Should the World Series be played at Miller Park next year?

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Now that the season is way too long with the extra division series and 162 games, we are playing games very late into October and the weather is making it almost impossible to happen without fans and players freezing their butts off if a Northern team makes the series. Buster Olney and Peter Gammons have suggested that the game be played at a neutral site next year to avoid all of this crap. Why not Miller Park?

How sweet would it be to have 7 games of World Series baseball in Milwaukee even if the Brewers didn't make it.

[Raw Biz]

I don't think that's ever going to happen. It's not like the Super Bowl where it's only one game and fans of each team can spend a ton of money knowing they will see the game that matters. The World Series is a potential 7 games and it wouldn't be fair to the fans of each team to do that. Not only would they have to spend money to travel, they'd probably have to take off work and make other arrangements since presumably they would be traveling far from home. Additionally, each of the teams in the Series would lose a ton of money from not having games played at home. I believe this is the first year where a WS game has been delayed mid-game and the first time since the earthquake 20 years ago where there was a long delay between games played.

[BuckyBrewer61]

I'd be thrilled with 2 World Series games at Miller Park next year...

 

In all seriousness, I really don't like the idea of a neutral site for the World Series. Home-field advantage is a part of the series and makes for great atmosphere and drama. Plus, it's not like the Super Bowl where fans can go for one weekend to see their team play for a title. The series takes a week or more to finish, and how many fans of the participants will get off work to see a Tuesday night game on the other side of the country?

 

This is a typical reaction to a small sample of controversy (see: T.O. horsecollar tackle, replay for home runs). Game 5 was the first suspended game in World series history...EVER! And it wasn't because of cold, it was because of rain, it rains in the middle of October too. Is there that big of a difference in weather patterns on October 15th vs. October 31st? I'm not a meteorologist, but I doubt it.

 

I personally love seeing guys bundled up in their team jacket, hunched shoulders, blowing into their hands. That feels like playoff baseball to me. Besides, how would you feel if the Brewers went to the World Series next year and all the games were being played in San Diego?

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

With the World Series being a week later next year due to the World Baseball Classic, this could very well happen again.

[sgtcluels]

That would destroy home field advantage. No way.

 

MLB should work with the ball clubs, owners and municipalities to ensure funding for a roof of some sort on new stadiums where adverse weather conditions in playoff months is a common occurrence. The cold isn't as much of an issue as the rain/snow is.

[Patrick425]

Talk about something getting blown way out of proportion. It's not like this is the first time this has happened, but I think it the first time in a while that there have been rain problems with the WS. Now people are grumbling that they should play it at a neuteral site? No way. To me that is part of what makes the Super Bowl somewhat anti-climatic.

[And That]

Unlike NFL stadia, baseball parks do not have the same playing field dimensions. A neutral site like Houston could provide an unfair advantage to the team that had more right handed power hitters for the course of the entire series.

 

Plus all the reasons mentioned above. Unless MLB builds a perfectly neutral park somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon line and travel costs drop drastically, there will be no neutral site World Series.

[Ennder]

NFL isn't neutral either. Playing in a dome is very different than on grass and the view areas are all different for the QB etc.

[bork]

Who cares about home field advantage? It's not like either team earned it. It's the goofy All Star game thing.

 

They really need to tighten the schedule so the Series wraps up earlier. It would help with weather and ratings. It's crazy to be playing baseball when basketball has started.

[Patrick425]

It's crazy to be playing baseball when basketball has started

It's crazy to be playing basketball 3 months into the baseball season. If the baseball playoffs are considered too long, then the basketball playoffs are a complete joke.

[brewerguy71]

Absolutely not!

 

The only way I want World Series games played here is if the Brewers are in it.

 

Chalk another awful idea up to Bud if this ever happens.

[joepepsi]

With the World Series being a week later next year due to the World Baseball Classic, this could very well happen again.

Oh no! Not the World Baseball Classic! I hate that. The season is already too long. We need a commissioner who makes decisions that increase fan interest, not just one who kowtows to $$

[nate82]

Chalk another awful idea up to Bud if this ever happens.

I don't think this was a Bud idea so I'm not sure where this comes from. The only people I have seen suggesting this have been the media. The same media that put pressure on MLB to do something about the All Star game and the tie. The media got what they wanted and now think the idea is a joke. Lesson to be learned never listen to the talking heads over at the sports studios.

[Patrick425]

Oh no! Not the World Baseball Classic! I hate that. The season is already too long. We need a commissioner who makes decisions that increase fan interest, not just one who kowtows to $$

I think we need an American sports fan base that doesn't have such a short attention span.

[Invader3K]

I think we need an American sports fan base that doesn't have such a short attention span.

Ditto. Or how about a media that plays up all the teams, and not just three or four every single year, so fans actually care when the World Series happens, regardless of who is in it?

[MessiahRp]

I think this idea would go over like a lead balloon. See the reaction to when the Astros had to play the Cubs here? Multiply the negativity by 1 Million.

 

I think the best answer is to shorten the regular season. I think Peter Gammons made a pretty good case for shortening the season to 148. The Steroids era pretty much diminished the value of records and there's a lot of negative weather factors that play into teams with open air stadiums, especially that late into the year.

 

Rp

[BuckyBrewer61]

I'd really like to see MLB just shorten the regular season. Even for baseball diehards the dog days of August drag on. And for all the purists out there that want consistency for the sake of records, as Peter Gammon put it, the steroid era basically demolished the integrity of those records anyway, so who cares? Besides, half of the records (pitching) will never be broken anyways.

 

Do teams really need to play others within their division 20 times each? Of course, this is as likely as a college football playoff. It's all about the money!

[T B0NE 10]

Imagine if the Cubs made the world series (It will never happen though) and they played the Angels or something. The Cubs would have a huge homefield advantage

[JJHardy7]

NFL isn't neutral either. Playing in a dome is very different than on grass and the view areas are all different for the QB etc.

 

I see what you're saying, but both teams have to play in these conditions and it's not really going to boost a strength on a team like some major league ballpark designs do IMO.

[endaround]

This comes from the same place day World Series games come from:Making reporters have less work. Suspended games upset reporters' travel plans! Something must be done!

[Fear The Chorizo]

Since most organizations build teams and acquire players to try and maximize their homefield adantage (i.e., building a roster that can excel in its home ballpark), no way this happens, and it would be bad for baseball to do it. There's always the scenario of the home team of whatever park that would host the series being in it, or at least be located close to it, that would result in the World Series essentially being up to a 7 game homestand for a team.

 

I think MLB needs to go back to scheduling more day games during the playoffs, including the LCS and world series games. Starting games earlier in the day when even cold weather cities have temps much higher than at night can help to eliminate the concern over frigid temps. Earlier start times also allow for longer rain delays if necessary to try and get a game in. The other thing MLB should have been doing is mandating that new stadiums in cold weather cities have a retractable roof, or dome setup - it's crazy that the Twins' new ballpark is an open-air stadium, IMO. I think that weather is part of baseball, but it shouldn't be so extreme that it negatively affects the product on the field.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

If Philly wasn't stupid and put a roof on their stadium when they built it a couple years ago, we wouldn't be talking about this, but teams are too cheap to do that it seems like when they build new stadiums.

[nate82]

If Philly wasn't stupid and put a roof on their stadium when they built it a couple years ago, we wouldn't be talking about this, but teams are too cheap to do that it seems like when they build new stadiums.

I feel bad for the Twins fans with their new stadium. Building a stadium in Minnesota without a roof for a baseball team was just plain stupid.

[Bucky Rules]

If Philly wasn't stupid and put a roof on their stadium when they built it a couple years ago, we wouldn't be talking about this, but teams are too cheap to do that it seems like when they build new stadiums.

Teams are generally "too cheap" to pay for any part of the stadium, not just the roof. Tax payers foot the bill, and I can't blame them, most of whom won't use the stadium, for trying to keep their property tax levee down.

 

As for the question of the thread... I wouldn't be totally opposed to neutral site(s). Possibly an AL city and NL city splitting the games.

 

As for the comment on Bud Selig... I think history is going to treat him much better than his contemporaries. Most of the things done on his watch have been very, very good for baseball long term.

[endaround]

$150 million to save 5 games a year is stupid.