5 Ways to Fix Major League Baseball

Some folks might say that Major League Baseball is doing just fine, but the sport is clearly losing ground among younger fans. Baseball ratings are dropping as fans turn to other sports like football and NASCAR.

I loved baseball as a kid. Now, as a fan of a small-market team that hasn't had a winning season in years, I don't follow the sport nearly as closely as I used to. But there are ways to fix Major League Baseball.

If you're a traditionalist, you're not going to agree with any of these (except for maybe the first one.) But strict adherence to tradition is one of the biggest reasons Major League Baseball is declining in popularity.

Here are my five ways to fix Major League Baseball.

#5 way to fix Major League Baseball: Promote the game to kids better
Schedule games with kids in mind. No game should ever start after 7:05 pm local time. That (especially!) includes playoff games and the All-Star Game. It wouldn't hurt to have a few more weekday afternoon games as well, especially during the summer.

Do a better job of promoting the game's best players. They should appear on commercials, on billboards, on television shows. Make them big names that everyone (even non-sports fans) knows, like Lebron James, Sidney Crosby and Peyton Manning.

I'm a casual, part-time fan and I honestly don't know who the best players in baseball are anymore. If askedfor a list of the game's best players, I still think of Albert Pujols, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, because I haven't heard any new names being promoted lately.

Fantasy baseball geeks and baseball card hobbyists shouldn't be the only ones who know the game's brightest stars.

#4 way to fix Major League Baseball: Modernize the game
This encompasses everything. Change the uniforms - why do most teams only wear white and gray when every other sport features much more colorful, attractive uniforms? Also, stop making managers and coaches wear uniforms. They should wear suits, or at least sweatsuits. No reason for a 65-year-old-man to cram into a skin-tight uniform. That's just another signal to the casual fan that MLB is out of touch.

But most of all, expand the use of instant replay. Why settle for subpar umpire performance when we have the technology to get the calls right? When people object to this, they usually say things like, "Next thing you know, we'll have a computer calling balls and strikes." Guess what - I wouldn't object to that at all!

Some tennis tournaments have computer systems that makes calls on whether balls are in or out. If the technology ever develops to the point where a non-human can make calls on balls and strikes, I say go for it.

#3 way to fix Major League Baseball: Shorten the season
This is an idea traditionalists won't agree with, and it also has no chance of happening. Owners are not going to agree to play fewer games, which would result in less revenue.

So, shortening the season isn't popular and it would never happen. But it should. Sometimes, less is more. The baseball season is one of those times.

The season has gotten so long that we have games played in the bitter cold of early April and World Series games played in the bitter cold of late October. That's crazy. Cut the schedule back from 162 to 144 games. That will shorten the season by three weeks, making it less likely that fans will have to endure cold temperatures at games.

And even though owners probably think that fewer games would mean less money, I disagree. With fewer games, each one becomes more valuable, and therefore owners could charge a bit more to make up the difference.

#2 way to fix Major League Baseball: Find a new commissioner
From his insane decision to award home field advantage to the league that wins the All-Star Game to his looking the other way during the steroid era to his refusal to overturn Armando Galarraga's should've-been-a-perfect-game, Bud Selig has been a joke of a commissioner since the day he took over.

Find someone who isn't satisfied with the status quo. Someone with a vision to grow the game into the 21st century. Heck, just find someone who isn't Bud Selig. It would be hard to find someone worse.

#1 way to fix Major League Baseball: Institute a salary cap
By far the most important way to fix Major League Baseball is to level the playing field by installing a salary cap. The salary cap saved the National Hockey League and it could do a lot to re-ignite interest in baseball as well.

Right now, there are far too many teams that have little chance to compete. Franchises like Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Oakland have to draft, develop and trade almost perfectly in order to contend for a championship, and even then they only have about a three-year window before all their best players leave via free agency. Only in the world of Major League Baseball would people defend such an inequitable system.

Anyone who still maintains that there's a level playing field in Major League Baseball is delusional. Sure, a team like Tampa Bay can make an occasional run deep into the playoffs. But those are rare exceptions. Could a team like Tampa Bay reach the playoffs 11 straight years like the Braves or 10 straight like the Yankees? Absolutely no chance. The game's economics won't allow it.

The salary cap is the number one way to fix Major League Baseball. Actually getting a salary cap, though, is highly unlikely (if not impossible) given the strength of the players union.

Ways to fix Major League Baseball: Sources
www.mlb.com