Make Baseball Great Again

Baseball is experiencing a decline in popularity, with 2018 providing the lowest attendance numbers in 15 years. You could show the average person a picture of LeBron James, and they would be able to tell you who it is within seconds. The same can not be said for Mike Trout, the best baseball player on the planet for the majority of the last decade. ​You always hear the same tired excuses as to why this is. The game is too slow. People don’t have time to watch a three-hour game. Baseball is not built for social media sharing. There are few things I hate more than people pointing out problems and not offering solutions. Which is why I’m calling on the MLB to adopt these 5 rule changes. 1) Allow Performance Enhancing Drugs ​ ​Baseball was so fun when McGwire, Bonds and Sosa were ‘roided up to the point of ripping out of their uniforms and tearing the cover off the ball. “Chicks dig the long ball” didn’t become a saying by accident. But I’m not just talking about steroids. MLB began testing for amphetamines in 2006, a huge mistake. We want to see our athletes at peak human performance. #BringBackGreenies 2) Aluminum bats and no netting in foul ball territory ​MLB utilizes wooden bats and netting in foul territory for the safety of the players and fans. But safe isn’t sexy. It’s often said that millennials prefer paying for experiences over possessions. What an experience going to the game becomes knowing every pitch could possibly result in a home run or a death. 3) Booby Traps Adding guerrilla warfare tactics to the game of baseball will certainly garner buzz and change the way the game is played forever. Jackie Bradley Jr. might be a little less aggressive tracking down long fly balls in the gap knowing he may be falling to a painful death in a spiked pit. 4) Live Animals Once a game, the home team is allowed to release an animal of prey of their choice onto the field to roam. When you need to get out of a bases loaded jam, don’t send in the lefty specialist reliever. Send in the mountain lion. 5) Literal Sacrifice Bunts If a bunt is successful in advancing the runner, one player from the fielding team is sacrificed in a ceremony in between innings. Same goes for the batter if he is unsuccessful. This takes one of the more mundane plays in the game and transforms it into must watch baseball. “Oh no, he’s about to bunt!” said no one ever, until now. If you want to reach a new generation of fans, you have to take risks. You can’t just add a pitch clock or limit the amount of mound visits for a team and expect drastic change. Don’t think about the danger, MLB. Think about the likes, views and memes.