The 2019 World Series was a unique World Series with many surprises. This year’s matchup included the Houston Astros —who reached baseball’s Fall Classic for the second time in three years— and Washington Nationals, making their first championship appearance in team history.

The series included a lot of excitement, lasting seven games with some of the sport’s top players showcasing their abilities. The ratings of the World Series were significantly lower than they have been in the past. This is mostly due to the fact that the game of baseball is changing, with managers finding new sly tactics to give their team the best chance to win. They do this by trying to create ideal pitching matchups, picking up on the opposing team’s strategies, and more ideas of that nature. Although this is not the only reason for MLB’s decreasing popularity, it is a primary factor. Not all fans are in support of this modern style of baseball, and it shows in the ratings. Here are some surprising facts about this year’s baseball championship that the MLB may have cause to worry about.

1. The shortest World Series game this year was 3 hours and 19 minutes and the longest was over 4 hours. A combined 10 pitchers were used in that game (Game 3). As the MLB searches for more ways to keep games shorter and more consistent in length, this is not a good sign.
2. In 2007, the MLB averaged 32,696 in attendance. In 2019, that average dropped to 28,198.
3. The average time of a game was 2 hours and 51 minutes per 9 innings. Now it’s 3 hours and 5 minutes. This is correlated with the number of pitchers being used in each game. With managers fighting for better matchups for their pitchers, there are more pitchers being used, making the game much slower.
4. In 2007, there were 3.97 pitchers used per game. In 2019, an average of 4.41 pitchers were used in each game lead to longer games.
5. The teams in this World Series play a huge role in the low ratings. Despite being the most consistent team over the past few years, the Astros’ attendance still sits at 9th in the MLB, approximately 14,000 people less than the Los Angeles Dodgers at number one. The Nationals were 16th in the league in attendance with about 9,000 fewer people than the Astros attending their games. These regular season statistics translate into the postseason and lead to a lack of advertisement and popularity.

CRLS students remained interested in the World Series, despite these facts. The Register Forum asked students about their thoughts on this year’s Fall Classic. Here are their reactions.

RF: What were your overall thoughts on the 2019 World Series?

“I was really impressed with the Nationals, as a Wild Card team, to even make it to the World Series, let alone beat the Houston Astros, but as an Astros fan, I was disappointed with [Justin] Verlander’s performance [in the World Series] because he did so well in the regular season.” -Gabe Taylor ’21

“It was cool that it lasted at seven [games]. Since the Sox weren’t in it I didn’t care too deeply who went all the way, but more baseball is more baseball. It was interesting that the away team won every game of the series.” – Ethan Skenderian ’21

“It was an amazing series to watch and really fun to see young talent like Juan Soto helps the [Nationals] win. Happy for DC.” – Lucas Tedesco ’20

“I think that Game Seven of the World Series was exciting, with an even more astonishing and sweet ending that could be appreciated by all.” – Esther Cull-Kahn ’22

“I think it is great for the city of DC to finally get a championship. The best part of it was when Trump got booed [during Game 5].” – George Moscapidakis ’21

RF: How do you think the Nationals will be able to respond to some of their top players becoming free agents and their older players declining?

“I think the Nats are gonna crumble again. [Stephen Strasburg] and [Anthony] Rendon are gone for sure but hopefully, they can build around [Juan] Soto.”

– Skenderian ’21

“I think they’ll be okay because they lost [Bryce] Harper and they seemed to be just fine after that. Soto will be there for sure, but I think if they want to be contenders Rendon and Strasburg need to come back. I think it’s going to be a close race between them and the Braves for the [National League] East in 2020.” – Tedesco ’20

RF: What are your 2020 World Series predictions?

“I think the Astros will win but I’m hopeful that the new Red Sox [general manager] handles the [Mookie] Betts [contract] situation well and we can pull together a good run.” – Harold Klapper ’21

“I don’t think Houston will make it and I think the Cardinals will win. I also have no hope that the Red Sox general manager will handle the Mookie Betts quarrel and they will not do well overall.” – Cull-Kahn ’22