New York Yankees umpire Aaron No. 99 swings the bat during the first inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field on September 3, 2024 in Arlington, Texas.
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Major League Baseball may be on a different trajectory than it was a few years ago as the league implements rule changes, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said. and a renewed focus on enhancing players’ talents.
Manfred spoke alongside former MLB greats CC Sabathia and Albert Pujols at the Game Plan Sports Business event at CNBC ‘s young star is so important to America.
Manfred said MLB aims to become a more national sport as part of its mindset shift. The league is typically more regional, including its broadcast rights, but Manfred said growing the sport in the way he thinks it’s possible requires a greater focus on bringing MLB games to a wider audience.
“We need a more national strategy,” Manfred told CNBC’s Scott Wapner. “We’re privileged to have a lot of content: 2,430 games. Because of the amount of content, I think there will be some local component, but I think the strategy needs to be more national and our reach needs to be more national.”
Meanwhile, Major League Baseball (MLB) is one of several leagues affected by the bankruptcy reorganization of Diamond Sports, the largest owner of regional sports networks in the United States. Some teams have already parted ways with regional networks, turning to MLB itself to produce and broadcast its games rather than Diamond Sports.
As for MLB star power, all three panelists said they’re excited about the talent the sport has to offer. But Sabathia said the league needs to do a better job of developing and marketing star starting pitchers.
“I don’t know if there are more stars, because I think we have stars,” Sabathia said. “I think we have (Aaron) Judge, we have (Shohei) Ohtani, we have (Juan) Soto. This is the star pitcher, this is the starting pitcher.”
As baseball has progressed, pitchers have thrown fewer and fewer innings, which means the number of complete games and the intensity of two elite starters going head-to-head has decreased. MLB has tweaked its rules to try to keep pitchers in games longer, while the league is reportedly flirting According to ESPN, there are minimum innings requirements for starting pitchers.
Major League Baseball has undergone considerable changes recently. The league enacted rule changes in 2023 that included limiting the number of catches and installing larger bases, the result of which has been a spike in stolen bases over the past two seasons. Shifting or rearranging of players on the field is also reduced, so there are more opportunities for hits to become hits or for players to make more athletic plays on the at-bats.
All three panelists also said it’s important for MLB to have a diverse audience. They pointed out that the alliance officially generally accepted statistics The league emerged from the Negro Leagues for the first time earlier this year and plans to do more work in underserved communities to attract a wider range of players and fans.
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