I have been attending Red Sox games for as long as I can remember. I have made some of my best memories sitting on one of Fenway Park’s uncomfortable seats on a cool summer night, watching Big Papi hit out-of-the-park home runs, and feeling like a part of a more than 100-year-old legacy. To me, baseball is the best sport in the world. It seems bizarre that it is so often considered America’s most boring sport.
Baseball is not boring. The constant need for stimulation and our decreasing attention spans have prevented many from fully appreciating America’s former pastime.
In 1947, Baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra famously said, “Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.” This statement often refers to the players and their ability to remain focused on executing plays. I would argue that the same statement is true for baseball’s fans. Fans, like players, have to stay mentally aware in order to comprehend the sport’s complexity and get the full experience of the game. Baseball engages its audience both emotionally and intellectually.
Even still, according to a 2023 Marist poll, 53 percent of Americans describe baseball as boring. Viewership for the 2024 World Series was over 100 million viewers less than the 2024 Super Bowl. Why is it that Americans don’t want to watch baseball anymore?
The answer seems to lie in our need for constant stimulation. Several sports seem to fit this model of constant action. In basketball, there is always someone in motion to watch. Football is the same: once the ball is snapped, the action has to begin. The fast-paced formula of these sports works in parallel with our overstimulated brains. In some ways, however, the formula also makes the sports more predictable.
Baseball is the opposite. The slower pace of the game has led to many Americans giving up on the sport before they are able to view the action. Yet for devoted fans, each game is a trial for the viewer who never knows what will come next.
The truth is, baseball games have plenty of action. I have learned and relearned this fact countless times keeping score from my seat with a little booklet and a golf pencil. Players do the impossible: they make beautiful catches and have incredible at-bats. In baseball, these plays can come at any time and be made by any player, no matter their role or reputation.
For example, Jackie Bradley Jr., a center fielder for the Red Sox with a .234 batting average in the 2018 season, stunned fans that same year by making multiple diving catches and leaps at the Green Monster. I still can remember watching one of his plays with a feeling of anticipation and excitement that only a sport like baseball can produce. As the crowd roared, I was filled with happiness for being able to witness such an event.
Do plays like these happen in every game? I wish I could say yes. Most innings are spent in anticipation of the next big thing and the mystery of the multitude of ways it could unfold. For some, the wait is boring, but for those fully engaged, it allows us to see the true magic of the sport.
All moments in baseball can be incredible, as long as we allow ourselves to slow down and observe what is not as easily observable. Sometimes the most fascinating moments, such as a perfectly placed changeup, are ones you would not catch in a faster-moving sport, where the big moments outshine the small ones. In that way, baseball has also taught me to look for and appreciate all successes, big and small.
Although recently rules implemented by Major League Baseball (MLB), such as a limit on mound visits per game and the pitch clock, have been somewhat successful in condensing the game and, thus, increasing viewership, further game-shortening rules are not necessary. Baseball shouldn’t have to change because it doesn’t fit into our fast-paced lives, and we shouldn’t reject it for this same reason. Instead, we should embrace the sport as it is, and witness both the action of the game and improvements in our focus throughout the process.
As an American who did actually watch the World Series this year, I got to experience the magic of the small success. Nothing made me more proud as a Red Sox fan than getting to observe Aaron Judge, a New York Yankees player and Red Sox rival, as he struck out seven times in the first three games of the series.
In our chaotically fast-paced world, fear of missing out on action can make slowing down seem daunting. Yet sometimes, by taking that step back and by watching that baseball game, we can learn to embrace the slower pace and be better for it.
