Is Baseball Actually Dying?

Is baseball as we know it progressively dying? There have been many opinions about the game of baseball, some say it’s “too slow”, “too long”, “not competitive enough”. Is that really the case? While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, there is so much more to the game of baseball than negative opinions.

There has been an idea thrown around called the “Catch Up” rule. Recently I read an article from The Wall Street Journal Sports section called, “A Radical Pitch To Save Baseball.” This article explained the Catch Up rule perfectly, stating, “When the game is 0-0 or tied, baseball is played exactly as it is today- three outs per side. But when the at-bat club has or takes a lead, it gets two outs instead of three. For example: Your team is in a scoreless contest. Then your slugger hits a home run to go up 1-0. Now your inning ends at two outs. Not three. As long as you keep a lead, your at-bat innings are two outs” (Jason Gay). This rule would completely change the game by changing the well known rule of “3 outs” to “2 outs”, but why?

The Catch Up rule to me is honestly way too confusing. Baseball is an American pastime sport, why should it suddenly be changed now due to negative opinions? To get another opinion I interviewed sophomore shortstop Jake Shier from Tiffin University. I asked Jake four questions to get his own opinion as to whether or not he believes baseball is truly “dying”.

Me: What do you think of the “Catch Up” rule?

-Honestly, I think it’s very confusing and I’ve been playing baseball all my life. Baseball should be left as it is.

Me: Do you think baseball is truly dying?

-Heck no, baseball will always keep getting more players from all over the world, especially from the Dominican Republic.

Me: If there was one thing you could change about baseball what would it be?

-Great question, honestly I think everything about baseball is perfect how it is, so nothing I guess.

Me: Do you think baseball has as much value as it used to?

-I think baseball has more value than it did in the past because of the players from different countries bringing in new traditions and a new type of swagger.

If a baseball player who has played baseball all his life agrees that baseball should not be changed, I’m confused as to why we would change baseball for “fans” who think the game for instance is “too long”? The article written by Jason Gay states that the Catch Up rule would shave off 24 minutes of the game. I do not believe the problem with the game is the game/time itself. Yes, baseball does have a lot of downtime, which is where I believe there should be a time clock added for pitchers in between each pitch. This rule has been enforced in the minor leagues already but it should definitely become accustomed in the MLB too.

Another problem I believe people think is that they expect action all the time. Baseball is not like football; there are not people hitting each other or making a play at each hand. So in turn, what if another way to solve the negative opinions about baseball was raising/broadening the strike zone? By doing so, this would allow pitchers to give the batter more of a chance to hit the ball, which then would lead to more action in the game. I’m not for changing the game of baseball, but if a few tweaks have to be made to satisfy unhappy fans and to eliminate the idea of the Catch Up rule then I’m all for it.

Baseball is not supposed to be a confusing sport, it is supposed to be played how everyone loves it, which is like it always has been. There will always be negative thoughts and opinions about everything everyone does, this does not mean we should change it to make certain people happy. Every sport has to go through changes, because we are all human and that is the way it works. Rules change, the players change, and the fans change, but we all adapt to the changes because the whole purpose of the changes are for the game we love. Babe Ruth, who is one of the most famous baseball players of all time said that, “Baseball was, is, and always will be to me the best game in the world” (Ruth). Baseball has been a popular sport since 1839 when it was invented, and we can not let it die.