Baseball is an amazing sport. A wooden bat cracks a white leather ball with red threads. The ball simmers through the air and then bounces off the dirt into the leather glove of a charging athlete. The athlete gathers the ball in their glove, grabs the ball with their other bare hand, and throws a rocket to their teammate, who is waiting with one cleat on a white bag. The person who hit the ball has thrown their bat to the side. The bat harmlessly lands approximately 4 feet from the entrance of the dugout where their teammates reside. Time appears to slow down as the batter reaches what is known as first base.
“You’re OUT!” yells the grumbly voice of an umpire as the thrown ball smacks into the glove of the first baseman about 0.3 seconds before the runner’s cleat stomps the bag. The dust settles. One out in the top of the first inning. While the next batter goes to the plate, the TV broadcaster tells a story of how the pitcher survived numerous obstacles to the point of starting in game one of a Playoff matchup between two rivals that know each other all too well.
Seven pitches later, the batter is out after he hit a ball to deep left field only to fall into the glove of the left fielder. Two outs in the first.
I will be 100% honest with my readers: That sounded fun. However, imagine what that sounds like in the 5th inning as the score is 2-1. Kind of boring, right? In this article, I’ll go over TWO things that make Major League Baseball suck.
In 2020, the United States was introduced to the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO for short). Granted, not many saw it, but while Americans waited on their past time to find a way to play amid a global pandemic, they could wake up at 4:00 in the morning to see a game. Don’t worry – English announcers simulcast it via Zoom and ESPN.
The best thing about the KBO was how fast and energetic it was. The scores were higher. While that may not be your cup of tea, it felt like they had a pitch clock. No need to wait a minute or so. Throw the ball in 12 seconds or one ball is counted in favor of the batter. I came across a Yahoo! Sports article by Leander Schaerlaeckens who said, “the fan, rather than tradition, comes first” in the KBO. Yep!
Another glaring problem with Major League Baseball is the acceptance of blatant cheating. Imagine that you are a little kid who loves baseball. Maybe you want to throw the ball as well as Clayton Kershaw. Or you might want to hit home runs like Aaron Judge. Then again, fielding is awesome and Mookie Betts is that dude. However, what if you found out that despite being an awesome pitcher, you lose anyways because the other team steals your signs so that they know where your pitch is going? What if you find that you have no chance of fielding because someone uses steroids to hit home runs constantly? Does that make the game fun?
There are arguments made by MLB ‘experts’ who think steroid use is fine. Excuse me? You find it okay to make yourself stronger to hit the ball farther? The same ‘experts’ will tell you that SIGN STEALING is fine. WHAT?! How is that possible? Don’t hit me with that garbage of, “guys have done it for years” either. That is so disrespectful. These folks are trying to convince people that I can 1) be super strong and 2) know what is being thrown. There is no way to lose. It makes no sense. Where is the respect and competition?
Baseball is an amazing sport, but the MLB ruins it. They don’t care that it’s slow and boring. They don’t care if you cheat. Yet they wonder why the NBA and NFL succeed. Interesting…
