Photo by photo by Olivia Cemer

This is a picture from game 1 of the Mens World Series 2025. It was the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Toronto Bluejays. In this picture the stands are filled with people.

In Major League Baseball a team plays 162 regular season games. This is done from late March/early April through October, so in one week each team plays 6 to 7 games.

With this many games played a week, MLB games face very little media coverage. The MLB only streams its games on platforms people have to pay to have access to, lowering views.  This leads to not a lot of fans coming to games, nor people watching the games at home. 

With as many games as they play, players have to learn to not exert 100% all of the time or else they will get burnt out or injured. 

On ESPN, Whit Merrifield, retired Astros player, says, “If I hit a fly ball during the regular season, I shouldn’t run 100 percent to second base,” Merrifield said. “I should run as hard as I need to in order to ensure I make it to second base.” 

The health of the athletes is the most important thing to keep in mind. The 162 games has taken its toll on players, particularly pitchers. While there is not a regulation on how often a pitcher can pitch, most teams have a 5 game rotation for their starting pitchers. This is for the wellness of the athlete and to protect their arm from getting overused.

With the amount of games played, they lose significance. A game every night makes them not as special to watch or enjoy because there will just be another one the next day. Also, teams end up playing the same opponent multiple times in a week. Most of the time people who don’t keep up with baseball regularly don’t know the MLB is in season until the World Series. 

If there are fewer MLB games, fans may be more inclined to watch more. With only 17 games, the NFL attracts a large audience weekly since it’s widely broadcast on free TV networks. 

According to Front Office Sports, a regular season MLB game gets 1.8 to 2 million viewers. While according to NBC and ESPN a regular NFL game gets 17.5 to 18.6 million viewers a game. 

According to CBS Sports, the alternative is to have 154 games, the amount of games played before 1962. While it doesn’t seem like much, it could shorten the season while still appealing to stats of players and the idea that so many baseball games are played in order to secure the best teams for the playoffs.