Is football the new baseball?

Does it not matter who has the best team anymore but more important, when you get hot?

In any pro sport, the level of separation of certain teams is so minimal that often getting hot while a team is cooling down is all you need to win.

It's the same way in the NHL, basically whoever has a hot goalie.

Football out ranks Baseball IMO. You can have a crappy team (browns) and still see a sold out or nearly sold out stadium on a sunday. Yet, in baseball, teams like the Marlins, who have done fairly well in the past few years and get televised only for people watching on TV to see a 3/4 empty stadium. I don't know what gives with that.

People under 25 are watching football.

Ask the 2012 Brewers! They are HOT HOT HOT and ready for that wildcard spot! GO BREW CREW!!!

^true.....but seems like even "some" good teams don't get the fan base

Plus, baseball is WAY easier to get a ticket to a game, and is much much cheaper.

First reaction to seeing the thread title: Yes, football is now absolutely America's pastime.

As to your question in the thread: You've gotta be good enough to get into the tournament. Then, it's all about who's hot, the kind of game your team likes to play, and matchups matchups matchups.

A lot of sports are like that now, NFL, MLB, College Basketball, NASCAR. Tournament style plays into the hot team's hand. That's one reason why the MLB brought in the extra wildcard team to try and make the regular season more important. That's also why college Football doesn't want a full tournament, the regular season is important to NCAAF.

To go off topic I love the 4 team playoff in NCAAF. Just about every year there are 3-5 teams that say they should be playing for the National Title and now all of them have a shot. Any more teams and you would have teams that had a much worse regular season win the national title so the regular season becomes meaningless, much like the joke that is getting into the NBA playoffs.

Cut baseball season down to 90 games a season, make them more meaningful and expand the time between games, and baseball will probably be a better sport.

LMAO I'm surprised they didn't think of this.
To push the idea further wouldn't it be better if they did a 16 game schedule like the NFL? Talk about meaningful baseball right?

Then they would have to chop the head off all those fat paychecks they get. Big ballers would be crying about that for sure.

I think this boils down to how you define the "best" team. Is it just the team with best regular season record? What if a team starts 12-0 and then for whatever reason - injuries, their competition catching up with their schemes, etc. - falls off toward the end of the season? If they finish with the best regular season record are they the "best" team? I think it's a matter of timing so saying a team 'gets hot' at the end of a season can mean a team becomes the best team at that time. For example, IMO the Packers were clearly the best team for the last month plus of the 2010 season and the Giants were at the end of last season.

I think its likely no professional sport (and I'll include NCAA football ) will reduce the number of playoff teams or games because they generate money, so if there is a problem of the "best" team not winning the championship, I don't think there's a realistic cure.

The more playoff teams the less important the regular season.

Yeah I didn't realize it but you are right. I guess I was thinking it made the 3 division winners have an advantage over the wild card team instead of it just being the same whether you win the division or get a wild card berth. Baseball was also such a small post season that by getting more teams into "playoffs" (If you count the potential 1 extra game a team will play as the playoffs) more fans will watch the regular season because their team will be in the hunt longer.

But you are right it is odd that more teams makes the regular season more important

I've been philosophically against playoffs since they cheapen the regular season. The Phillies had the best record in all of baseball in 2010 and 2011 and didn't make it to the World Series. 162 games should somehow count to a greater degree than a couple of short series in the postseason. Baseball is a true marathon with 162 games, and a team's true abilities will outweigh any results of a short series. A 16 game season can be affected much more by chance events to a much greater degree. So I think football playoffs can more easily be justified than baseball. The Giants now own the worst regular season record of anyone to win a Super Bowl, taking it away from the Packers and a few others who had 6 losses in the regular season. But I don't deny I like the recent surge by the Brewers...

not really, but a shorter season, starting around June 1st, with games spread out more would not only make the season more interesting, but put less wear and tear on the players, particularly pitchers. 182 games is a LOT. It would also bring back more of the popularity to the sport as there would more of a reason to follow.

But the MLB is worse than the NFL on being greedy.