Why The Idea Of Baseball Playing Only 7 Innings Is The Stupidest Thing I Have Ever Heard

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Back in April on the ESPN TV show “Sportsnation” they discussed the idea of Major League Baseball shortening games from 9 innings to 7 innings. While I agree that it is harder for a game like baseball to succeed in the social media age as opposed to basketball shortening the game will not fix the game, nor will it alleviate any of the glaring weaknesses or troubles that the MLB is seeing in its national ratings and attendance. Baseball was built on tradition and while I’m for changing a few minor things here and there I firmly believe that the structure of the game needs to be left the way it is.

In the video above we have Michelle Beadle, that Max guy and Marcellus Wiley (former NFL player not baseball expert) all give their take on why baseball should shorten the game to 7 innings. Like you would expect the idiocy came raining down from the mountain top as ESPN spewed ignorance to millions of people on that day in April. “You know why they have a seventh inning stretch in baseball? It’s because they have to wake up the entire stadium and remind them that they still have a game and 2 more innings to go” said Marcellus Wiley. This is exactly why you need people on any sports media outlet to stick to what they know and clearly for Mr. Wiley it’s not baseball. Plenty of people think that the Pro-Bowl and Coin flip traditions in the NFL are corny but clearly you don’t see a mainstream media outlet ripping that to shreds. Clearly Marcellus isn’t educated about the 7th inning stretch and doesn’t understand that not only is it a baseball tradition but something that is apart of the fabric in North American sports culture. Baseball has helped the country through some of its deepest most darkest hours (see 2001 World Series), so how dare you have the audacity to sit there and speak so disrespectfully on the game of baseball.



Being the truth teller that I was you know I had to speak on what was right and let the world know about this junk that the media is putting out there. While I agree that baseball could do better in certain areas in no way, shape or form is shortening the game to 7 innings going to help the sport become more appealing to non-baseball fans. However what it will do is potentially turn away many baseball purists who spend thousands of dollars on tickets, merchandise, food among other things. Baseball as a whole would lose so to even pitch that idea is ludicrous and I make my voice known in the video above.

I find it very funny how fans of the NBA and NFL always complain about how the sport is softening up or how its fixed. Sure the MLB had the steroid era and it was wrong but at the end of the day Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire had to hit a 93 mile per hour fastball over 370 feet out of the ballpark which is the hardest thing to do in sports. The MLB isn’t fixed, nor can it be influenced by a single player like the NBA or accused for becoming softer like the NFL. You either hit the ball or you strikeout, it’s very straight forward and its the fairest out of all the sports that people in the USA like to watch more. So while you cry about where LeBron James will play his basketball next year or how Tom Brady gets special treatment from the refs keep in mind that Miguel Cabrera still has to hit a 96 mile per hour fastball to have any success or that Mike Trout was the best player in baseball last year and his team didn’t make the playoffs. So while networks like ESPN continue to attack the great game that is baseball just remember that of the 4 major sports in America that none of them have the happy medium of playing as a team, selflessness, determination, competitive balance,all while achieving personal greatness like baseball does. NFL and NBA fans wish that their sports were as fair as baseball, maybe that’s why it’s constantly under attack.