# Compressing the baseball season **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 18, 2010, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compressing-the-baseball-season/557514 "2010-10-18T02:12:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compressing-the-baseball-season/557514/41 "2010-10-19T00:25:11Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > How often do places like Detroit or Minnesota actually get a lot of snow in October? I’m sure it’s happened, but it’s rare, and to be honest I don’t see why you’d go through such a massive headache as shortening the season to mitigate such a tiny risk. > Have you, in fact, played baseball 13 out of 14 days for an extended period of time? No, but I’ve seen the people who have. Have you, Rick? ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compressing-the-baseball-season/557514/42 "2010-10-19T01:03:16Z")
I’d like to see the playoffs compressed. Lost the wildcards and the first round. Yeah, I know the teams don’t want to lose the revenue. But I find having a wildcard after 162 games pretty silly. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compressing-the-baseball-season/557514/43 "2010-10-19T01:07:24Z")
> [@unwashed\_brain](#): > > No, but I’ve seen the people who have. Have you, Rick? Yes to both. And all evidence suggests that it’s hard. If you have actual evidence that it isn’t hard and that increasing doubleheaders and reducing off days won’t result in more tired and injured ballplayers, present it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compressing-the-baseball-season/557514/44 "2010-10-19T01:11:46Z")
> [@unwashed\_brain](#): > > Operative word here being “few.” Please. That’s off the top of my head and doing a bit of cut and paste; were I to put in a bit of research, I’m quite sure that I could come up with many more (the operative phrase here being “many more”). There are dozens of major leaguers over the years who have suffered broken bones getting hit in the wrists and hands by a hard object traveling at 90 to 100 miles an hour; dozens more that I can think of in my lifetime who have suffered injuries that cause them to miss a full year or more due to injuries suffered during games. ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compressing-the-baseball-season/557514/45 "2010-10-19T01:33:22Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Yes to both. And all evidence suggests that it’s hard. If you have actual evidence that it isn’t hard and that increasing doubleheaders and reducing off days won’t result in more tired and injured ballplayers, present it. Your conflating my argument with someone else’s. Mine is that MLB players have it easy compared to NBA and NHL players. Your anecdotal experience from the opposite viewpoint has done nothing to dissuade me. ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compressing-the-baseball-season/557514/46 "2010-10-19T01:35:50Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](#): > > Please. That’s off the top of my head and doing a bit of cut and paste; were I to put in a bit of research, I’m quite sure that I could come up with many more (the operative phrase here being “many more”). There are dozens of major leaguers over the years who have suffered broken bones getting hit in the wrists and hands by a hard object traveling at 90 to 100 miles an hour; dozens more that I can think of in my lifetime who have suffered injuries that cause them to miss a full year or more due to injuries suffered during games. Don’t you think with the same effort you could find even more severe NHL injuries? Because that is part of my argument. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compressing-the-baseball-season/557514/47 "2010-10-19T02:01:28Z")
> [@unwashed\_brain](#): > > Don’t you think with the same effort you could find even more severe NHL injuries? Because that is part of my argument. Possibly, but I’m not arguing against the overall violence inherent in hockey, I’m arguing against your assertion that the physicality of baseball is somehow not real and that the players have it easy. ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compressing-the-baseball-season/557514/48 "2010-10-19T02:07:55Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Yes to both. And all evidence suggests that it’s hard. If you have actual evidence that it isn’t hard and that increasing doubleheaders and reducing off days won’t result in more tired and injured ballplayers, present it. OK, I thought of a good anecdote I can use to combat yours. I’ve played organized basketball and softball, which I think most will accept as a reasonable analog for baseball. At no point during any softball game I’ve ever played did I wish the coach would pull me from the game because I was exhausted. Conversely, this happened nearly every time I played basketball. I expended much more physical effort playing basketball than softball, and I’d wager my house this is true at the pro level, too…starting pitchers excluded at the single game level. It just may be that MLB plays more games more often than the other sports because it’s less physically demanding. This supposition and the less hectic travel schedule are the reasons I feel that MLB players have it easier than NBA and NHL players. I don’t have time to look it up, but my guess is that the average career length between the 3 sports supports this. If so, it’s my 3rd argument. If not, it’s not :-). ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compressing-the-baseball-season/557514/49 "2010-10-19T02:14:58Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](#): > > Possibly, but I’m not arguing against the overall violence inherent in hockey, I’m arguing against your assertion that the physicality of baseball is somehow not real and that the players have it easy. You’re adding words I did not say. I’ll italicize the parts I think you’re ignoring. I inferred baseball is less physical _than hockey or basketball_. I stand by that. I also said, for the reasons in my post previous to this one, baseball players have it _comparatively easier_. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compressing-the-baseball-season/557514/50 "2010-10-19T02:19:48Z")
**unwashed** , what exactly is your point? Suppose we grant that baseball is “easier” than basketball in some ways–so what? The schedule should be compressed to make it as hard? Should we try to make baseball as punishing for players as [football](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=582261)? ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compressing-the-baseball-season/557514/51 "2010-10-19T02:36:38Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > **unwashed** , what exactly is your point? Suppose we grant that baseball is “easier” than basketball in some ways–so what? The schedule should be compressed to make it as hard? Should we try to make baseball as punishing for players as [football](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=582261)? My point stands as stated, and it was in direct response to RickJay stating how hard MLB players have it already. As to your other questions, I wouldn’t be in favor of either. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compressing-the-baseball-season/557514/52 "2010-10-19T04:10:42Z")
> [@unwashed\_brain](#): > > I was mainly referring to the travel schedule…41 mostly single-night trips during the season. Baseball teams have ~25 or so where they are typically parked in a posh hotel for 2-4 days at a time. Basketball players travel much more often, and their sport is inarguably more physically demanding. True, but basketball players and hockey players have many more off days when they are not on the road. And I’m sure that when they travel, their hotels and flights are just as comfortable as those for baseball players. It’s arguable which is more stressful, frequent one-night trips, or less frequent travel but spending many more nights away from home. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compressing-the-baseball-season/557514.md?page=2)