America’s Game Sees Postseason Resurgence as NFL Declines

(Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)

Wow.

The greatest inning in baseball history. A dirty tackle-slide. Beer slip-n-slides. An entire country represented in one team. 108 years of anguish. Premature tweets. Back to the Future.

All of these events were witnessed in the divisional series games of the MLB Postseason.

Jeurys Familia recorded the final out of the divisional series round on Thursday night, and with that the final four was set. The Mets and the Cubs began to duel in the NL while the Blue Jays and the Royals did battle in the AL (Hey, maybe I’m on to something). Since then, the Mets surged out to a 2-0 lead behind great pitching from Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard, while the Royals are clinging to a 2-1 series lead.

One drought will be broken. The last championship for one of these final four teams came in 1993, with Toronto winning it all on Joe Carter’s series winning home run. At this point, the Legendary Losers drought is more like a natural disaster. 

These playoff games have been incredibly entertaining, even for viewers with no horse in the race. New teams and top market cities in the mix have paid dividends to MLB in the television ratings department. The overwhelming consensus amongst the media is that the best storyline of this postseason is baseball’s new blood.

America’s pastime is on the rise, and people all over the country are gaining a newfound interest.

Combining the ratings from the divisional series telecasts, postseason television ratings have skyrocketed. TBS telecasts thus far are averaging 5.7 million viewers per game, as opposed to a 3.6 spot last year. That is a total 47 percent increase.

Photo Credit: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

This year’s top three most viewed divisional series games are the top three in history, with a goldmine from the Mets and Dodgers game five (7.4 million). These numbers will only continue to rise, as the games take on more meaning to the public eye. Storylines such as Chase Utley’s hotly contested slide, the Royals playoff return, and the Astros, Blue Jays, and especially the Cubs just being in the playoffs have all contributed to such monstrous numbers.

But does baseball’s surge come at the expense of the NFL?

The NFL has sat atop sports’ Mount Olympus for the better part of two decades, and the league is at the peak of its powers. However with limited watchable games and the danger of the sport on everyone’s minds, the NFL may have passed its climax. Looking at the NFL tilts for this upcoming Week 7, the league’s schedule is filled with outdated rivalries, teams that can barely put up a fight, and what should be easy victories for the elite.

The New York Jets versus New England Patriots should be fun, but any game with Tom Brady can turn ugly in the blink of an eye for his opponent. The regular season lacks intensity, and when NFL Sundays continuously follow absolutely loaded collegiate Saturdays, sometimes it is tough to maintain interest.

It starts at the Pop Warner level. The little league of football is seeing its participation numbers steadily decline, with the recurrent reason being safety. Parents and children themselves are waking up, which in no way bodes well for the NFL. Pop Warner and USA football representatives insist that other reasons for a drop in players include the nation’s economic state and youth specialization in one sport. The numbers disagree. A large sample of parents cited concern over head injury as the number one concern. Only seventeen percent of people surveyed see the league’s popularity increasing over the next twenty years.

Another factor contributing to the beginning of the end of the NFL is the never-ending news reports. Everyone is sick of the crime and substance abuse. The players are simply not good role models, and that subject can be abandoned there.

Finally, could it be that Fantasy football is damaging the NFL? Originally a harm free, friendly, and competitive game, Fantasy football has quickly turned into a corporate monster. Gambling websites such as DraftKings and FanDuel have essentially took over commercial breaks and they are taking over the fans.

ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown featured TEN DraftKings and FanDuel commercials in an hour of programming. People are obsessed and watch football only for their one week Fantasy teams. This leads to another issue that will only become more dangerous. These are gambling websites; users are putting money on the performance of players that, obviously, they have no control over. Nevada recently became the first state to rule the sites to be gambling. Are more coming?

For now, the country’s focus is on baseball’s biggest stage. Baseball is seeing a huge resurgence, and time will tell if it is at the expense of the NFL. For now, sports fans will just take it all in. The remainder of this postseason will not disappoint. So take it all in everybody, the MLB is on the rise and its going to be a wild ride though the rest of 2015.

MLB Postseason by the numbers (thus far):

5/8 of the divisional series teams were in top ten television markets.

1945 was the last time the Cubs won the pennant.

1 starting pitcher recorded wins over Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke in 2015. His name: Jacob deGrom.

53 – The seventh inning of the Blue Jays Rangers game five lasted 53 minutes.

189,000 – José Bautista’s epic batflip received 189k mentions on twitter.