Baseball Has Lost Its Grip On America

As I was watching the Chiefs-Bills game Sunday night along with what seemed like half of America my thoughts turned to how football has really become our national pastime.  The reasons are many…from violence and speed to gambling and fantasy leagues.  However part of football’s dominance with the public is baseball has slowly faded and that’s a trend that is likely to continue.

Just think.  While Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen were lighting up the scoreboard in an epic battle baseball’s owners and players association were getting ready to meet for just the second time since MLB locked out the players on December 2^nd.  At this point it seems very unlikely the two sides will agree to a new collective bargaining agreement in time for the scheduled spring training openers in a month.

This is usually the time when baseball fans get excited when they hear “pitchers and catchers report to Florida and Arizona” but those words are not being spoken because nobody knows when spring training will start.  So while those two sides continue to wage their own war against one another what used to be America’s national pastime continues to lose its grip on a sporting public that has grown apathetic to a game that seems stuck in molasses.  You know that line about something being as boring as “watching paint dry.”  Well that sums up baseball at times as we watching the batter step out of the box after every pitch to adjust his gloves while the pitcher steps off the mound, looks around and then shakes off the catcher five times.  Just scintillating!

Look as a Mets fan I should be excited about the upcoming season.  New players, new manager, new outlook.  However right now it’s not about pitchers and catchers but free agency, length of service, universal DH….money, money, money.

By the way how far has baseball fallen off the sports spectrum?  Well the World Series was only three months ago….do you remember who played in it?  I didn’t think so…..it was Atlanta and Houston with the Braves winning in six.