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Baseball V Cricket?

A Better Sport?


  • Total voters
    110

juro

U19 12th Man
I tried watching baseball again this week (Texas vs Seattle). Still can't get past the fact that even the best batsmen (sorry, batters) struggle to hit the ball a decent percentage of the time. I know it is hard. I know that may appeal to some. But for the game to come down to one or two guys being lucky enough to connect and score a few runs drives me up the wall.

The game is weighted far too much in favour (or should that be favor) of the fielding team for me. Shame, because they have such nice stadiums...
 

Stefano

School Boy/Girl Captain
Sorry for adding one more comment to this topic... Anyway I would like to tell you my personal experience. I have been a baseball fan for many years, knowing nothing about cricket. The only thing I knew about cricket was that games were really long: they could even last days!! Then some years ago I started watching cricket (by chance: I was in England and I found a cricket video game... It was so cheap that I decided to buy it).

I love both games. Which is the best? I can't say it. Both games have their nuances, difficulties. Both have their aestetics: watching Ken Griffey swinging the bat for a HR is a pleasure for your eyes as watching Ricky Ponting having one of his hook shots.

If you are not an expert, there are so many things you are going to lose. The battle between the pitcher and the batsman is exciting. And don't forget the chess battle played by the two managers. For example, the possibility of making substitutions creates a different perspective to the game: should I remove the pitcher or should I let him pitch to another batsman? Should I use a right-hander or a left-hander? These are just some of the questions / problems a manager has to face during the game. Of course, comparing the two games is impossible. Different skills / abilities are required. I don't see any superiority of one sport over the other.

So, my suggestion is: watch a baseball game with an "expert" and ask him/her all kinds of questions. After a while you will start discovering all the intricacies of the game. Of course, you may still prefer cricket, but you will definitely appreciate baseball.

There's only one thing where baseball is superior to cricket. Statistics. I think that cricketers should start developing their statistics.
 
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Tricia McMillan

U19 Captain
Interesting that this topic has been bumped, since I'm a Kiwi who grew up with cricket, then came to the United States where baseball is massively popular. I prefer cricket in personal taste because I'm more familiar with it, but I've grown rather fond of baseball as well. I can't say I'm a fountain of knowledge about baseball (nor can I say the same about cricket really, as I've been a casual viewer of it most of my life), but the similarities between the two are striking to me.

A few times I've also envisioned giving cricket bats to baseball players. It would be a pretty hilarious run-fest, probably.
 

Satguru

Banned
I tried watching baseball again this week (Texas vs Seattle). Still can't get past the fact that even the best batsmen (sorry, batters) struggle to hit the ball a decent percentage of the time. I know it is hard. I know that may appeal to some. But for the game to come down to one or two guys being lucky enough to connect and score a few runs drives me up the wall.

The game is weighted far too much in favour (or should that be favor) of the fielding team for me. Shame, because they have such nice stadiums...
Kind of reminds me of my american friend who hates football, and keeps saying "soccer" is so boring because the players struggle for an hour and a half and sometimes come away with no goals to show for their effort, comparing it to basketball which has nonstop ever-increasing scoring
 

DingDong

State Captain
cricket is a far better spectators sport. half the time batters don't take swings and even when they do it usually doesn't leave the infield i don't why so many people go to watch the 2 guys playing catch
 

sledger

Spanish_Vicente
Got quite into Baseball a few years ago, had a few Japanese friends who were big on it. I'll always prefer Cricket, but Baseball can be tense and exciting from time to time.
 

kiwiviktor81

International Debutant
Baseball is a great sport, but a more accurate comparison would be to T20 cricket rather than cricket in general. If you didn't have to run when you hit the ball and if you had about 20 strikes you'd be more like T20/ODI cricket.

And there is nowhere near the same level of strategy as in Test cricket. Can you imagine "The pitch is meant to break down by the sixth innings, offering assistance to the curve ballers as opposed to the fast balls."
 

hazsa19

International Regular
Baseball is a great sport, but a more accurate comparison would be to T20 cricket rather than cricket in general. If you didn't have to run when you hit the ball and if you had about 20 strikes you'd be more like T20/ODI cricket.

And there is nowhere near the same level of strategy as in Test cricket. Can you imagine "The pitch is meant to break down by the sixth innings, offering assistance to the curve ballers as opposed to the fast balls."
Well, you do have the pitcher's battle against fatigue. Fast balls have less zip going into the later innings (depending on how well the batters have done to keep the pitcher...pitching). I guess it's the opposite of cricket as things become easier for batters in Baseball, until the coach throws in a 'finisher' or whatever else it is they have.
 

Stefano

School Boy/Girl Captain
The error some users do is trying to compare the two games. There are some similarities, but baseball and cricket are two different games. THe two games have different approaches, different point of view and require different skills. So saying "baseball is like T20" has no sense at all.

And there is nowhere near the same level of strategy as in Test cricket. Can you imagine "The pitch is meant to break down by the sixth innings, offering assistance to the curve ballers as opposed to the fast balls.
There are other elements to create strategy in baseball. Substititutions, left vs right and many others.

As I said: watch a baseball game with an expert...
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
What I most like about following a sport is the conversations I can have about it with friends who also follow it. That's basically the only reason I'm not a huge baseball fan - I know noone else who is. When I have time to watch a game or even a YouTube video about its intricacies or history, I absolutely love it.
 

ashley bach

Cricketer Of The Year
Just a mere 10 years in between posts!
Can't say I know too much about baseball, but reckon if I'd grown up in the USA I'd be right into it for sure.
 

subshakerz

Hall of Fame Member
Cricket has variety in its play which to me suggests that the skill level is higher on display compared to baseball. Seam, swing, spin and various playing conditions, bouncers, yorkers, plus the variety of shots on all sides of the wicket. Baseball seems more one-dimensional compared to that.

However, the big downside of cricket is in drawn test matches. Unless the quality of the sides is good and the pitch is sporting, 5-day tests can be a complete waste of viewers' time. It is pretty hard to justify to outsiders how two teams can play slow pace for 5 days without a result. Sometimes you know on Day 1 that the match will have no result yet the two teams are forced to go through the motions.
 

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