Growing up, my friends and I would almost try and relive The Sandlot, but kids today don’t see baseball as an exciting game largely because it is too slow. Baseball’s ratings have been falling for years now. In 2012, Johnathan Mahler stated, “the NBA’s regular season ratings on ABC were nearly double those of Major League Baseball on Fox. The last eight years have produced the seven least-watched World Series on record.”  Stats like these are scary for members of the MLB office of the commissioner. Baseball seems to be losing touch with today’s generation of kids.

One reason baseball has declined with the younger generation is because parents want their kids to focus on one sport. This leads to kids choosing popular sports such as basketball or football. Another reason for the decline is the length of game time. Baseball can be slow and boring, and with 162 regular season games, interest from fans is hard to maintain.  Baseball just can’t compare to football because it’s more up-tempo with action and only has 16 regular season games.

To many of the younger generation, the phrase “national pastime” doesn’t sound exciting. NBC broadcaster Bob Costas believes, “It sounds like a guy sitting on a rocking chair on his porch listening to a game on the radio and maybe he’s whistling.” Costas is not wrong, which is why the MLB and USA Baseball is starting to promote the “PlayBall” initiative which is almost a mirror image of the NFL’s PLAY 60 program. The programs goal is to promote the sport of baseball to the younger generation through clinics lead by Hall of Famers and today’s stars.

With new younger players such as Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, Kris Bryant, or even Noah Syndergaard, who are flooding the market. Today’s kids recognize these top names as the bright future of baseball. In fact, at the All-Star break this past July, five of the top ten players in jersey sales were aged 26 or younger. Baseball seems to be on the rise with the 2016 World Series Game 7 between the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians, being the 5th most watched sporting event in 2016. Forty million plus fans were drawn to World Series Game 7,  just to see if the Cubs could break the 108 year curse of the Billy Goat. With interest drawing from the youth to breaking curses, means baseball has a bright future that can last for another generation.