I know, I know — maybe I should ask this question in a few weeks.
The question, though, is pretty basic: is Spring Training too long? On the one hand, more baseball is more baseball. But on the other hand, is over a month really necessary to get everyone up to speed and resolve positional battles? Does it dilute the product to give fans the equivalent of the pre-final stretch dog days of summer… with games full of backups and who’s-that-guys… before the season has even started?
This also isn’t the sort of thing drawn from the void — players and coaches have been saying it too, though of course, not all of them.
With MLB intent on tinkering with the game, I suppose there’s an argument that a reasonably long Spring Training provides a chance for players to acclimatize to new environments. But, it’s not like MLB does this well, either. Getting everyone used to a new ball to be used for the season would be great, but MLB’s quality control, intentionally or (probably) unintentionally, is horrible in this regard, and they likely couldn’t make that happen anyway. And, MLB is slow-walking the robo-ump/challenge system and testing it in just a few Spring Training contests (for some reason), so the current length of Spring Training isn’t taking advantage of those opportunities.
Still, it’s beneficial to the Arizona and Florida communities where it takes place, and some players like it. But the floor is yours — is it too long anyway?
