There are five things baseball needs to jump back into the relevancy of the sports world this season. Baseball has been declining in popularity ever since the lockout back in 1994 and the first revelation of Performance Enhancing Drugs and Jose Canseco.
1) Complete Season without PEDs - Baseball needs one full season in which a prominent player does not test positive for performance enhancing drugs. Some of the most popular players have been falling like flies when it comes to testing for PEDs, for example Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez tested positive. The latest blow was Ryan Braun testing positive for PEDs being the National League MVP. That's right, that is no typo folks, the 2011 NL MVP tested positive for steroids. How far has baseball fallen when the MVP of a league is testing positive a month before he is even awarded the MVP? This is a period the MLB has to get over, but I don't know if it will ever recover from the amount of criticism and scrutiny. Regardless of if it will get over the steroid era, baseball needs to not be tarnished any further by PEDs. We need a complete season without someone major testing positive and having to serve a suspension. It not only hurts the individual and the individual's team, but it is causing serious damage to the sport as a whole and it must stop.
2) Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers to be relevant - The league's premiere three teams must be relevant once more. As much as it pains me to say it as the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers go, so goes the MLB. These are the three most popular teams and the three that you see with the most merchandise. You can't go anywhere in the world and not see a Yankee hat somewhere. The Yankees vs. Red Sox rivalry has been the life blood of baseball, the one thing still pumping life into a dying sport. The regular season seems like the playoffs and the playoffs seem like the World Series. Both of these teams must fight mediocrity and excel for the sport to be where it needs to be. The Red Sox are coming off of a down year especially with reports some of the pitchers left early and spent the rest of the game eating chicken and not being with the rest of the team. It is unnecessary media the Red Sox did not need. The Dodgers are also coming off a horrible season, both on the field and off the field with the owner going through a divorce and a nasty custody battle, if you will, over the Dodgers. For the game to make a full recovery all three of these teams must succeed, not only financially, but on the field as well.
3) A non-extra inning All-Star game - The All-Star game has been a black spot on the season for several years, especially with the commissioner trying to give it significance by awarding home-field advantage to the winning league. No one in the league takes this game seriously and it needs to be taken seriously, especially if it continues to be the deciding factor in the All-Star game. The NFL is beginning to go through the same situation with the recent debacle of the Pro Bowl.
4) A 7-game thrilling World Series - The World Series needs to be a thrilling event this year, akin to the 2001 World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the New York Yankees. It was the series which put baseball back on top until PEDs ripped it back down. The come from behind wins and the drama of that World Series is exactly what the sport needs.
5) Shortened season, extended playoffs - Finally, the discussion has been started that the playoffs should be extended. I agree, but to do that you need to shorten the season. Baseball purists are mad at this and say the game does not need to change. These individuals are sadly misguided and can't see the folly of this train of thought. Every sport needs to adapt and change to appeal to new fans and to a newer generation. This is especially hard for baseball because of the fast paced view of society and the slow paced nature of the game. I propose shortening the season from 162 games to 132 games and give one more team each from the leagues the chance to reach the playoffs. It is a simple change to allow more teams the into the playoffs without cutting too many of the games out of the season. Just food for thought.
These are the five things which are MLB needs to happen for the league to, not only be successful, but begin to transition out of the steroid era and into a new era with the past behind it.
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