From day 1 NY vs NY was the media's focus.

St Louis is larger stronger market than you or they are giving credit for.

Detroit is very strong small market

"Heartland" of America may have poor appeal on larger markets of East & West Coasts.

It would seem simple enough to verify geographically where viewers are located.

-The lack of a salary cap has caused payrolls to skyrocket out of propotion.  As a result of this the top players from most teams usually leave in free agency for the teams at the top of the payroll totem pole. This in turn causes small market teams, such as Oakland, to not have franchise players, or better yet players who become the face of a team and thus cause people to be interested. Familiarity breeds interest, thats why the Vlad's, Barry Bonds, Jeter's amd Ortiz's will bring in crowds, because they are star players whose sole name invokes interest in tuning in.  Yes most baseball teams have taken to lose all players demanding a double digit payroll and instead opted to year in and year out go with good but not so well known rookie players (that I might add, leave once they become well known). This might allow most teams like say, the A's to survive but it does little to help draw attention to the game from casual fans. Common everyday people want to see something on tv that they are atleast familiar with, thats why they love the all star team that is the Yankees and the R. Sox.

-With baseball coverage dominated by the teams with the highest payrolls, theres little chance for interest to grow for other teams.  Look at the NFL for instance, You have Raider fans, you have Broncos fans, you have people who live and die by the outcome of chargers/philidelphia/jets games. Its not that the baseball is slow (an excuse commonly thrown out by those who prefer not thinking during a sporting event) but rather other sports have more options for people, they give casual fans something more to root for.  In the NBA, NFL and NHL there isnt the top two teams and then everyone else, rather the attention is spread out more evenly.  Why only in baseball do we have a disproportionate bias towards only two teams? my belief.....Lack of salary caps and the dominance of the outrageous payrolls.

-the devil that is ESPN. as someone stated before, heres an idea ESPN...when you spend all season bashing and predicting the "inevitable" failure of a team that eventually makes it to the WS, dont be suprised when people arent interested in watching them play the fall classic. But I'll be a little more progressive here and state that its not all ESPN's fault. ESPN after all is a business, and a business' job is to ::gasp:: make money! Yes they do little to promote interest in other teams but that isnt really their job. Their job is to report sports, the sports which people are interested in. SO whos to blame if not ESPN?

-MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL.   Ever get the feeling that there is only one league in MLB? I do, hell Ill be honest - I have absolutey no interest in the National league, none whatsoever. No DH means no aknowledgement from me. And its not just that I love watching home runs, but I believe it just shows the inability of the league to adapt to changing times. In a world where most sports have constant scoring happening on both sides, no casual fan has time to suffer the pain of watching the pitcher go up there and swing at what  1/100 times* (*based on my own non scientific research) a guaranteed out. This just doesnt make sense.  
  why are people not interested in the WS? how about because interleague games takes the excitement out of watching NL and AL teams meet for the first time in like....ever!
  MLB's inability to step up to the plate and handle controversy in hopes that it just might go away reminds me more and more of John Kerry refusing to  address the Swift Boat Veteran Ads in hopes that it would go away, well guess what? it didnt, and look where that got him? That the sport has lost some integrity because we allow the Barry Bonds and Kenny Rogers of this game to get away with stuff is an understatement, I would even go as far as saying the word Steroid has become synonymous with baseball. The more I learn about baseball the more it seems like the MLB is like a stubborn old man who refuses to aknowledge the changing times.

Anyway thats my 10 dollars and 2 cents.

MLB is just as much to blame as the media for the media's obsession with the Yankees and the Red Sox.

A self-fulfilling ratings prophecy.

They really need to branch out in order to begin courting everyone.

PLus, get rid of the f'ing musical acts, thats insulting to real fans.

The Yanks/Red Sox reason is a major one, but it's a combination of all the reasons, including one, listed below.

• Cable TV has blown up to where there are more options now than ever before.  That's not just for sports but for all network TV across the board.
  
• The fact that the World Series starts on a Saturday night rather than during the week doesn't help, either.  However that issue has been dealt with since next year the Series will start during the week.
  
• It's not just Detroit vs. St. Louis, but it's the Midwest vs. the Midwest.  It's not as bad as NoCal vs. NoCal back in '89, but still the greatest amount of interest has to be in the Midwest and then falls sharply elsewhere.  Guess what the highest rated World Series was?  1991, Minnesota and Atlanta: the Midwest vs. the South.

This country does not and has never really cared about team play - it is obsessed with 'stars.
It is one reasoin wshy a great sport like soccer has so much trouble in the USA.

When October comes, if my team isn't in it, I won't watch the playoffs unless the games are being presented as worth more of my time than my other alternatives. It doesn't matter what's happening on the field. If it was a game with 10 errors and it was lopsided as hell, I would watch as long as the commentators and director were doing their jobs effectively--that is, making me want to watch, or at the very least not making me wonder if Mythbusters is on. I agree with whoever posted above that if all they did was follow the ball with the camera and had crowd noise, I would enjoy that more than the current situation.

If Fox is turning baseball fans off from the playoffs, they are doing something wrong, because that means that they sure aren't attracting poeple with only a passing interest in baseball. Right now I am positive that I would rather go out and watch a little league game than have to watch the World Series on Fox.

As far as the steroid issue, the pine tar issue, corked bat issue, and other controversial subjects, these are actually good for baseball.  Especially if you suscribe to the notion that there is no such thing as bad publicity.  Terrell Owens can attest to this altruism.  Baseball needs take steps that will get the talking heads on sports shows to start screaming and ranting.  As sad as it is to say, these are the types of things that get peoples attention.  When they see this type of controversy, they are more likely to tune in and see what the fuss is all about.  It's worked well for the NFL and for the NBA for years.  

Another thing MLB could due to attract more attention is to lay off the fines/suspensions for on the field brawls.  Especially the ones where no one is injured.  As sad as it is to say, conflict sells in this country.  Which we you get right down to it, that's what sports is all about.  Baseball brawls are akin to the people who watch NASCAR on the chance that they may witness a spectacular crash.  

None of the above is good baseball mind you, but IT will get the publics attention and bring a lot more people out to the yards or the TV set.