Last fall the Cats started the season 7-1 and were in the top 10, yet Manhattan was barely paying attention because of the Royals. That's all you need to know about whether or not the MLB season is too long.
Just think of all the people who have tuned out MLB entire by then. Of course the White Midwestern baseball apologists on this board will continually say "more popular than ever" blah, blah, blah. But imagine the popularity of baseball if a massive portion of the pro sports loving community hadn't completely tuned them out because baseball chooses to plays its "Fall Classic" at the time the most popular sport in the country's regular season is hitting full stride. In fact, with the Royals being good again, it could actually be an even bigger boon to their popularity on a national scale. Right, wrong or indifferent a Royals-Giants World Series doesn't really move the needle in late October in areas dominated by traditional MLB power teams. Those are pro sports dominated areas that have moved on to their NFL/NHL/NBA teams.