That's because that contest's outcome was not known in advance

In the Rams local television area. Not nationally. Which should not be surprising at all.

AZtoJapan: In the Rams local television area. Not nationally. Which should not be surprising at all.

Yeah, I got the impression these were regional ratings, not national...

Baseball needs a "Pitch-clock."

It'd be like a shot-clock in the NBA or a play-clock(?) in the NFL. Basically, you have ten-seconds (once the pitcher gets the ball) to throw it to someone off the mound. If you fail in this task, it counts as a ball-thrown.

Discounting the transplanted Yankees fans and folks who root against the Yankees more than rooting for any team, did anyone outside the NYC/Philly corridor actually care about the Series this year?

netweavr: Baseball needs a "Pitch-clock."

It'd be like a shot-clock in the NBA or a play-clock(?) in the NFL. Basically, you have ten-seconds (once the pitcher gets the ball) to throw it to someone off the mound. If you fail in this task, it counts as a ball-thrown.

There actually is already a rule on the books about this. I think it is 20 seconds? (I'm sure someone who knows the rule book better than i do will chime in) It is just never enforced.

Really? A Philadelphia-New York WS game did worse than a Rams game in St. Louis?

Shocking.

zarberg: Discounting the transplanted Yankees fans and folks who root against the Yankees more than rooting for any team, did anyone outside the NYC/Philly corridor actually care about the Series this year?

It had the highest ratings in years

bottsicus: netweavr: Baseball needs a "Pitch-clock."

It'd be like a shot-clock in the NBA or a play-clock(?) in the NFL. Basically, you have ten-seconds (once the pitcher gets the ball) to throw it to someone off the mound. If you fail in this task, it counts as a ball-thrown.

There actually is already a rule on the books about this. I think it is 20 seconds? (I'm sure someone who knows the rule book better than i do will chime in) It is just never enforced.

They were averaging 26 seconds a pitch (yes, I was counting) in the World Series. Hell, I saw one guy go over 50-seconds before I started swearing at the TV and lost count.

netweavr: Baseball needs a "Pitch-clock."

It'd be like a shot-clock in the NBA or a play-clock(?) in the NFL. Basically, you have ten-seconds (once the pitcher gets the ball) to throw it to someone off the mound. If you fail in this task, it counts as a ball-thrown.

Hunter S. Thompson wrote a column a few years ago about how they need to get rid of the pitcher altogether. Link (new window)

netweavr: Baseball needs a "Pitch-clock."

It'd be like a shot-clock in the NBA or a play-clock(?) in the NFL. Basically, you have ten-seconds (once the pitcher gets the ball) to throw it to someone off the mound. If you fail in this task, it counts as a ball-thrown.

I love this idea. No calling time by the batter or catcher. 20 seconds, ball or strike.

netweavr: Baseball needs a "Pitch-clock."

It'd be like a shot-clock in the NBA or a play-clock(?) in the NFL. Basically, you have ten-seconds (once the pitcher gets the ball) to throw it to someone off the mound. If you fail in this task, it counts as a ball-thrown.

I've been saying that for awhile now. As someone mentioned there is a rule in place, but I don't know that it is ever enforced. If it is they still have forever to get the pitch off. Like you said, max pitch time should be 10 seconds between pitches, and after a hit or change of batter, the pitcher has ten seconds once the batter is ready.

Baseball is fun to watch in person, but boring as crap on TV.

HaywoodJablonski: That's because that contest's outcome was not known in advance

Oh snap!

Bill Frist: It had the highest ratings in years

Do you have a regional breakdown? NYC metro area is the biggest population center in the country.

usttsdw: I love this idea. No calling time by the batter or catcher. 20 seconds, ball or strike.

I loved the look on Posada's whiny face when he called time and the umpire didn't grant it and the incoming pitch was called a strike. Time should only be given in circumstances that prevent the batter from hitting.

BEER_ME_in_CT: Obviously. Things that are less boring than Baseball:

1)Watching leaves fall off the trees in my backyard
2)Ceiling fans
3)Clouds
4)That spot on my ceiling that I'm not sure is a bug or just a spec of dirt
5)Saltines and a glass of Lukewarm water
6)Listening to my wife tell me about her day

How this sport is "Americas Pastime™" eludes me.

Any sport where you can pass out completely wasted, wake up 2 hours later, and still not miss anything damn well deserves to be our nation's pasttime!!

zarberg: Do you have a regional breakdown? NYC metro area is the biggest population center in the country.

I'm sure that is a major part, but I dont' really get your question. Yankees are the most famous team with the biggest stars. Phillise were the best NL team this year and have big stars as well. The WS had the two best teams playing for the first time in awhile.

If people outside of the home regions are every gonna watch a WS it would be for something like this years (or I guess the Cubs trying to break their curse)

BEER_ME_in_CT: Obviously. Things that are less boring than Baseball:

1)Watching leaves fall off the trees in my backyard
2)Ceiling fans
3)Clouds
4)That spot on my ceiling that I'm not sure is a bug or just a spec of dirt
5)Saltines and a glass of Lukewarm water
6)Listening to my wife tell me about her day

How this sport is "Americas Pastime™" eludes me.

The name "BEER_ME_in_CT" just screams of a life of excitement.

king_nacho: I was just upset that Fox bumped good TV shows for the World Series.

The NBA has already moved to basic cable, Baseball needs to do the same.

It isn't that I dislike baseball, i just dislike watching it on TV, and any best of series gets boring after a while (see NBA)

Other than "The Family Guy" I cannot think of any Fox shows that I like to watch. And I make no special effort to watch that show. But I mainly watch TV for sports and news.

But onto your point. I don't see why the networks cannot require local stations to broadcast what is regularly scheduled on a sub-channel if they have one. Or even require them to have a sub-channel if they want to continue being affiliated with the network. Fox in Chicago does not have a sub-channel, so this doesn't really apply to me. Also, I did not watch any of the WS.

The same thing should apply to such things as presidential addresses and the like. Especially those. Come on. It is being broadcast on 5 networks, preempting everything.

In a similar vein, local affiliates need to stop interrupting programming for breaking news and weather alerts. Instead, they should just put a notice on the bottom of the screen which tells people to go to 7.2 or whatever for details. Really, I don't give a flying f if a tornado touched down in Wisconsin.

AZtoJapan: In the Rams local television area. Not nationally. Which should not be surprising at all.

I would be willing to bet that most football games beat the WS nationally and only won in the NY and Pilly markets.

I like baseball but if its not my team then I will choose a football game every singe time over baseball.

Bill Frist: zarberg: Discounting the transplanted Yankees fans and folks who root against the Yankees more than rooting for any team, did anyone outside the NYC/Philly corridor actually care about the Series this year?

It had the highest ratings in years

And NY and Philly are two of the largest markets in the USA, which means a lot of people there were watching, oh and they had the most people watching in a while, funny how that happens when you have two of the largest markets in the US playing.

It would have been larger if LA would have been in the series, that still doesnt change the fact that any football game probably equaled it or beat it nationally.

JDerek: Hunter S. Thompson wrote a column a few years ago about how they need to get rid of the pitcher altogether. Link (new window)

A more entertaining author, I've not read. Rest in peace HST...

bottsicus: netweavr: Baseball needs a "Pitch-clock."

It'd be like a shot-clock in the NBA or a play-clock(?) in the NFL. Basically, you have ten-seconds (once the pitcher gets the ball) to throw it to someone off the mound. If you fail in this task, it counts as a ball-thrown.

There actually is already a rule on the books about this. I think it is 20 seconds? (I'm sure someone who knows the rule book better than i do will chime in) It is just never enforced.

It's actually 12 seconds and it only applies when there is no one on base, the pitcher has the ball and the batter is in the box, alert to the pitcher. I guess when someone is on base the thinking becomes the pitcher needs time to watch the runner so no one counts. Linky (new window, PDF). It's rule 8.04.

steamingpile:
It would have been larger if LA would have been in the series, that still doesnt change the fact that any football game probably equaled it or beat it nationally.

Dude, I like football way better than baseball, but no way did every (or probably any) individual football games beat the WS, especially since the football market is fragmented with most of the games at the same time.

Bill Frist: I'm sure that is a major part, but I dont' really get your question. Yankees are the most famous team with the biggest stars. Phillise were the best NL team this year and have big stars as well. The WS had the two best teams playing for the first time in awhile.

If people outside of the home regions are every gonna watch a WS it would be for something like this years (or I guess the Cubs trying to break their curse)

The World Series is always two of "the best" teams playing. They might not always be the top two teams, but unless there's just a horrible division (which happens sometimes) and a near-.500 team gets lucky/hot, the two teams in the fall classic are almost certainly two of the top 6 teams in the game.

I was pointing out that this was a northeast series, so people from other major markets might have not cared.

Bill Frist: Dude, I like football way better than baseball, but no way did every (or probably any) individual football games beat the WS, especially since the football market is fragmented with most of the games at the same time.

And none of the games directly competed with the WS since it was at night and most football games were during the day, you have to remember, this is their pinnacle so to even have a football close or even beat it regionally is quite telling for baseball.

I still think baseball and football worked out a deal so they didnt play a sunday night game last week.

steamingpile: Bill Frist: Dude, I like football way better than baseball, but no way did every (or probably any) individual football games beat the WS, especially since the football market is fragmented with most of the games at the same time.

And none of the games directly competed with the WS since it was at night and most football games were during the day, you have to remember, this is their pinnacle so to even have a football close or even beat it regionally is quite telling for baseball.

I still think baseball and football worked out a deal so they didnt play a sunday night game last week.

Or the Fox worked out a deal with MLB.

The Angry Hand of God:
Any sport where you can pass out completely wasted, wake up 2 hours later, and still not miss anything damn well deserves to be our nation's pasttime!!

You un-American JERK. How could you even THINK about making Soccer our national pasttime?!?!?!? What's that, oh you were talking about baseball? Carry on then.

steamingpile: And none of the games directly competed with the WS since it was at night and most football games were during the day, you have to remember, this is their pinnacle so to even have a football close or even beat it regionally is quite telling for baseball.

Nationally maybe, but regionally?

It wouldn't surprise me if some baseball games (like a Yanks-Sox series) beat football games in that region.

steamingpile: Bill Frist: Dude, I like football way better than baseball, but no way did every (or probably any) individual football games beat the WS, especially since the football market is fragmented with most of the games at the same time.

And none of the games directly competed with the WS since it was at night and most football games were during the day, you have to remember, this is their pinnacle so to even have a football close or even beat it regionally is quite telling for baseball.

I still think baseball and football worked out a deal so they didnt play a sunday night game last week.

Game 3 competed with Monday Night Football (Atl vs. NO). According to TFA, baseball trounced it in St. Louis at least.

And I think NFL has been taking out the Sun. night game vs. the World Series for a while now. At least that's how I remember it. I was actually surprised when I realized that they were still playing the MNF game.

Bad pro football is better than good baseball a Yankees game
FTFSubby

it's always the prima-dona (eg. Yankees/BoSox) teams that make the games last so damn long. I was glad to see the ump not grant Posada time out. MLB needs more of that, and calling a 'Ball' when pitcher takes too long.

TheShavingofOccam123: What NFL football has that ML baseball doesn't:



/pretty much explains everything

The Marlins would like to speak with you.

duncangonuts: bottsicus: netweavr: Baseball needs a "Pitch-clock."

It'd be like a shot-clock in the NBA or a play-clock(?) in the NFL. Basically, you have ten-seconds (once the pitcher gets the ball) to throw it to someone off the mound. If you fail in this task, it counts as a ball-thrown.

There actually is already a rule on the books about this. I think it is 20 seconds? (I'm sure someone who knows the rule book better than i do will chime in) It is just never enforced.

It's actually 12 seconds and it only applies when there is no one on base, the pitcher has the ball and the batter is in the box, alert to the pitcher. I guess when someone is on base the thinking becomes the pitcher needs time to watch the runner so no one counts. Linky (new window, PDF). It's rule 8.04.

It's called the Steve Traschel Rule.

Game 3 5 competed with Monday Night Football (Atl vs. NO). According to TFA, baseball trounced it in St. Louis at least.

Fixed that for me.

BEER_ME_in_CT: Obviously. Things that are less boring than Baseball:

1)Watching leaves fall off the trees in my backyard
2)Ceiling fans
3)Clouds
4)That spot on my ceiling that I'm not sure is a bug or just a spec of dirt
5)Saltines and a glass of Lukewarm water
6)Listening to my wife tell me about her day

How this sport is "Americas Pastime™" eludes me.

Nice to see that even sports threads have trolls on Fark.

Maybe because baseball is boring as hell and less a "sport" than a game on par with pool or darts?

Hey, now. People have always wanted to see what would happen if the Washington Generals played the New York Nationals.

here are the nationl primetime neilsons for the week ending Nov.1

1 WORLD SERIES GAME 4 FOX Sun 8:19 PM 22,761,000
2 WORLD SERIES GAME 1 FOX Wed 7:57 PM 19,511,000
3 WORLD SERIES GAME 2 FOX Thu 7:55 PM 18,897,000
4 WORLD SERIES GM4-PREGAME FOX Sun 8:00 PM 17,815,000
5 DANCING WITH THE STARS ABC Mon 8:00 PM 17,380,000
6 NCIS CBS Tue 8:00 PM 16,697,000
7 THE OT FOX Sun 7:30 PM 16,607,000
8 THE MENTALIST CBS Thu 10:00 PM 15,528,000
9 WORLD SERIES GAME 3 FOX Sat 9:12 PM 15,397,000
10 CSI CBS Thu 9:00 PM 15,240,000

I love football and baseball - but probably baseball a little more.

But I would have to admit that it's tough to sell cry-baby millionaires that end up on the DL for sleeping on their arm wrong, only have to work for 3 hours 162 times a year but still need to take time off, wear baggy clothes while taking steroids, and don't give their fans the time of day. And did I mention they are a bunch of crybabies?

Football = rough and tumble
Baseball = pampered pussies

For comparison, I think Sunday night football averages about: 18,875,000

yelmrog: BEER_ME_in_CT: Obviously. Things that are less boring than Baseball:

1)Watching leaves fall off the trees in my backyard
2)Ceiling fans
3)Clouds
4)That spot on my ceiling that I'm not sure is a bug or just a spec of dirt
5)Saltines and a glass of Lukewarm water
6)Listening to my wife tell me about her day

How this sport is "Americas Pastime™" eludes me.

Nice to see that even sports threads have trolls on Fark.

How is he a troll? Baseball is boring as all hell on TV. Period. And compared to football it's worse than watching paint dry. Watching a guy do a 90 yard punt return, dodge 10 other guys trying to tackle him, an 80 yard bomb at the last second to win the game, an interception run for a return? The entire World Series combined wasn't as exciting as just one of those acts.

"Bad pro football is better than good baseball - Nielsen reports that the winless Rams' first victory against the one-win Lions drew a higher rating than any World Series game"

...in St. Louis.

Those are local ratings for St. Louis. Of course they're going to be more likely to watch their own football team than an east coast world series they couldn't give a fark about.

duncangonuts: Game 3 competed with Monday Night Football (Atl vs. NO). According to TFA, baseball trounced it in St. Louis at least.

And I think NFL has been taking out the Sun. night game vs. the World Series for a while now. At least that's how I remember it. I was actually surprised when I realized that they were still playing the MNF game.

Yeah thats to be expected in st Louis, they love baseball there, I think thats why its a shock football beat it.

In the SE, SW, and west would be interesting to see, it would be scary for baseball if any game came close to the WS games.

zarberg: Discounting the transplanted Yankees fans and folks who root against the Yankees more than rooting for any team, did anyone outside the NYC/Philly corridor actually care about the Series this year?

Isn't this the case, regardless of who's in the World Series. Is there any team in the MLB that could draw a huge crowd of non-fans?

I wouldn't watch out of market WS games.

Jack31081: Those are local ratings for St. Louis. Of course they're going to be more likely to watch their own football team than an east coast world series they couldn't give a fark about.

Again you have to remember, st louis are huge baseball fans