MAKING BASEBALL FUN AGAIN

Source: CBS Sports

The World Series has not disappointed as far as keeping things interesting even without the Yankees.  The game last night with the back and forth banter between each team besting the other was crazy fun to watch. The night before, watching Walker Buehler get excited with a fist pump as he completed a 2-hit 100+ pitch 7th inning carrying his Dodger team into the 8th with a 1-0 lead was fun to watch.  18 innings may not have been fun, but it was two good teams going at it and that I like.  The competition between two well matched teams is making baseball fun again. But there are other parts of baseball that are taking that fun right out of it.

Source: Sporting News

It was not fun to watch Manny Machado slump up to first base after smashing a deep single into the outfield on Friday night.  "Machado got caught watching a long fly ball that he thought was heading into the seats, only to watch it bang off the wall. He had to settle for a single and missed out on what looked like a potential double," reported CBS Sports. The same article reported that "Manny Machado has not been shy about admitting he'll never be Johnny Hustle. "That's not my cup of tea," he said after jogging out a routine ground ball during the NLCS." 

Source: KNBR 680

The spotlight lens has been focused more closely on the Dodger shortstop over the last several weeks, revealing some undesirable qualities in the young player. These include failure to hustle, cleating the first baseman after crossing the base and just an overall cockiness, which is just not appropriate and only collectively takes away from baseball as a fun competition between two teams, highlighting the player as an individual.

Source: Newsday

He's not the only one taking the fun out of the game.  Guys like Yoenis Cespedes do it too.  I sometimes feel like Gary Sanchez does this when he appears not to hustle down the base paths or behind the plate.  Even the mere appearance of laziness is undesirable.

Source: USA Today

There was an article published a little over a year ago about how baseball needs to brand the "Face of Baseball" in order to take the sport to the next level as far as leveraging star power for more dollars for the game.  According to ESPN, "What this sport needs now, to get back into the Face of Baseball business, is the sort of culture change that will allow the game to give people what sports fans demand in the 21st century -- a culture built around players who aren't afraid to express their personality." But to what extent?  Guys like Machado hurt the sport with their "real personalities" and Kris Bryant and Mike Trout, make baseball fun again with their behaviors both on and off the field.

When I see exciting games and inviting ball parks that welcome fans in, it makes me feel that baseball is reaching out to today's fans and making the game fun again.  When I see attitudes and lack of hustle, it takes the game down a road that it really needs to avoid.  Making baseball fun again is a trend I hope advances as the World Series winds down and a new season begins later this spring.

--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @Suzieprof