Imagine Coors Field Today -- Time to Change Baseball Season

I love the Colorado Rockies.

When I moved temporarily from Boulder to Washington, DC to work in the Bush Administration, the hardest part was giving up my season tickets at Coors Field. My radio show on 850KOA is often preempted for Rockies' games, which is certainly understandable. After all, the Rockies probably bring significantly more amount of revenue to Clear Channel than I do.

But in hindsight maybe it was best the Rockies didn't make the World Series this year. Can you imagine the outrage, the incessant bickering and complaining from the Fox Network if the game was being held in Coors Field this week? Just think about a bunch of New York Yankee fans freezing their keesters off at Coors Field. We would never hear the end of it.

I just measured the snow on my deck here in the Boulder County foothills. 12 inches. The Denver Post website reads:

Most school districts along the Front Range were closed today because of the snowstorm.

The storm hammered the foothills west of Denver and in the metro area snow accumulations are deeper on the west side of I-25 with lesser amounts east of the highway, Fredin said.
The high temperature in Denver should reach about 30 degrees today, the weather service reports. Winds will gust to 30 mph in the city. The chance for precipitation in Denver is 80 percent today and another 8 inches of snow is possible.

Experience tells me that by the weekend we'll be back in the 50's and the snow on my deck and the snow blanketing Coors Field will be but a memory. The Post confirms my belief the weather will be fine for baseball in Denver by the weekend:

The weekend in Denver looks pretty nice, with mostly sunny skies for Halloween on Saturday and a high temperature of 48 degrees, and partly sunny skies on Sunday with a high of 54 degrees.

But suppose the Rockies had made the playoffs, beat the Phillies, and were now playing in the World Series. What exactly would the world think, looking out on Denver from the television cameras in Coors Field?

I hope the world realizes it's time to change baseball season.

I know we can change baseball season because we're about to change the clock this weekend. Clearly we can do anything we want.

The players and owners need to negotiate a new season. Here are a few suggestions as a starting point.

First, shorten spring training. Players don't need spring training to get in shape, they need it to practice. Most, if not all, already show up in good shape. Spring training should be used to finish their physical training, practice and drills. Cut the spring training season down, start regular season sooner.

Second, shorten the season. Reduce the current 162 games to the pre-1961 levels of 154 or thereabout. Just shorten the season so we're not playing the World Series in October and November. God did not intend for man to play baseball after the end of September.

Owners and players -- and television and radio -- need to sit down, change their agreements, and return baseball to a spring, summer, and fall sport. Everyone needs to make concessions to make this happen. You should do it for the integrity of the game.

You should also shorten the season, because again, the Colorado Rockies will make the World Series. I for one do not want to be walking into Coors Field looking at plowed snow banks along Blake Street, listening to the wimps from the American League complaining about the weather.

 

 

Follow Michael D. Brown on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikebrowntoday

Comments

[middleoftheroad]

That second playoff series they added pushes the season 7-10 days.

[BigJake]

The Minnesota Twins will be playing in an open air stadium next year. Please tell them we need to start the season in the middle of March for the good of the game. I'm sure the fans will just love spending a lovely night game in their parkas and thermal underwear. Not all weather is created equally.