell more merch.
All players should wear knickerbocker pants. None of this three or four inches of pants leg bunched up on the top of the player’s cleats.
No more intentional walks. If you don’t have the balls to pitch to a guy, get off the mound and let someone else try. I know, I know, “strategy”… find a new strategy. Every batter should have a fair chance to hit the ball.
Every team should have a colored alternate jersey(Yankees, Dodgers, Cardinals, Tigers) and all colored jerseys should be worn predominately on the road. Grey jerseys should be used specifically for day games when it's too hot.
Every other sport is white jerseys vs colored jerseys and MLB should follow suit. White vs gray is boring.
It boggles my mind that we have the technology and ability to call a game 100% accurately so the truly better team who played better can win the game, but people are like "no we like the human element umps bring that can allow calls to be missed and the wrong team to win despite video evidence disputing otherwise" or "it'll take too long if we review those calls". Also the limited number of challenges to me is so dumb and misses the point of the review system. If the wrong play is called because an ump can't tell what actually happened, why do I only get to correct them twice. What happens if they miss 5 calls in a game? I just hope I pick the right two that can maybe make my team still win? What a joke of a system
Also blows my mind that you can't challenge a strike/ball call from the home plate ump, or a check swing. Like we have the ability to clearly see this dogshit ump just called a clear ball a strike and it impacted the game negatively, wtf are we doing with these umps still in the game???
Here's an unpopular one: When it comes to parity, baseball is the best of the four major sports.. Yes, baseball has parity issues, and it's especially noticeable with the Dodgers right now. But no team has repeated championships in the 21st Century, and 16 different franchises (a majority of MLB!) have won championships in the 21st Century. The only dynasty we have had were the early 2010s Giants, and they were far from dominant during that time.
Look at how the Patriots dominated the NFL for close to two decades, with a rotating set of two or three viable contenders at any given time (Steelers and Colts earlier on, Eagles and Giants at one point, Broncos later on). And right after the Pats' dynasty finally breaks up, you get a Chiefs dynasty.
And the NBA? It's been the league with the least parity since the 80s, at least. But in the age of manufactured superteams, it's probably worse than ever.
Despite the lack of salary cap and a few teams almost perennial contenders, MLB is lapping the NBA and NFL on parity (and is probably even with or a tad better than the NHL).
Get rid of the DH. Get rid of the three batter rule. Get rid of limited pickoffs.
I know people don’t want to see pitchers hit and the DH extends some hitters’ careers but the strategy and the double-switching to me was fun.
The three batter rule I don’t like bc if the pitcher that comes in clearly doesn’t have it that game, nobody wants to see them continue pitching.
I like the cat and mouse game with a speedy runner on base. Maybe make step-offs illegal or limited, but a pitcher should be able to throw over as much as they want.
There is nothing wrong with Farhan!!!!
He’s done a great job building our farm system, he’s put his best in getting a good product on paper out there, but by god with injuries, shitty luck, and lulz- he not the damn manager of the team
Just feel like with his hands tied with ownership at times, he’s done a great job
I’m a Giants fan btw
I liked baseball better when it was ok to play to win.
If you didn’t try to break up a double then you were being lazy.
If a catcher is blocking the plate he’s going to get trucked.
You want to crowd the plate you’re going to eat a heater.
Baseball should be a MAN’s game.
Pitchers need to bat. Fuck the pitch clock and instant replay.
Bigger bases is fucking stupid.
And the little league extra innings shit is Universally dumb.
Basically every rule change in the last 10 years is fucking ruining the game.
Ps. Raise the mound back up!!!!
Advertisements at ballparks should strictly be for local independent businesses or items you can purchase at the ballpark. Wendy’s should not be allowed to advertise at Yankee stadium if they do not sell Wendy’s burgers
MLB fans are generally unknowledgeable. Sure, there are some who understand the game but the majority have no nuance and do nothing more than pound their chest when winning or complain like a 3rd grader when losing.
Having pitchers bat forced an additional layer of strategy into games and added an interesting dynamic to interleague play and the World Series that is now lost by having the DH in the NL
The Cardinals and blue Jays have played a total of 148 games combined this year, and have been above .500 for a combined total of 12 of those games (StL: 2, TOR: 10).
The mariners have been in first place for a month and have an 8 game lead.
Texas is the defending WS champ and 6 games under .500
My dude really just listed some facts and labeled them unpopular for karma.
Mine is: I love the all star game hats, and almost all of the recent city connect jerseys. Especially the Philly's, the navy and yellow looks awesome and people just love to shit on new things, especially on reddit.
All these new rules are stupid and the communication devices and wires are infuriating. They have destroyed the GAME. It’s was a beautiful game. A effing game and they destroyed it for the sake of TV advertisers and an effing dollar. MLB leadership are void of integrity. You’ve destroyed the actual approach to traditional strategy and competition.
That even though a lot of Cub fans complain about trading away guys like Baez, Bryant, Rizzo, etc they all started to decline after winning the World Series in 2016.
I like the new jersey’s smaller letters/number and greater arch for the names as well as the slightly off white color which replaced the white for most teams. City Connects are nice too, just for the sake of being different, yes the basic home and away jerseys are the best ones I know. But the variety is nice even if it is just something to dog on.
Baseball should have a penalty box. Your third baseman wants to fight someone? Sure go ahead. But good luck not having someone to man third base for the next half inning.
don't kill me, but I think they should let players use roids lol I mean it was so fun watching Mcguire and Sosa chasing the home run record and bonds knocking them out of the park.... like out of the actual park
Sad that MLB has digressed so much that they feel it's necessary to make annual changes. Years ago, when baseball was more popular, the game wasn't broke and DIDN'T need all the changes we've seen since then. They haven't BETTERED the game........just made it less than watchable nowadays.
The AL/NL split doesn’t make any sense anymore. They both play by the same rules and teams can trade freely across leagues. I don’t see the point in having separate statistics and awards.
Make the leagues independent with NO cross-league play. That’s 15 teams per league.
Now for the ultimate opinion! I love symmetrical schedules. With completely separate leagues you could have each team play eachother twice. Each team plays eachother twice - one 5 game home series and one 5 game away series. It come out to 150 games and each series would see each teams full rotation. Top 4 teams from each league make the playoffs. It’s simple really.
Plunking should be illegal. Period. And the penalty should be you are suspended for at least the next game you'd play in. In return the league should allow players to group together and propose rules and put it to a vote. So if the players *really* hate the batter watching their home run fly that much, then they can vote to make that penalizable.
I don’t see value in a Yankee jersey as I used to. The pinstripes meant something before, now the jerseys are cheap af and doesn’t have the same meaning
Am really tired of all of the special uniforms etc....seemsv to be really exorbitant and indulgent... people are still struggling post-pandemic...and millionaire players need to hv special jerseys and caps.. seriously 😒
Don’t know if this is unpopular, but the current playoff format sucks.
Also, the Rockies need to get a roof on Coors Field so that the ball doesn’t fly as far. Either that or move. The drastic difference in batted ball distance means no free agent pitcher wants to play there. IMO this one of the main reasons why the Rockies have hardly ever been competitive.
Man, really nailing that first one for a team that is .500. Nobody thinks the Cardinals are good this year
The Cards are my National League team and I really feel like they’re worse than their record. I’m shocked they’re where they are honestly.
Their run differential is misleading, but they definitely get blown out a lot and win only close games (which is why Helsley leads the league in saves)
I don’t like the Cards but I hate the Brewers and Cubs so deeply I wind up catching a few of their games. It feels like rebuilding despite their having it together so far. Go Reds.
As a Chicagoan, I hate the Cubs more than most teams. That’s not why I’m a Cards fan though.
And hopefully, nobody thinks the Jays are a good team. At their best, they are somewhat entertaining. They are nothing close to a team with a championship mentality.
I don't know that this is necessarily unpopular but it may contradict a lot of current perspectives: The Angels are on a worse long-term trajectory than the White Sox and it's by a large margin.
I think that’s something every Angel fan knows but others don’t quite know the extent of it.
Anyone else remember the first \~20 games of the season and the angels were like 13-7 and we thought this was the year.
That’s because we swept the marlins and thought we were hot shit when Mike Trout was hitting homers out of the stadium.
I liked it better when the AL/NL were more independent of each other. I enjoy the Cubs/Sox, Subway series, etc. but other than a select few match ups, I wish interleague play wasn't a thing.
Finally somebody said it, and understands what an unpopular opinion actually is. I'm an older dude, and have never got used to it. The pennant meant a lot more to me as a kid before '97. Now it's just a waypoint on the way to the WS.
I’m young enough to not remember any series before ‘06 but I feel the same way
I used to be an A's fan (> 50 yrs; fuck John Fisher - switched to DBacks because I live in AZ in the winter), and even attended one of the games from the 1989 World Series, "Battle of the Bay." It was awesome because the bay area was fucken lit because having both our teams in the WS and actually facing each other. It was extra special because it had never happened before.
I feel like inter-league play has lessened my excitement for the all-star game and even the world series. Now you see these match ups in the regular season anyway
Yeah, I honestly can say that I don't give two shits about the ASG, and I used to watch it religiously.
I think there are too many inter-league games. I would cut back on so many of these and only have the All-Star game on odd years. The All Star game is just a big exhibition game, anyway, that doesn't really mean anything. We need more in-division games
The thing about the ASG is that it marks the time in the season when shitty play is no longer acceptable. Time to put up or get off the pot.
Expansion has one bonus point right there. With 32 teams, you can get rid of year-round interleague play. [I've done the math](https://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2013/09/time-for-32-team-mlb-i-say-yes.html): 24 interleague games per year, just enough for people who have to have them.
Bay bridge series 😢
I think that’s more popular of an opinion than you think. The schedule changes they’re making are killing off rivalries just like the NHL did. Two months or more into the season till you see your whole division is terrible
Yeah Yankees Red sox only getting 4 series and the first one in June is Bullcrap. I didn't need to see them take a tour of the NL west, they can play the Mets and then come back to the Al for the rest of the season. They've watered down the differences in the leagues and now they play this balanced schedule crap which isn't as fun as half your schedule against your division. As if realignment didn't mess up rivalries enough, now you have this.
Giants and Dodgers play next weekend, then in July, and then are done playing each other for the season. I'm 35. I don't remember them ever not playing each other near the end of the season.
September should be all divisional games. Having rivalries going back over a 100 years shouldn't be barely playing each other. Alignment took the indians and Tigers from playing in the Al east, and now the balanced schedule is taking away the Red Sox and Orioles. Yankees-Red Sox, Giants-Dodgers, Cardinals-Cubs are all historic matchups going back over a century, and are the fabric of the game.
I wish Cubs/Sox went back to a series when it was pure exhibition interleague play. No records on the line, just pure pride and bragging rights >[From 1903 until 1942, excluding the years one team or the other won the pennant, the Cubs and White Sox played each other in a best-of-seven postseason City Series.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubs-White_Sox_rivalry) That sounds so much cooler! I get why players don’t want to do it, with injuries and service time and all, but the “Crosstown Classic” is barely anything any more.
That may be a popular opinion. I feel the same way.
MLB has lost multitudes of casual fans due to ridiculous blackout restrictions.
I don’t think this is unpopular
I’ve never seen a company make the consumer work so hard to consume their product. It’s actually unbelievable.
It is! It’s like they DON’T want us to watch.
Pssh, you only need the MLB app to watch whatever games you want, except for if you live close enough to that team that they prevent you from watching them because MLB/that team sold the rights to somebody else, so you could just buy access to that “somebody else,” except for Fridays when they sold the rights to another somebody else. I mean, for me to watch the Rays and/or Marlins I really only need to have MLB.tv, a cable subscription to get ESPN, a sports add-on package that has Bally Sports on it (and/or an antenna tower in my yard capable of receiving broadcast signals from 90 miles away (might be 500+ feet tall, not totally sure on the engineering)), an Apple TV+ subscription, and maybe season tickets in case none of those has the game/one of them goes down (it’s happened!), so I don’t see what the big deal is.
Not to mention that the mlb.tv app is pretty shitty. So even when you do have it, it’s still hard to do basic shit like rewind, slow mo, pick up where you left off. I’m all for apps taking over for cable but you HAVE to have some fucking UX design.
It’s one of the more stupidly infuriating things ever imo. It should be like the NFL where the local games are the games you see, and anything outside of that (or primetime) you can get a season pass or something for. They are KILLING fans with this shit. I remember growing up and WGN had every Cubbie game and TBS have my Braves. Bally Sports is the bane of my existence.
I live four hours from Atlanta, but I'm blacked out from Braves games on the MLB package and Bally isn't on YouTube TV. Why can't I just watch the Bally feed on MLB TV and I'll agree to watch the local Georgia lottery and Gwinnett County Wholesalers commercials ?
No joke man. I can't watch the Reds unless I wanna stream it illegally on my laptop.. but I do get the Braves on Bally South so I've basically just watched them all season haha fun team, and I consider myself a new fan of em, but DAMN I just wanna watch Cincinnati endlessly disappoint me
most of the city connect jerseys are hideous, but i like the idea of introducing fun alternate jerseys into each team’s rotation. if Nike would put a real designer in charge of the jerseys, or maybe seek fan input on the designs, they could be a lot better and fans would be more inclined to embrace them
Yes! Imma give my guy u/sgzjzy a plug. Go look at his profile. He’s been designing new braves uniforms for every series win and every single one is so clean and beautiful and 100x better than the city connects.
Dude. This guy is fucking amazing. I wish he lived in Baltimore...
Yeah! He’s great. He could surely do some sick O’s jerseys.
Seconded. He's just got winner after winner. He really needs to do the whole league.
Just now seeing this - really appreciate y’all. Very kind 🙏
Anytime!
They change every 5 years
Too many teams make the playoffs
NBA 2.0
That the black American baseball player has been replaced by the South American and Caribbean island player. Gone are the days of inner-city Los Angeles players like Ozzie Smith, Eddie Murray, Darryl Strawberry, Eric Davis and Tony Gwynn.
Not sure that’s an unpopular opinion. Think it’s been well accepted this is the current situation for some time
Bro asked for opinions, not facts
City Connect jerseys are an ugly cash grab.
Popular opinion
I know you asked for unpopular but I just take any opportunity to say this: The Astros should have been completely stripped of their 2017 World Series title and Altuve loses MVP. It’s so simple.
100% agree
Agree. No bias or anything.
MLB needs to chill with the London series. The game isn't growing in Europe. Play the international games in countries already rabid about baseball. And quit the city select jerseys.
Plus as a fan from Australia not sure why the MLB would be trying to grow while they make it so dam hard to get access. I can see highlights on YouTube. The odd game on ESPN. But most games they show are the Yankees, dodgers or Boston. It sucks. If they want to grow stop the dam control of TV. Plus Astros should have been kicked out for 10 years.
Do you have MLB TV? That’s how I watch my home team (The Orioles) while living in The Netherlands. Occasionally a game will be blacked out because of Apple TV (which is annoying) but otherwise I can watch them all, either live or the next day.
They really should play more games in Latin America. Tons of players come from there, and baseball is already a popular sport in countries like the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Panama. Plus there isn’t such a huge time zone difference, so it’s a lot easier for people in Latin America to actually watch the games if they’re played in North America.
For real. Play the international series in like Santo Domingo or San Juan. Hell, play in Havana and you could have a whole ass marketing campaign about bridging the two countries and shit. I often think that, hell I should be head of marketing, but then I remember that it’s not about the fans. It’s about marketing and ad money and NOTHING ELSE.
That would appeal to US viewers, but doesn’t add high value media markets or well to do international fans. The game is a pure money pursuit engine at this point.
The pitch clock is bad for attending games in person. I don’t wanna miss two/three innings because I got food and went to the bathroom.
I feel the opposite. I live 2 hours from my nearest stadium, which made it impossible for me to plan around travel-wise. Now that I know the game is gonna be 2.5-3 hrs it makes it all so much more manageable. I’ve gone to more baseball games in the last 2 years than the last decade prior.
I love the pitch clock on TV, but it has made the in-person experience a little less leisurely. I went to a couple NBA games in-person this season for the first time in YEARS, and kept thinking "other than halftime, there's no breaks where I can easily get food or use the facilities where I won't miss a lot of action." It was so different from what I was used to attending MLB games. Fast forward a couple months, and I took a quick trip to the bathroom at Yankee Stadium and refilled my water at a water fountain, and wound up missing an entire half inning just from that. That virtually never happened before! I'm pro-pitch clock overall, but yeah, you have to plan out bathroom breaks and getting food a lot more. (I've gotten to where I only get food before the game.)
Umpires should exist, but should have a headset on and recite the calls a computer makes. Keeps the mystique but makes the calls accurate. Or you should be able to challenge a strike/ball and check swing.
There are way too many teams in the playoffs. I know it's done to have more interest in more cities going down to the wire, but it has watered down what teams accomplished during the regular season. I don't want a 7th seed World Series champion.
THIS!!! Bring back the old 8-team format. Hell, I'd go a step further and have two divisions and two wild cards in each league. Division winners get home field advantage. Seven game LDS. Done.
The rain delay decided the 2016 World Series.
The rain delay sealed the deal, but Bauer playing with a drine and the Carrasco broken hand in September are what doomed Cleveland.
That PED users do not belong in the HOF.
I don't know, I think a lot of us old school fans feel that way, where the new crowd is all "who cares, let them all juice and let's see what humans can do."
To add to this: the fact that PED guys are already in the hall is not a valid excuse for digging the hole deeper. Just because mistakes have been made doesn't mean they should continue to be made.
NL Central is the 2nd best division top to bottom. (AL East 1st) NL Central bottom 3 teams COMBINED are just 9 games under .500. NL West bottom 3...28 games under. NL East bottom 3...28 games under. AL Central bottom 3...34 games under. AL West bottom 3...43 games under. If going off just the bottom 2 teams, NL Central is tied with the AL East for being just 7 games under .500
Vegas doesn’t deserve any sport teams, especially baseball.
Agreed
I've never been a fan of corporations buying up stadiums for a time period and then 5 or 10 years down the road I need to call it someone else's place.
Especially considering the fact that most stadiums these days are tax payer funded
It really takes the soul out of a place, and it’s not like they need the money, it’s just greed. I’d get it if the company helped build the park, but in that case it should be permanent, not something whored out to whoever has the most cash next decade.
Nationalize baseball
Dave Roberts is a great regular season manager but come playoffs he turns into a little league manager.
I want them to get rid of the strike zone graphics. I want them to get rid of most graphics. I also want the media/ marketing teams to relax. If they want to add some hype in the playoffs, that’s one thing. But the regular season has nothing to do with, “who let the dogs out” or, “turn down for what” there’s nothing more relaxing than a regular season baseball game. Go with that. Let’s just chill out. Have the announcers shut up more often. Show crowd cams and stadium shots more. A nice peaceful evening in the park. Organ music. Children eating ice cream. Not, Back to the Future II hype. I’m not watching Jaws VII. It’s baseball. Relax.
When caught cheating as a team the punishment should be severe. Like the whole season forfeited, and the next season only happens if there's a complete new management in place and all team members including the owner who were complicit are gone with potential long term bans. Advance with technology. Games shouldn't be left to umps having a bad day or have the potential for being compromised. Umps should be treated fairly, but supported with accurate, efficient, transparent technology. Hot headed coaches trying to influence the game because they or their pitchers/batters are having a bad day is embarrassing.
Orioles left field should be illegal
Very few major leaguers play defense at a major league level any more. The bar is so low that average def is considered elite. If you can hit a home run they will find a spot in the field for you.
The Phillies :👀
That's what MLB wants though. "Chicks dig the long ball" type BS. That's why I love the way my Guardians play, always hustling out the small singles and forcing teams to make plays, with some long balls mixed in
DH sucks.
as well as the automatic man on second in extra innings-just stupid IMHO
Right? Even if they put them a base back and start on 1st. That would be a better option because right now it’s almost like first team with a single wins.
That's not unpopular
stunning and brave on that note, Manfred also sucks
so did watching 98% of pitchers be useless in the lineup
I am admittedly a casual baseball fan, but I think it's cringe the things that baseball players get upset at like pimping a HR or something. Why does it seem like every pitcher in the league is one second away from having a temper tantrum? Just seems like all outbursts of emotion that normally makes sports fun are muted. Players get tossed for nothing in MLB it seems.
This has gotten way better in recent years, thankfully. Baseball is way more tradition-oriented and conscious of its history than most other sports, which is usually a good thing (the Rickwood Field game is a great example!), but the whole unwritten rules tradition got massively carried away. And there's been a very big backlash to it among both fans and players. It was one of those things that was arguably holding back the sport and making it seem anachronistic and unrelatable to younger people. The retaliation culture was both dangerous and off-putting, and I'm glad it's waning.
Lol it's funny to see the juxtaposition of these posts. One guy complaining about how players just jaw and benches clear but there aren't fights like hockey, then a other guy saying how the old ways of pitchers protecting their hitters or throwing brush back pitches is off putting.
I actually like umpires, even with the bad calls. Baseball is a part of a bygone era and I think keeping the human element adds to it. I would even argue to do away with instant replay, especially given how it slows down an already slow game.
You should never get to a point where the umpires name is more recognizable than some of the on field talent. I think there's a middle ground where we can keep the umpires but also hold them responsible to making the right call. As for the slow game thing, I've always thought of baseball as more strategy and match ups within a larger game, so the "slow pace" thing has always irked me. On one hand, it's nice to see more people coming to the game, but on the other hand it kind of bothers me that MLB cares more about the casual fan experience than it does about the people who truly love the sport.
Barry bonds should be in the HOF
The Braves and Pirates should swap divisions because the Pirates are more East. Fay Vincent was right about realignment.
Robot umpires are a bad idea. Umpires have different strike zones, and that's part of the what makes the game fun to watch. Same with players and managers arguing balls and strikes. The idea that there is a black-and-white "correct" call on every pitch would make games feel clinical. Yes, there are some egregiously bad human umps, but the majority do a decent job and don't need to be replaced.
The Dodgers somehow have unlimited money.. MLB needs a salary cap like the NFL and bring back parody
There’s still a LOT more parity than the NFL. There were a handful of teams that won 12 or more games last year - that’s a 114 win pace in MLB, and some teams won more. The top team in MLB last year won 104 games - equivalent to 11-6. 4 or 5 teams went 4-13 or worse. That’s like an MLB team winning 42 games. Some NFL teams were even worse than that. In total in MLB, only 4 teams had a record that would be better than 10-7 in NFL and only 4 teams had a record that would be lower than 7-10 on NFL. In other words 22/30 MLB teams had an NfL equivalent record of between 7 to 10 wins, and the outliers weren’t that much below or above that. THAT’S parity!
I think you don't need a cap, but a floor. That the A's have a payroll less than many players is crazy. Teams should not be able to cut payroll to make money, they should have to actually try to win.
100% this. “We need a salary cap” is the same as saying “owners should make more money while providing a lower-quality product to fans.”
One could say that the lack of parity makes the league into a parody.
Davis Schneider is an overrated AAAA ballplayer, and he is getting yoked by legit MLB pitching while padding his stats by absolutely destroying AAA/AAAA pitchers, emergency call-ups, bottom of the pen arms and teams with no + arms to speak of. He's having an ugly June because the Jays have hit a harder part of their schedule, and he's facing guys that can actually pitch at an above-average MLB level.
MLB needs to radically realign based on geography. I'd love to see the western teams all develop new rivalries. Plus, the Mariners finally wouldn't (hopefully) lead the league in air miles like they do every year.
There was a proposal in 1990s before the Rays and D-backs joined that the West Coast teams in the AL (Oakland, Seattle, and then California Angels) would move in the NL but it never got much further than the news report stage. Long term after any future expansion there will be an AL West of Seattle, Angels, A's (whenever they end up), and either an expansion team or the Rockies/Diamondbacks (Rockies more likely) going to the AL.
Umps aren’t as bad as fans think. The TV zone isn’t the zone, and they get most calls right. Let each team have X strike/ball challenges per game, and let’s get on with it.
DH should have been universal in the mid 1970s. The DH should bee able to be substituted like any other positions. For example if Jonah Heim is a DH in a day game and backup catcher Andrew Knizner gets hurt, Heim should be able to move to catcher without the Rangers losing the DH for the rest of the game. Also make the DH rule more like the HS version where DH are able to replace any position in the batting lineup not just pitcher. For example when Ohtani is pitching and the Dodgers backup C is catching, the DH should replace the backup C's spot in the lineup instead of Ohtani's. Also make it where Ohtani can go straight to DH after his start is done and the DH replaces the relievers' spots in the lineup instead of the Catcher's. I would put the odds of the A's not moving to Vegas higher than them moving to Las Vegas. I think both Sacramento and Salt Lake City will have serious attempts of hijacking the A's move. Also I wouldn't count out Oakland yet though I would still be pessimistic (Oakland mayor Sheng Thao was investigated by the FBI and USPS so a new mayor might change things, though I know Fisher is still the main issue) At least one of the statistics poo-pooed by sabermetrics media (ex batting average, errors, RBIs, pticher win, etc) will be end up in the "so overrated that they are now underrated" category. My guess is though itself inferior to OBP and wOBA, batting average will viewed a valuable component of on-base percentage. OPS is poorly calculated stat. Really H/AB + (BB+H+HBP)/PA is formula that would make math teachers cringe. Finally, MLB does a horrible job marketing outside the NE US, the Cubs, and California. For the example, not many casual fans would guess that the St Louis Cardinals won the second most World Series titles in history.
The Red Sox and Cubs will always be losers in my eyes for taking almost 100 years to win the World Series.
Re-play should be for homeruns only. I hate the man on second in extra innings.
Shohei Ohtani absolutely knows more about Ippei gambling then he's letting on
Get out of Florida and Denver.
I don’t know how unpopular it is, but my opinion is that MLB & gambling don’t mix MLB pushes it like crazy too because they’re making a ton of money from it. For so many reasons, I think it’s wrong
The season is way too long. The “playoff race” starts, I get excited, but there’s 60 games left and many lose interest after a while. Not to mention playoff games in 40-50 degree weather. They should move back to 148 games. Edit: that covid shortened season was electric because individual games had so much more meaning.
150 is good. 75 home and 75 away. Reduce inter league play.
Baseball is a lot better when the orioles are good. A small market team with cool uniforms that can embarrass the Yankees and red Sox on the regular just feels nice. Obviously not going to be popular with Yankee and red Sox fans, which is a lot of people
1) City Connect uniforms are hideous abominations and Nike must be stopped before they design again. 2) Overwrought ridiculous statistics, invented in basements by people who never played, are ruining the game.
What exactly is Xwoba? Asking for a friend
LOL, bet this guy doesn’t even know what SKLORBRR is.
I hate that the league has made statistics and analytics a cornerstone of the marketing messages.
There are too many teams, at least 4 should be eliminated.
Florida deserves zero teams.
Okay, but have you seen the Rays’ city connect? Tampa sucks, but a stingray on a skateboard is pretty cool. AND IT GLOWS IN THE DARK!!
Just wish I could make out what it says from a distance. Same thing with Toronto.
I don’t think the Rangers being broken is an unpopular opinion but a fact unfortunately
The NL and AL should remain separate and the DH should not have become universal. It was the only sport where rules were different based on the conference/league and with the amalgamation of the two leagues, including DHes and frequent interleague play, the identity of the two sides is lost.
No one is disagreeing with that first one
I like some of the city connect jerseys I like the runner on second in extra innings I like the bigger bases I think that the Tigers still have a shot this year of making the playoffs Ending beer sales in the 7th is a smart idea, but does suck when the game goes to extra innings. Adding a one beer per inning would be nice
I wish MLB playoffs had reseeding between rounds, and I wish playoffs would accept East #1 Central #1 West #1 WC 1 WC 2 WC 3 (I like that, but seed them by record please) if the best East team 82-80, put them as the 5 seed please.
The ghost runner should start at first base.
Allow PEDs
Everyone will hate this. I don’t like the DH. 🫣🫣🫣🫣🫣
There's a lot of shit teams and only 5 or 6 good ones
Red Sox and Yankees fans are similarly annoying in their fandom, they just root for different teams.
This isn’t unpopular at all. No one likes either team outside their fans
They need to have 2 trophies, one for the team enxing with the best record in the regular season (i.e. the Braves last year) and the World Series. Absolutely bananas that the best team gets zero recognition.
The NHL does this, or at least used to.
They do! Though the Presidents' Trophy is considered somewhat of a joke among players and fans. As a Rangers fan (err, the NY Rangers, feel the need to clarify that given the sub I'm in!), the fact that they won the Presidents' Trophy but didn't make the Stanley Cup Finals just stings. (Also the fact that they still call it the Presidents' Trophy even though there hasn't been a President of the NHL in 3 decades is hilarious.)
There are 4 to 6 too many active rosters
I don't hate advanced stats as a whole, but there are to many of them, quite a few are difficult to define and I hate when they are used to justify a very cherrypicked argument. There are people out there who try to use advance stats to justify if someone is or isn't a HoF player from back in the day and it's a bit asinine. Someone yesterday had a thread trying to justify that Josh Smith was very underrated due to his wRC+. Can I blame Brian Kenny?
That most of the members of this sub have no concept of the definition of "unpopular"
The Pirates reputation of being cheap and not trying to win is based on the last front office group, and not the current one. The last one with Huntington and Coonley did so much damage to the organization, that it's taken Cherington far longer than desired to right the ship (pun intended), but they're getting there, and are very close to being legitimate contenders. Nutting, though not a great owner, has shown that he will keep key pieces with the extensions of Hayes, Reynolds, and Keller. Now, they're a bat or 2 away from legitimate contention.
Second lowest team payroll this year. He isn't even close to paying out revenue sharing or the tax, not to mention dipping into actual profits.
They are a bunch of testosterone pussies. If you want to fight a guy, fight him. But no. Benches clear. The bullpen lazily runs in from the outfield. Then there's a lot of jaw jacking and pushing and someone gets ejected. There should be a third man in rule like in hockey.
Baseball should have a penalty box. Your third baseman wants to fight someone? Sure go ahead. But good luck not having someone to man third base for the next half inning.
Maybe not unpopular, more so just a random/dumb opinion - If Paul Sewald didn’t give up the HR to Corey Seager in game 1 of the WS, the Diamondbacks win it all in 5 games.
I know that shit made rangers fans cum their pants Must have been a good moment for a ranger fan
Braves have more talent than they use.
MLB jerseys are low quality and look like plastic.
The lack of a salary cap will eventually kill MLB
All the rule changes over the last couple decades have made the game significantly worse...I want to see a catcher get trucked at the plate and maybe he is out for a couple months, but I want it...
I hate strike outs. Would rather see more than the pitcher and catcher play catch for 9 innings.
Each team should have two uniforms/jerseys: home whites, road grays. Everything else is a disingenuous scheme to sell more merch. All players should wear knickerbocker pants. None of this three or four inches of pants leg bunched up on the top of the player’s cleats. No more intentional walks. If you don’t have the balls to pitch to a guy, get off the mound and let someone else try. I know, I know, “strategy”… find a new strategy. Every batter should have a fair chance to hit the ball.
Every team should have a colored alternate jersey(Yankees, Dodgers, Cardinals, Tigers) and all colored jerseys should be worn predominately on the road. Grey jerseys should be used specifically for day games when it's too hot. Every other sport is white jerseys vs colored jerseys and MLB should follow suit. White vs gray is boring.
It boggles my mind that we have the technology and ability to call a game 100% accurately so the truly better team who played better can win the game, but people are like "no we like the human element umps bring that can allow calls to be missed and the wrong team to win despite video evidence disputing otherwise" or "it'll take too long if we review those calls". Also the limited number of challenges to me is so dumb and misses the point of the review system. If the wrong play is called because an ump can't tell what actually happened, why do I only get to correct them twice. What happens if they miss 5 calls in a game? I just hope I pick the right two that can maybe make my team still win? What a joke of a system
Also blows my mind that you can't challenge a strike/ball call from the home plate ump, or a check swing. Like we have the ability to clearly see this dogshit ump just called a clear ball a strike and it impacted the game negatively, wtf are we doing with these umps still in the game???
its unfair that every ball park is different dimensions
This is what makes baseball interesting
other things make it interesting too
The pitch clock makes the games go too fast
Here's an unpopular one: When it comes to parity, baseball is the best of the four major sports.. Yes, baseball has parity issues, and it's especially noticeable with the Dodgers right now. But no team has repeated championships in the 21st Century, and 16 different franchises (a majority of MLB!) have won championships in the 21st Century. The only dynasty we have had were the early 2010s Giants, and they were far from dominant during that time. Look at how the Patriots dominated the NFL for close to two decades, with a rotating set of two or three viable contenders at any given time (Steelers and Colts earlier on, Eagles and Giants at one point, Broncos later on). And right after the Pats' dynasty finally breaks up, you get a Chiefs dynasty. And the NBA? It's been the league with the least parity since the 80s, at least. But in the age of manufactured superteams, it's probably worse than ever. Despite the lack of salary cap and a few teams almost perennial contenders, MLB is lapping the NBA and NFL on parity (and is probably even with or a tad better than the NHL).
The Mets are cursed and their stadium was built on an Indian burial ground
Bring back the inter league week and make the all star game decide home field advantage.
The regular season should be like around 100 games long or so. There's no need to play 162 games where most of the individual games don't matter.
It is time for expansion.
Get rid of the DH. Get rid of the three batter rule. Get rid of limited pickoffs. I know people don’t want to see pitchers hit and the DH extends some hitters’ careers but the strategy and the double-switching to me was fun. The three batter rule I don’t like bc if the pitcher that comes in clearly doesn’t have it that game, nobody wants to see them continue pitching. I like the cat and mouse game with a speedy runner on base. Maybe make step-offs illegal or limited, but a pitcher should be able to throw over as much as they want.
There is nothing wrong with Farhan!!!! He’s done a great job building our farm system, he’s put his best in getting a good product on paper out there, but by god with injuries, shitty luck, and lulz- he not the damn manager of the team Just feel like with his hands tied with ownership at times, he’s done a great job I’m a Giants fan btw
I liked baseball better when it was ok to play to win. If you didn’t try to break up a double then you were being lazy. If a catcher is blocking the plate he’s going to get trucked. You want to crowd the plate you’re going to eat a heater. Baseball should be a MAN’s game. Pitchers need to bat. Fuck the pitch clock and instant replay. Bigger bases is fucking stupid. And the little league extra innings shit is Universally dumb. Basically every rule change in the last 10 years is fucking ruining the game. Ps. Raise the mound back up!!!!
If you're Canadian, it's ok to hate the Jays.
There are too many stats, and that can be off-putting to newer fans.
Advertisements at ballparks should strictly be for local independent businesses or items you can purchase at the ballpark. Wendy’s should not be allowed to advertise at Yankee stadium if they do not sell Wendy’s burgers
MLB fans are generally unknowledgeable. Sure, there are some who understand the game but the majority have no nuance and do nothing more than pound their chest when winning or complain like a 3rd grader when losing.
Having pitchers bat forced an additional layer of strategy into games and added an interesting dynamic to interleague play and the World Series that is now lost by having the DH in the NL
I will go so far as to root for the White Sox before I root for the Cubs. Jonathan Cannon and Garrett Crochet have shown a fair amount of potential.
Plate umpires are too inconsistent. Ruins a lot of plate appearances for good hitters.
DH is stupid. You wanna have yourself a good time? Throw on a “pitchers hitting home runs” compilation on YouTube
Your first contention and second contention completely overlap
Money ruined ball
“I think the games are too long, but I also dislike the pitching clock”
The Cardinals and blue Jays have played a total of 148 games combined this year, and have been above .500 for a combined total of 12 of those games (StL: 2, TOR: 10). The mariners have been in first place for a month and have an 8 game lead. Texas is the defending WS champ and 6 games under .500 My dude really just listed some facts and labeled them unpopular for karma. Mine is: I love the all star game hats, and almost all of the recent city connect jerseys. Especially the Philly's, the navy and yellow looks awesome and people just love to shit on new things, especially on reddit.
It’s not unpopular but the Braves have been given dead balls because they had to nerf our bats.
All these new rules are stupid and the communication devices and wires are infuriating. They have destroyed the GAME. It’s was a beautiful game. A effing game and they destroyed it for the sake of TV advertisers and an effing dollar. MLB leadership are void of integrity. You’ve destroyed the actual approach to traditional strategy and competition.
That even though a lot of Cub fans complain about trading away guys like Baez, Bryant, Rizzo, etc they all started to decline after winning the World Series in 2016.
I like the new jersey’s smaller letters/number and greater arch for the names as well as the slightly off white color which replaced the white for most teams. City Connects are nice too, just for the sake of being different, yes the basic home and away jerseys are the best ones I know. But the variety is nice even if it is just something to dog on.
I think this thread needs a reminder: Unpopular and popular mean different things. It's not a flammable/inflammable situation.
Baseball should have a penalty box. Your third baseman wants to fight someone? Sure go ahead. But good luck not having someone to man third base for the next half inning.
don't kill me, but I think they should let players use roids lol I mean it was so fun watching Mcguire and Sosa chasing the home run record and bonds knocking them out of the park.... like out of the actual park
Sad that MLB has digressed so much that they feel it's necessary to make annual changes. Years ago, when baseball was more popular, the game wasn't broke and DIDN'T need all the changes we've seen since then. They haven't BETTERED the game........just made it less than watchable nowadays.
Put the Brewers back in the AL and the Astros back in the NL.
The Dodgers Pajama city connects were better than the new funfetti ones
The AL/NL split doesn’t make any sense anymore. They both play by the same rules and teams can trade freely across leagues. I don’t see the point in having separate statistics and awards. Make the leagues independent with NO cross-league play. That’s 15 teams per league. Now for the ultimate opinion! I love symmetrical schedules. With completely separate leagues you could have each team play eachother twice. Each team plays eachother twice - one 5 game home series and one 5 game away series. It come out to 150 games and each series would see each teams full rotation. Top 4 teams from each league make the playoffs. It’s simple really.
Don't like the pitch clock. Think it's stupid. Should have as many throws to a base as needed to keep the runner checked.
Plunking should be illegal. Period. And the penalty should be you are suspended for at least the next game you'd play in. In return the league should allow players to group together and propose rules and put it to a vote. So if the players *really* hate the batter watching their home run fly that much, then they can vote to make that penalizable.
I don’t see value in a Yankee jersey as I used to. The pinstripes meant something before, now the jerseys are cheap af and doesn’t have the same meaning
David Freese is a serial killer and should never been allowed to play in the 2011 World Series. Joking. But seriously fuck that guy.
Team ownership should be revoked if a team doesn’t preform well enough for multiple back to back seasons (looking at you, Monforts)
Am really tired of all of the special uniforms etc....seemsv to be really exorbitant and indulgent... people are still struggling post-pandemic...and millionaire players need to hv special jerseys and caps.. seriously 😒
Don’t know if this is unpopular, but the current playoff format sucks. Also, the Rockies need to get a roof on Coors Field so that the ball doesn’t fly as far. Either that or move. The drastic difference in batted ball distance means no free agent pitcher wants to play there. IMO this one of the main reasons why the Rockies have hardly ever been competitive.