Once Again, Baseball's Fine

And there's still nothing like October baseball

I don’t write about baseball enough. I’m open to that constructive feedback from myself. But every time it gets to be this time of year, I’m again reminded. This is the good stuff.

It’s still the good stuff, even when I don’t have even a semblance of a stake in how these playoffs play out.

(And I don’t. The most exciting thing happening to the St. Louis Cardinals right now is that they’ve decided to clean house… after next year. Expedience is not our strong suit, nor, these days, is baseball. Adam Wainwright in the booth for FS1 is as close as we’re coming to the playoffs anytime soon. But I mercifully digress.)

Ratings are up across the board. Having some of the sport’s marquee franchises and players involved obviously helps, as does having more competitive series. The Mets are delivering a lot of that tension, going to three against the Brewers, giving ESPN its most-watched baseball game in three years and helping pull the entirety of that playoff round to its highest ratings ever.¹

That was then followed by four 1-1 ties in the divisional round, which must have had the league office pretty pleased with itself. I found myself pretty annoyed with the discourse last year over which teams “should” be making a run to the World Series, versus those that “should not.”

I’m not a believer in that sort of thing. If better regular-season teams want to advance, then they should consider playing better when it counts. Baseball has high potential for random chaos baked in. I’ve never thought that was a knock on it and I still don’t.

So no, the Mets are not, in many respects, altogether “better” than the Phillies. And if you’re a Phillies fan, by all means, you have every right to say that they “should” beat the Mets. Based on the talent disparity, they’re right. They “should.” Problem, though. They didn’t. And that’s okay.

Power rankings are an imperfect, subjective measure, but the Phillies were near the very top — often #1 — throughout the entire year. The Mets sunk as low as #25, and deservedly so. They were 22-33 at the end of May. That’s bad.

They pulled it together, made the playoffs, and ended up thoroughly outplaying a superior Phillies team outside of the cardiac event that was Game 2. That’s the sort of loss that sucks the air out of a squad less replete with devil magic.

Then Francisco Lindor, the all-world shortstop whose run in New York has, it’s fair to say, had its ups and downs, hit a series-clinching grand slam on Wednesday night to send this team to face the winner of the Padres and Dodgers series that will be settled tonight. Two coasts, one pennant. Should be a lot of fun.

This, again, is the good stuff. Even in the regular season, whose 162-game everpresence seems so out of step with the attention span of our society, both ratings and attendance are sharply up. MLB is taking a largely earned victory lap on the rule changes that have produced faster games and more stolen bases.

Improvements have been made along the margins of this aging sport. Like other American leagues, it’s wisely pursuing the more global fanbase that modern technology has made more reachable than ever before. Double-digit growth in Asia and Latin America seems poised to continue.

Baseball still has some real juice. Which is not to say that it lacks for real problems too. The Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy has devolved to the point where fans across the country can’t be sure how they’ll watch their team next year.

In terms of the actual gameplay, there remains a persistent strikeout crisis. We are still in living in a three-true-outcomes world, and apart from some kind of change to the pitchers’ mound — which would make for a fraught negotiation with the players, to be sure — it’s tough to see that improving on its own, what with the well-documented rise in velocity and spin rate. And that, for what it’s worth, brings its own issues in terms of pitcher durability. Much ink has been spilled over that crisis too.

The biggest one is the clear and present recession from the zeitgeist, in what I’ve taken to calling — with all due respect — the hockey-ification of baseball. That’s where it’s headed, meaning second class among American sports culture. This year’s numbers, while encouraging, don’t forestall that wider trend.

I’d just like to take this chance to say that that’s still a pretty damn good place to be. Baseball is not the dominant influence it once was. That’s not coming back. Gone are the days when baseball players were among the biggest celebrities in the world, though Shohei Ohtani does present a notable exception.

Baseball’s not going to be the thing anymore, and that, too, is okay. It’s October, and all is well.

Also, This

👩‍⚖️ We sure are doing a whole lot of lawyering lately. The House v. NCAA settlement took a step forward this week, after the deal seemed to be in serious jeopardy in recent weeks. It took some compromise to get this far, notably including the language around how NIL deals would be governed in future. Many steps are yet to come. The next one of consequence would be seeing whether athletes lodge a formal objection to the terms, the deadline for which is Jan. 31. Buckle up, y’all.

🏈 College sports are just better at upsets. Vanderbilt beat No. 1-ranked Alabama this past weekend. Perhaps you heard. Or, if you happened to be in the Cumberland River late Saturday night, perhaps you were hit with the goalposts. Goalpost? Singular? It’s hard to be sure. At any rate, they’re no longer with us. It was a burial at sea, and it only cost the school $100,000. Worth it!

🎾 A fond farewell to Rafael Nadal. This had obviously been coming for some time now, and now it’s official. He provided so many of the best matches in history that I’d be hard-pressed to do them all justice now, but even if the 2008 Wimbledon final was the only one, he’d be a legend for that alone. He also happened to win 21 other Major finals. Not bad.

🍺 And speaking of hockey, it warmed my cold zamboni’d heart to see that the number making the rounds after the Utah Hockey Club’s debut in Salt Lake City was not fans in attendance, but beer sales. A way better metric, I think we can all agree. $120,000, by the way, which ain’t bad. Still rooting for Yeti to become the name. Imagine an abominable running around the arena handing out Uintas? Oh, that’s right. You better believe I’m familiar with a craft brewery in Utah. They didn’t give me this mustache without a test.

1. I’m pretty sure that has a lot to do with the fact that this format is pretty much brand new and has rarely ever given us even a three-game series, like that Mets-Brewers showdown, but hey. Ever’s still ever.