The MLB has been losing fans more than any of the other major sports leagues in the US (NFL, NHL, NBA). They made rule changes this last year that raised viewership and stopped their downward trend, but they have to do more.
The rule changes they made this last year focused on shortening the game length and creating more excitement. The new shorter pitch clock and the addition of a limit on pitcher step-offs shortened the average length of games by over 20 minutes. Additionally, the bigger sized bases and the new shift rule created more base runners and dramatically raised the number of stolen bases. These rules achieved their goals and were successful in curbing the decline in viewership the MLB had seen in the last few years.
There is one major rule change that needs to be made immediately. Currently, the check swing rule is very vague in the rule book, but this play has been ending games and seasons with controversy. Currently, the MLB just leaves the decision of whether a swing is a swing or not up to the discretion of each umpire. With lots of different opinions on what is a swing, this leads to inconsistency between different umpiring crews. The MLB has to find a more defined rule so that they can end the controversy that occurs with every check swing that happens.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said back in April that before any decisions are made about expansion, “stadium issues in Tampa Bay (Rays) and Oakland (Athletics) would need to be resolved.” Over the summer, both the Rays and Athletics found new homes, with the Athletics set to build a new stadium in Las Vegas and the Rays coming to an agreement with Tampa to stay in the area.
MLB expansion might be exactly what they need to draw in new fans. Everyone likes expansion teams, the thrill of having a new team in a new city just draws people in. With the stadium situations resolved with the Athletics and the Rays, the MLB should be expanding soon. Currently, the MLB has divisions of 5 teams, back in April, Manfred stated, “Multiples of fours just work better (for scheduling) than multiples of fives.” This indicates that MLB expansion is more a matter of when, not if.
Another change the MLB should make in the near future is to allow the trading of draft picks. We see draft pick trading in every other major sport, and it creates intrigue to the draft process. The MLB already has the best trade deadline of any sport. If they allow the trading of draft picks, they might be able to build their draft day to compete with the likes of the NFL and NBA drafts.
The final change they need to make is a system that was tested in Triple A baseball this year. The Automated Balls and Strike system was being tested this year in the minor leagues. Using this system, Triple A saw a slight decrease in strikeouts and a slight increase in walks, batting average, and home runs. How it works is that a human umpire makes the call of a ball or strike and then if the pitcher, catcher, or batter disagree they can challenge the call. A team gets 3 challenges a game, but they retain a challenge if it is successful. Some think this would dramatically slow the game down, but it is actually a very quick process and did not slow the games in triple A down very much.
There are still some kinks to work out with this system such as right now it is using a 2D zone which is a big disadvantage to pitchers with a lot of movement on their ball because their pitch might catch part of the plate but if it does not hit the automated strike zone it won’t be called. This is a system that would help the MLB, but I don’t see it coming into play in the near future.
