Maybe underhanded slow pitch is the answer

I suppose there is something incongruous in penning a rant about baseball when I am eagerly anticipating the general start of the NFL season this afternoon. Football replaced baseball as the National Pastime long ago. I’m sure social scientists have mused on the topic somewhere, but the easy reason is football is much better suited for TV. Period. There is nothing baseball can do about it. That is what makes the recent spate of rule changes so senseless. 

In the past few years baseball has tinkered with everything from how managers manage the pitchers to extra inning rules. I’m sorry to tell you baseball, none of this will help. None of your efforts to speed up the game are going to draw in the millennials. Baseball is a slow game. You like it or you don’t. Golf isn’t constantly fidgeting with its rules. Soccer plays an hour with no scoring. Somehow people watch it. 

It was bad enough when they instituted a universal DH (spit). Then they added the stupid “ghost man” on second for extra inning games. They are eliminating the two leagues for all practical purposes (next year every team will play against each other regardless of league). Now we are enlarging bases, putting in a pitch clock, limiting pick off attempts, and designating where players must position themselves on defense.  If we are going to turn baseball into small “L” little league, why don’t we just increase offense like they do for beginners in baseball — get two strikes and we drag out the tee to make it easier to hit the ball. 

All these tweaks and changes are just driving off the die-hard fans who love the game. Want to fix baseball? Figure out how to keep teams from tanking in order to not pay players. Fans will watch competitive games. Twenty-five teams that are competitive is far more interesting than watching the same ten franchises win year after year.

Divide that TV revenue based on win percentage and you would see teams like the Royals, Reds, Pirates, and yes, the Cubs, start to try and win again. 

*yes I’m aware it is the anniversary of 9/11. I’ll never forget. I’ve said enough words over the two plus decades about it. I hope you don’t need me to remind you.