Baseball must not squander resurgence in popularity ahead of CBA’s expiration

Put away the defibrillators. America’s former pastime is no longer past its time. Baseball is no longer a sport on life support.

Viewership and participation rates are surging. Attendance in Major League Baseball has increased for three consecutive years, a growth spurt not seen since 2007. And over the next two weeks, Team USA will unveil a lineup of staggering homegrown talent at the World Baseball Classic, an event that should deliver huge ratings in the wake of the 2026 Winter Olympics, especially with all the geopolitical tension in the background.

Baseball is cool all over again.

The resurgence of the sport is comforting. It’s poetic and romantic. It’s a sign of sustainability, renewability and inevitability. It’s proof of the sport’s eternal power.

It’s also a warning to the 30 ownership groups and the 1,200 or so professional athletes in the Major League Baseball Players Association:

You are the custodians of a second chance and a new era. You are the benefactors of the new buzz behind a sport that was once following boxing and horse racing to Valhalla. Together, you have until Dec. 1 to reach a new deal before the current collective bargaining agreement expires. You have a duty to serve the glorious resurrection of baseball.

You would be fools to play with fire once again.

Recent reports estimate that nearly 30 million people now play either baseball or softball. The 8.5 million athletes aged 6-17 who are playing organized baseball represent an increase of 27 percent since 2014. We are no longer a nation of lonely parks and empty sandlots. To the contrary, the Little League complex in my neighborhood just underwent expansion.

There are many reasons for the resurgence. The pitch clock has jettisoned the sport back to the present, back in line with America’s biorhythms and attention span. The average game has been 2:40 or lower for three consecutive years, something that hasn’t happened in four decades. The rules changes have helped baseball escape the Steroid Era and the creeping death of analytics. There is also a serious surge in star power, where the sport features a global tapestry of transcendent players, from Shohei to Aaron Judge to Corbin Carroll, from the United States to the Pacific Rim to Latin America.

There was a time when many forecast the demise of Major League Baseball, predicting a death from old age. Except the age of the average single-game ticket buyer dropped from 46 to 43 in the past three seasons. The sport is getting younger where it matters the most: in the stands, at the turnstiles, outside the lines.

History must not repeat itself. A players’ strike in 1994-95 led to the cancellation of a World Series and the loss of 921 games. It also broke a covenant with the fans, shattering the promise that baseball would always crown a champion, that baseball would always remain a stable, reliable companion in American life. There can be no more disruptions. Not after a wheezing and doddering sport has roared back from the grave.

Reach Bickley at dbickley@arizonasports.com. Listen to Bickley & Marotta weekdays from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7.

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