The United States is the hegemon of professional sports. It could be the national powerhouse that is the NFL, the international impact of the NBA or the dynasty that is the U.S. women’s soccer team. The United States, for almost the last 100 years, has been the epitome of excellence in organized athletics. 

Baseball was once considered our national pastime, the embodiment of Americana in sports. Players like Nolan Ryan, Bob Gibson, Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio used to dominate both athletics and pop culture – now most Americans don’t even know who the American League MVP was last year. The decline in America’s pastime has been constant and troublesome. 

Baseball is a slow sport. It does not have the intense bursts of activities like football or the constant playing like basketball. The sport is, by design, structured to move at a slower pace. The average baseball game lasts about 2 hours and 50 minutes, but games commonly go up to 3 or even 4 hours. That is a long time (about the time to fly from Kansas City to Los Angeles), and many people do not want to sit through it. Then you add in a 162 game season, and you create a perfect storm for a dwindling fanbase.  Young people do not want to and do not have the time to watch games. 

The NFL and NBA have brilliantly marketed to younger generations and created a stable fanbase that will still be fans in 30 years. Baseball has failed to build on their star power. LeBron James and Tom Brady’s national recognition is enormous, and their respective leagues have promoted this for their well-being. The MLB has the players that can live up to that standard but do not even come close to the publicity needed to build a true brand like other major sports leagues. 

The failure to market their star power creates a lack of enthusiasm in youth sports for baseball. Youth sports have the power to make its players become lifelong fans of the game. Baseball has relied on its title of being America’s pastime for so long that it grew complacent. Through its complacency, baseball has lost the title they coveted for so long.

Baseball is by no means a fringe sport in our country – in fact, it’s still very profitable. In 2012 it brought in almost $7.5 billion in revenue. The problem that baseball faces is that the MLB is not geared for long term success. Baseball does not have a salary cap that limits the cash flow that teams can put into the market. The reason why the top free agents always seem to sign with the same core group of teams is, simply, that money talks.

The divide between the haves and have-nots in professional baseball is incredible. In 2021, the New York Yankees had a little bit over $175 million to spend on their 26-man roster, while the Baltimore Orioles had a little bit over $50 million for theirs. The Yankees could hypothetically buy the Orioles team three times and still have some change. This is part of why baseball can not retain a steady fanbase. 

Let’s run through a hypothetical scenario to show the existential problem for baseball. Team X was able to draft the top prospect in the draft this year. He has all the traits to be a star and a generational player, and he makes it to the league before his rookie contract is up. He has a breakout year and becomes an all-star and is a rising star in the league. Unfortunately, his contract is up, and Team X can only offer him $7 million a year. The competing offer from Team Y is for $21 million, and just like that, Team X lost the future of their franchise, and they have to start over. For over half of all MLB teams, this is their yearly reality.

Why would someone continue to watch and root for a team if they have a different starting nine every year? That in itself is the problem of not having a salary cap like the NBA or the NFL. It only allows for a few organizations to build (or buy) lasting success. Without lasting success, fans don’t come to games – and fan turnout is the lifeblood of all sports. With the average amount of attendance being 28,203 in 2019 (down by 4,000 from 2008), a trend is starting to be seen. Unless you are a big name franchise or are from a big market town, people are not willing to spend money to watch a losing team. That sentiment is not what baseball has or should stand for.

Baseball’s legacy will forever be ingrained into American culture. Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in 1947, President George W. Bush’s 1st pitch after 9/11 and the Cubs 108-year championship drought are all examples of when baseball has seized every American’s attention. Baseball, unlike any other pro sport, can do this. You don’t need to be 6’8″ with a 40 inch vertical or weigh 250lbs and run a 4.3 second 40 yard dash to succeed. Baseball is the living representation of the American Dream.

That’s why every able-bodied 10 year-old in this country can play baseball and be half-decent at it. No one has a genetic advantage of being tall or fast. Everyone starts at the same playing field – it just takes practice and a love for the game. That’s not the case for football, basketball or any other major sport in this country. Not long ago, this was seen as the truth in every household in the U.S.

Professional baseball has strayed from the roots that made it America’s game. They have failed to adjust the game to the modern youth and our generation. The sport’s failure was not through any rule changes, but instead, failing to market as well as the NFL or NBA and creating a fair playing field for every team. Baseball is at a true tipping point, and for the longevity of the sport, it must react and adjust its course.

Baseball season has been uneventful for Kansas City, but that doesn’t mean that it has been uneventful for America. The Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals faced off in the 2019 World Series, which was full of ups and downs, and big comebacks. 

The Astros beat the notorious New York Yankees to gain their spot in the world series, while the Houston Nationals clinched the wild card spot. From there The Astros lost the first two games in a seven-game series but defied the odds when they came back by taking Games 3 and 4. 

Game 5 was eventful, maybe because of the playing – but also because of special appearances. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump showed up in Houston and got many criticisms from the crowd. Along with the president, there were two models dressed in yellow directly behind home plate flashing Houston Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole as a media stunt. However, the Astros didn’t wobble and took the game 7-1.

The Nationals came back and won Game 6, tying up the series 3-3 and making Game 7 an exciting one. The Nationals claimed their first World Series championship in franchise history, winning 6-2. 

“I feel like everybody was rooting for [Houston] and we were kind of the underdog in this Series, but it goes to show that you can’t ever count anybody out,” said second baseman Howie Kendrick.

The power of the underdog has been a common theme throughout these past years in the MLB. The Kansas City Royals took the World Series crown in 2015, and in 2016 the Chicago Cubs broke their curse and brought home the trophy against the Cleveland Indians. In 2017, the Astros won in a series of seven games against the LA Dodgers. 

The past World Series in 2018 was a bit of a boring series, and many criticized it. 

“From games that stretched way past most people’s bedtimes to the obsessive nature of modern managing, staying engaged throughout the Red Sox’s run felt more like a duty than an escape,” critics said.

Luckily, the 2019 World Series brought the game of baseball back alive. After the win, the Nationals are seen rushing the field and tackling their star pitcher, Stephen Strasburg, who also became the 2019 MVP of the season.

Photo by David J Phillip/AP/REX/Shutterstock (9947127gq)

The historic 2018 Fall Classic concluded Oct. 28 with the Boston Red Sox winning the series in five games. The Sox won a franchise record of 108 games this season and were dominant throughout the postseason. Beating two 100 win teams – the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees – in the postseason and dominating the World Series with only one loss in their marathon 18-inning third game, the Red Sox were easy to root for and utterly crushed the Los Angeles Dodgers in the end.

The story of the 2018 Red Sox is both a story of redemption and of coronation. David Price, historically pitiful in the postseason, won two games and helped clinch the series. In his previous postseason appearances, he has lost eight times and had an earned run average over five – his failure to perform aided the Kansas City Royals in beating the Toronto Blue Jays on their way to victory in 2015. He entered the postseason with the knowledge of his need to dominate for the sake of his reputation.

“I need to win in October,” Price said. “That’s that. Regular season means nothing for me.”

As one of the highest-paid pitchers in the MLB, his legacy had been one of, for lack of a better word, choking when it really mattered. He had been hated by the Boston media and his 2015 $217 million contract was criticized nationwide for Price’s inability to help a team win in the postseason. By helping lead his team to victory, Price has redeemed himself and established his reputation as one of the best in the game, both in the regular and postseasons.

More so than a story of redemption, however, the 2018 postseason was a story of domination. With 119 total wins, Boston had a thoroughly impressive season. In the American League Division Series, they beat the Yankees in four games with a point differential of 28 runs – a certifiably crazy amount. The Red Sox’s season is one of the best in MLB history – their total record was third only to the 1998 Yankees and 2001 Mariners.

Throughout the regular and postseason, the team showed skill, confidence and pure desert of the championship. Despite this being the second consecutive year in which the Dodgers lost in the World Series, Boston was clearly deserving of the crown and was easy to cheer for.

The only blip in the Sox’s domination was the record-length 18-inning Game three. The Dodgers won the seven and a half hour long game for their only victory in the series – setting the record for longest postseason or World Series game in history.

Sometimes it’s fun to watch an underdog completely upset expectations and take the championship against all odd. But other times it’s just fun to appreciate complete and utter domination. You don’t always get to see the kind of talent that Boston exhibited throughout 2018, especially in the World Series. They are certain to go down as one of the great teams.

In game three of the 2017 World Series, Houston Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel hit a homerun to put his team up 1-0 in the second inning. The camera followed Gurriel into the dugout for footage of the team celebration. While the camera remained on him, he reached up to his face and pulled his eyes back to a slant while saying what appeared to be “chinito”, mocking the heritage of Japanese Dodger’s pitcher Yu Darvish.

Photo courtesy of Business Insider

Gurriel, a native Cuban, attempted to rationalize his actions by saying, “In Cuba, we call everyone who’s from Asia ‘chino,'” and “I didn’t want to offend anybody in Japan. I have a lot of respect for Japan. I played in Japan.”

Gurriel’s apology was far from what I would call sufficient, but I am more disappointed with the way the MLB handled the incident. Gurriel was allowed to play the rest of the Series. His punishment will be a five-game suspension without pay at the beginning of the 2018 season. These beginning games are trivial compared to the loss Gurriel would have felt from missing out on the remainder of the World Series.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred stated that Gurriel was not banned from the rest of the Series because that would have punished the other Astros players as well. With this decision the MLB set the precedent that the game is more important than upholding human dignity. I’m finding it harder to love America’s favorite pastime when the values of American society are being compromised in the process. The American political climate today has reverted to racial harassment, and I’m upset that this is permeating other aspects of society, such as baseball.    

The World Series incident does not stand alone. Other discriminatory events occurred throughout the 2017 season. Fans harrassed Baltimore Orioles centerfielder Adam Jones at Fenway Park in May, repeatedly calling him the N-word. A bag of peanuts was thrown at him, too. The fans were removed from the park immediately. In September, a banner was hung from the Green Monster that said “Racism is as American as Baseball.” Once again the fans were removed.

The hasty removal of fans is inconsistent with the lackluster approach that was taken with Gurriel. Gurriel finished the game. Gurriel finished the season. Gurriel won a World Series Championship. If Gurriel had been a fan in the stands, I think the MLB would have taken different actions because the MLB is quick to denounce racism, so long as it doesn’t interfere with the game.

Photo courtesy of Bleacher Report