I don’t like the pitch clock. Clocks and baseball don’t mix. I’m not a purist - I can handle replay, and automated balls & strikes sound interesting to me. Sure, enforce judgment on pitch timing, mound visits, and batters staying in the box. But (more) clocks can’t solve the core problem.
Baseball games can be long. There’s certainly some fat to cut (commercial break lengths), but sometimes long is what a baseball game needs to be. If baseball dies as a network TV attraction because of that, so be it. I’m sick of people trying to make baseball something it will never be - a fast-paced, what-the-kids-are-buzzing about action sport. Baseball’s pace is naturally leisurely. It is a long conversation, not a series of soundbites. Tense ball games are not so because of nonstop action - but because they deliberately raise the stakes a step at a time. Sometimes in insanely exciting moments, sometimes in small steps almost below the level of perception. I don’t want this to change.
World Series games should not be ending at 1am. But that’s not primarily because they’re too long. It’s because they’re being treated like NBA games or prime time TV shows instead of uniquely interesting events.
Honestly I’d start weekday World Series games at 5pm Eastern. Friday and Saturday at 8pm. Sunday at 4pm. I’d start a ton of games all year long at these times. (I’d also play fewer regular season games overall.)
What’s the worst that could happen? In 20 years we end up with a league that’s smaller and less rich, not on TV as much, with less ambition to be a national powerhouse sport - but there’s a perpetual core of fans across age groups who love the game for what it is? That sounds ok to me.
I have a 6-year old daughter. We didn’t get to watch much playoff baseball this year. It wasn’t because she couldn’t handle a four-hour game. It was because she goes to bed at 8. MLB has to change the start times, and be less afraid of being a sport with niche appeal.