Post by soulflower on Aug 7, 2023 9:37:03 GMT -5
NY Mag: Baseball Finally Feels Vital Again
Late last month, Major League Baseball touted its average attendance on a random Tuesday. It was, at first blush, a curious announcement but notable enough: Eight of the 15 games that day had drawn more than 36,000 fans. That was, according to MLB, the best non-holiday Tuesday since 2015 and the second best since 2008.
In an era of diminishing attention spans, myriad online distractions, and an enormous array of entertainment to choose from, stodgy baseball might just be having a renaissance. Attendance has surged 9 percent from last year, the largest single-year increase since 1998, when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, the steroid-addled sluggers, were shattering home-run records. Declinist narratives have to be shelved, for the moment at least.
Despite some initial fan consternation, all the recent rule changes have been wildly successful. The genius of the pitch clock is that it has transformed the game into what it once was. Watch any old film of a baseball game from the 1960s, ’70s, or ’80s and you’ll see rapid-fire sequences. A pitcher gets the ball and immediately decides to pitch. A batter doesn’t stray from the box. Balls bounce around the infield dirt and outfield grass because strikeouts are less frequent. Baseball has still not solved its strikeout problem, but it is a far tidier product today, with an average game time down to around two hours and 40 minutes, about what was last seen in the early 1980s.
Stolen bases, thanks to the limit on pickoff throws, have surged. The Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr., the front-runner for National League MVP, became the first player in history to have 20-plus home runs and more than 50 stolen bases before August. It’s plausible a player in the coming years could break the 100 stolen-base threshold again, joining the likes of Rickey Henderson, Vince Coleman, and Lou Brock.
Baseball’s attendance spike can be partly credited to another Manfred innovation: the six new wild cards. In addition to three division winners in each league, three teams with the next best record can reach the postseason. This rule change was potentially dangerous because baseball’s marathon regular season has already been cheapened over the last 20 years. Fans don’t want to see their sport transformed into the NBA, where many teams treat the regular season as a formality before a lengthy, multi-month playoff gauntlet. So far, MLB has struck the right mix, allowing many more teams to play meaningful games in August and September. Fans in cities like Cincinnati, Seattle, Miami, and Arizona have reasons to show up at the ballpark each night. Though I miss the days when interleague play was a novelty, Manfred’s new balanced schedule — teams now play out-of-league games all year and face their division foes less frequently — has meant many more marquee franchises, like the Yankees and Red Sox and Dodgers, traveling to cities they wouldn’t normally visit, boosting attendance further. And though the traditionalist in me shudders, Manfred was clearly right to bring the designated hitter to the National League and end the spectacle of .120 pitchers straining to lay down bunts.
Baseball has been lucky too. Perhaps no American sport possesses such a wondrous well of homegrown and global talent. The two-way Japanese marvel, Shohei Ohtani, is an international superstar reimagining the sport itself. The six-foot-seven Aaron Judge smashed 62 homers last year and is finally back from injury. The aforementioned Acuña is a threat to steal 80 bases while hitting 40 home runs. Down in Miami, little Luis Arraez has flirted with .400, living off slash-and-bloop singles like a reincarnated Tony Gwynn. Baseball, in turn, could start to matter more in the culture again, particularly if the World Series produces a compelling showdown of the game’s biggest stars. The most resonant talents in baseball today have yet to reach their mid-30s, which is no longer true of the NBA. As great as Nikola Jokić has become, he has yet to rival the fame and popularity of LeBron James, Kevin Durant, or Stephen Curry.
With exception to the automatic baserunner in extra-innings, I think most of the rule changes have been good overall for the game.
Late last month, Major League Baseball touted its average attendance on a random Tuesday. It was, at first blush, a curious announcement but notable enough: Eight of the 15 games that day had drawn more than 36,000 fans. That was, according to MLB, the best non-holiday Tuesday since 2015 and the second best since 2008.
In an era of diminishing attention spans, myriad online distractions, and an enormous array of entertainment to choose from, stodgy baseball might just be having a renaissance. Attendance has surged 9 percent from last year, the largest single-year increase since 1998, when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, the steroid-addled sluggers, were shattering home-run records. Declinist narratives have to be shelved, for the moment at least.
Despite some initial fan consternation, all the recent rule changes have been wildly successful. The genius of the pitch clock is that it has transformed the game into what it once was. Watch any old film of a baseball game from the 1960s, ’70s, or ’80s and you’ll see rapid-fire sequences. A pitcher gets the ball and immediately decides to pitch. A batter doesn’t stray from the box. Balls bounce around the infield dirt and outfield grass because strikeouts are less frequent. Baseball has still not solved its strikeout problem, but it is a far tidier product today, with an average game time down to around two hours and 40 minutes, about what was last seen in the early 1980s.
Stolen bases, thanks to the limit on pickoff throws, have surged. The Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr., the front-runner for National League MVP, became the first player in history to have 20-plus home runs and more than 50 stolen bases before August. It’s plausible a player in the coming years could break the 100 stolen-base threshold again, joining the likes of Rickey Henderson, Vince Coleman, and Lou Brock.
Baseball’s attendance spike can be partly credited to another Manfred innovation: the six new wild cards. In addition to three division winners in each league, three teams with the next best record can reach the postseason. This rule change was potentially dangerous because baseball’s marathon regular season has already been cheapened over the last 20 years. Fans don’t want to see their sport transformed into the NBA, where many teams treat the regular season as a formality before a lengthy, multi-month playoff gauntlet. So far, MLB has struck the right mix, allowing many more teams to play meaningful games in August and September. Fans in cities like Cincinnati, Seattle, Miami, and Arizona have reasons to show up at the ballpark each night. Though I miss the days when interleague play was a novelty, Manfred’s new balanced schedule — teams now play out-of-league games all year and face their division foes less frequently — has meant many more marquee franchises, like the Yankees and Red Sox and Dodgers, traveling to cities they wouldn’t normally visit, boosting attendance further. And though the traditionalist in me shudders, Manfred was clearly right to bring the designated hitter to the National League and end the spectacle of .120 pitchers straining to lay down bunts.
Baseball has been lucky too. Perhaps no American sport possesses such a wondrous well of homegrown and global talent. The two-way Japanese marvel, Shohei Ohtani, is an international superstar reimagining the sport itself. The six-foot-seven Aaron Judge smashed 62 homers last year and is finally back from injury. The aforementioned Acuña is a threat to steal 80 bases while hitting 40 home runs. Down in Miami, little Luis Arraez has flirted with .400, living off slash-and-bloop singles like a reincarnated Tony Gwynn. Baseball, in turn, could start to matter more in the culture again, particularly if the World Series produces a compelling showdown of the game’s biggest stars. The most resonant talents in baseball today have yet to reach their mid-30s, which is no longer true of the NBA. As great as Nikola Jokić has become, he has yet to rival the fame and popularity of LeBron James, Kevin Durant, or Stephen Curry.
With exception to the automatic baserunner in extra-innings, I think most of the rule changes have been good overall for the game.