No, but I’ve seen the people who have. Have you, Rick?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 :-).
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.
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?
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.
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.