Lemmen's Nursery

I missed Aaron Boone’s home run. I was 11 years old and I had school the next day. Luckily for Major League Baseball, I lived in New York, and my baseball fandom had been cemented years ago during the Subway Series. If you didn’t click the link to the home run, you either don’t have the time or you’re a Red Sox fan, that’s fine. If you did, note the time the home run happens… That’s the three hour mark, without any commercials. It did go two extra innings, still, that’s Homer’s version of a game seven.

Fast forward 12 years as Rob Manfred settles into the role of MLB commissioner, one question finds its way into every discussion about his inaugural season – how does baseball fix its pace of game problem? The commissioner has taken the initiative to try to fix this “problem.” Both fall and minor leagues began testing out possible solutions. Great job, Mr. Commissioner! Way to take control of the situation, and provide hope for progress in a sport entrenched in stubborn tradition! Right?

Earlier this year Russell Carleton wrote “What Pace of Game Problem?” on Fox Sports’ Just a Bit Outside. In the article, Carleton explores the various ways in which the length of the game can be shortened. Several of them are explanations of the initiatives put forth by Major League Baseball. His conclusion? “A problem is only a problem if you look at it as a problem…”

His idea is that baseball should take advantage of the marketing opportunity that the pace of game issue is providing. It’s not a new idea in terms of advertising. It’s the Lemon. He wants baseball to lean into the skid, to zig while the other sports zag. He says:

Right now in United States culture, there’s a cultural expectation that people should want everything to be fast and over-stimulating. People who like things to be slow are just… slow. And for some people, that sort of breakneck pace is the speed that they like to live at. It’s a neurological thing. Some people just need a lot of stimulation and quickly. That’s neither good nor bad. It just is. Baseball might not be the game for them. And (repeat after me, everyone) that’s OK. For some reason, baseball fans seem overly distraught that someone out there might have a different favorite game.

He brings up some interesting points, but to use a baseball metaphor, I think he took a great swing, but fouled this one straight back.

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There are only 11 minutes of action during an entire NFL game. Those three hour time blocks, filling up our Sundays come September, the most popular sport in America BY FAR, contains 11 minutes of on-field action. An average MLB game lasts just about three hours, and contains 17 minutes of action.

I’m not trying to be an NFL hater. I’ll watch from the London morning game until Al Michaels finishes the post-game report. It is damn impressive that the NFL has cultivated the popularity it has with 11 minutes of action.

Major League Baseball clocks in another six minutes of action over relatively the same amount of time as an NFL game. As Russell Carleton said, “What Pace of Game Problem?”

In season 4 of Mad Men, Lane Pryce needs to decide who will be his new head of accounts: Pete Campbell or Ken Cosgrove? He ends up making them co-heads of accounts – a decision that takes a good inch off of Pete’s hairline. Pryce explains to Pete that he does a good job of making the clients feel that their needs are met, but Ken, “Has the rare gift of making them feel as if they haven’t any needs.” The NFL is Ken Cosgrove, Major League Baseball is Pete Campbell, and we are the clients.

The problem isn’t that baseball games take longer, the problem is they seem to take longer. Carleton suggests this is because of contemporary American culture. I agree that is a big part of it, but his idea that everyone wants things to be fast-paced and over-stimulating isn’t quite the cultural influence I have in mind. What is it then, about our culture, that makes us think one three hour game takes six, and another leaves us wanting even more?

Before I get into the cultural influence, I want to dissect an obvious argument: baseball games are boring, and football games are exciting. Once I examine this I’ll be able to better explain the cultural impact on the popularity of the two sports.

The first theory I have relates to the amount of in game action I mentioned earlier. There is more “action,” during a MLB game than an NFL game. This got me thinking about the job the NFL does in production, pre-production, and directing for each game. They are able to create three hours of engaging programming with 11 minutes of the thing people are actually tuning in for. How do they do it?

For one thing they use a lot of replays. There is more time spent during a game showing replays than actual in game action. They also do a great job of utilizing innovative camera techniques, from the Spider-Cam, to field-level shots on the goal line. The NFL is able to combine these techniques to create a visually dynamic scene, wrought with drama. Think about this combination:

• A team is on the 1 yard line.
• Shot from overhead with the Spider-Cam. The huddle breaks.
• Wide shot as they approach the line, we see the defense.
• Shot from the pylon looking down the goal line as the two lines crouch down into position, the center grips the ball.
• Shot from the goal post, we see the QB bark out orders and survey the defense.
• Hike.

This is on the one yard line, where scoring is almost inevitable – unless you’re the 2014 New York Giants. The directing and production teams for the NFL broadcasts are able to squeeze all the dramatic marrow out of this situation. And if there is a controversial play, there are going to be 30 replays from 10 angles in real time and SuperDuperExtraFunTimeSloMo.

In a baseball game the focus is usually on the pitcher-to-hitter angle from just off direct centerfield. There just isn’t much else happening. Every now and then there will be a shot of the fielders if a shift is on, but I’m not sure that grabs any nominations for best drama.

Baseball isn’t terrible at building drama with their directing. In important moments, the closeups of the pitcher coming set, he takes a deep breath, there is drama. But, baseball is sort of hamstrung by the game itself. I’m sure they have debated about trying out different angles to use while someone is batting, maybe field-level by the dugouts? Then it’s difficult to see the strike zone, or get a good look at the pitch being thrown. It’s tough to change.

It may just be that the NFL lends itself to a more dynamic directing approach. This certainly doesn’t do anything to help baseball’s case when it comes to the question of: is the NFL just more exciting than Major League Baseball?

The other thing that can’t be ignored is the length of the schedule. Maybe the reason baseball games seem to take so long is because the season is 10 times longer than the NFL’s.

I can watch a week four NFL game and get excited about the playoff implications. A team could be looking to get to 2-2 and keep the playoff dreams alive. I don’t get the same feeling when I’m watching the Yankees play the Astros in mid-May. Oh the Yankees could get to .500? Awesome! If the next 130 games go well we might make the playoffs! There is so much entertainment immediately available nowadays. Taking the time to properly invest in following a baseball team seems as unappealing as watching grown men fail at their jobs 75 percent of the time for an entire summer.

Therein lies another argument for the NFL being more exciting than Major League Baseball. As much as I love a good pitching duel, there is a reason baseball was so popular in the late 90’s when roided up monsters were hitting 60 homers a season. Last year the league batting average was just about .250. In the NFL, no regular quarterback had a completion percentage under 50 percent, with Tony Romo leading the way at 69.9 completion percentage.

Obviously these two things don’t quite matchup in comparison. It is likely more difficult to hit a tiny ball going over 90mph, or a slightly slower one breaking 10 inches, than it is to complete a pass – although the debate of what’s the hardest thing to do in sports is one of my favorites. But, if we are talking about excitement, getting a hit, and completing a pass, are both positive offensive actions. By the numbers, the NFL has a higher ratio of these positive offensive actions.

Looking at all of this, it would appear the NFL is a more exciting product than Major League Baseball. This is definitely a contributing factor for why a Major League three hours takes as long as we think it does. But, there is more to it than that. At the end of Carleton’s article he says: “…the next time someone mentions that baseball games take such a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng time, I recommend you answer with, “Yeah, I know! Isn’t that great?”

It’s only a problem if you look at it as a problem. The thing is, it is a problem. It’s a problem because Major League Baseball isn’t trying to reach the fans who know what BABIP means, and appreciate the game taking such a lonnnnnnnnnnng time. Those people are going to watch no matter what. The same thing is true for the NFL. Where the NFL succeeds is getting the casual fan, and younger kids to tune into games.

The culture that Carleton believes contributes to people not watching baseball games is one of fast-paced over stimulation. He thinks this is the predominant culture nowadays, and this is why baseball isn’t as appealing to kids and the general public. The real cultural aspect that contributes to baseball’s dwindling fandom is the culture of control.

Think about the entertainment media you consume today. How much of it is consumed live, regularly? Whether it’s Netflix, HBOGo, Amazon Prime, Youtube, or any other service, the ability to control what we watch, when we watch, is growing rapidly, and it’s become a huge part of our culture. I mentioned Mad Men earlier. I didn’t watch this week’s episode live because I didn’t feel like it. I’ll watch it during the week whenever I want.

In the NFL, your team plays once a week, on a Sunday afternoon. In baseball there are games almost every night, from April to October. It’s hard to stay heavily invested in a team for an entire season. I can’t binge-watch The Yankees.

Now imagine you’re a kid, and you’re the one who baseball wants to become a fan of their sport. You have endless access to social media, streaming services listed above, and video games. There are so many things kids have to keep themselves entertained on their own time, it’s no wonder they aren’t sitting down four nights a week to see what their team does in their 17 minutes per game.

Maybe the problem isn’t the pace of the game, but the pace of the games. For me, it’s tough to invest because I can’t follow every game, and the culture we live in now is one where I can follow every – episode, podcast, NFL game. I know I haven’t missed anything. With baseball, once I’m out of the loop it’s hard to get back.

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Baseball has been around for a long time. People who fought in the Civil War could’ve played on a professional team. It’s amazing that the game has been able to adapt and survive through so many changes. It’s trying once again to adapt to the changes happening in the world. They finally embraced instant replay, and are making steps to try to make games shorter. These changes won’t amount to much in terms of raw minutes per game if they are all instituted, as Carleton alludes to in his article. They are half-measures.

The length of the season doesn’t line up with the way people live their lives in today’s culture. When a drastic shortening of the season is brought up it’s met with vitriol from baseball purists. The records are too important to baseball to make any radical changes.

It’s an interesting debate, really. How much change can something take until it’s no longer the same thing? Our bodies’ cells regenerate time and time again as we grow older, yet we’re still the same people – I think. The length of the season should be like our cells. To traditional baseball fans, though, the length of the schedule is part of the nature of baseball. But really, isn’t it each game that has to stay the same? The rules, and the dimensions of the basepaths seem more important to the nature of baseball than how many games get played. No matter how long the season is, the game is still the same.

That is likely an oversimplification. What if, as Buck Showalter voiceovers suggest, the length of the schedule is more consciousness than cells to baseball? In a season this long, your flaws will manifest eventually, “there’s no Cinderella’s in baseball.” It’s not the NFL, where a team can get hot and win a single-elimination tournament. Maybe the problem isn’t the problem baseball thinks is the problem… Maybe it’s not the length of the games, or the season, but that Major League Baseball wants it both ways. They want the long-season, the sabermetrics, the subtle greatness of a pitching duel. But they also want to be popular. I’m not sure they can have it both ways. Maybe they did once, but that was a long time ago.

Rob Manfred is taking over at a crucial time in the history of the MLB. Baseball is in the midst of an existential crisis, and like most existential crises, it’s being caused, in part, by the realization of its own mortality. What it decides to do about this realization, how it handles the problems it’s facing, will be fascinating. Maybe someday Ken Burns will make a documentary about the whole thing, and I can’t wait till it’s on Netflix.