Sporting events come and go. They’re brief in most cases, but memorable in certain cases.

Any Major League Baseball fan can never forget David Freese’s stellar Game 6 heroics with everything on the line.

It happened last year. Yes, even Cubs fans should remember the drama.

And now, entering the 2012 World Series, the magic is seemingly gone–because of the ratings numbers.

Game 1 featured the Detroit Tigers and the San Francisco Giants. These two teams have decent markets in unique cities. The end result of the game (which featured a historic 3 home-run game by San Fran’s Pablo Sandoval) scored only a 7.6% from U.S. households. This was marked as the lowest Game 1 rating ever since the World Series first aired on television in 1968. The Game 1 beat the previous record low Game 1 in 2006 when Detroit faced St. Louis.

The 2008 World Series (Philadelphia Phillies beating the Tampa Bay Rays) and 2010 World Series (San Francisco Giants beating the Texas Rangers) are currently the record low for an overall World Series based on U.S. ratings.

So what’s the source of the problem? Are there ways to fix it?

One solution may adapting the NFL culture of scarcity. Fans must endure the wait each week for that precious Sunday to root on their favorite teams collide with heated rivals. The pressure-cooker of a stop and go schedule seems to work for busy Americans today.

Baseball traditionally has never failed giving fans the 162-game treat from April to September with the regular season. Thus, when October comes, it’s do or die for a select few.

But is it time for change? MLB commissioner Bud Selig may not be willing to cut the regular season down from 162 games for various reasons. For one, the owners would not approve of losing money from ticket sales. Secondly, traditionalist fans are like cockroaches–they will not disappear and would abhor the thought of tweaking a past-time. Players too may not be fans of a new season. Players would want to commit to their hefty contracts and shatter long-standing records they dreamed of as children playing wiffle ball. Stripping them of a chance to eclipse Pete Rose or Barry Bonds or Nolan Ryan is a feat unlike any oth

er.

It’s a distant conversation for the future, but the future is now. If Selig pulls a Stern in retiring as commissioner, than there is light at the end of the tunnel for the sake of MLB reclaiming the TV crown.

The World Series is a marquee event that now falls below a Super Bowl. Regardless of a Super Bowl hosting two teams that are tough to market, think of the hype built on suspending the game-of-all games to just one solitary night.

It’s a tough choice if someone wants to scrap future Game 7’s for the World Series. But doesn’t the magic take one night of giving all your ammo?

Think of the buzz surrounding a potential game similar to the 2008 post-poned Phillies-Rays matchup. Yes, it was a Game 5 affair but if it was a 7th game, the well rested teams would duel with no limits. Imagine seeing all the available (and ready) aces of a powerful team matching up with another. It would be a chess match for managers and a gripping drama for fans if the World Series was decided by just one game.

The tell of this tale still needs refining (in regards to a neutral location), but perhaps the issue could be resolved by the current All Star Game format. Whichever League wins it in July plays host to the one important game all players dreamed of playing in.

Sporting events come and go. But to swoop in with the most buzz, MLB may need to pick up the slack and think big before the ratings of an Orioles and Reds 6-game World Series becomes a slow death of public doubt and disenchantment.