Is baseball broken?

Post Reports

The Washington Post

Daily News, Politics, News

4.4 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2021

⏱️ ? minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Baseball is back, and almost normal — which means the sport is once again plagued with lots of problems that predate the pandemic. Today, we explore the fastball, the nonstop no hitters, and what’s wrong with baseball.

There’s a growing trend in baseball — and it could be the downfall of America’s favorite pastime. We revisit a past episode with sports reporter Dave Sheinin on how high-velocity pitches are now dominating the sport. “What's being lost in baseball is the nuance, and it’s always been a game of nuance,” Dave says. “You're losing things like the stolen base, the bunt, the hit and run play. A lot of strategy and nuance is lost from the game when all it is is power versus power.”

Major League Baseball’s offensive woes are complicated, and they don’t appear to be going away. National baseball reporter Chelsea Janes explains what might be going on, and what MLB might try to do about it.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the newsroom of the Washington Post.
0:06.0	Hi, this is Ben Terris coming from the Washington Post.
0:09.0	Hi, Jack, this is Winthrop.
0:11.0	Hi there, how are you?
0:12.0	It's Lisa bonus, calling for the post.
0:15.0	This is Post Reports.
0:17.0	I'm Alexis D.L.
0:19.0	It's Friday, June 4th.
0:24.0	Today, baseball is back.
0:29.0	But it's still kind of broken.
0:36.0	Yeah, they'll play about 20 plus years.
0:40.0	For many Americans, baseball means summertime.
0:43.0	And this year, unlike last year, baseball has been almost normal.
0:48.0	Williams to foul.
0:50.0	Fisted in the air foul and this ball is going to be on a play.
0:54.0	Here's Aaron Hicks, batting third.
0:56.0	That goes Margot on the track at the wall.
0:59.0	She's gone.
1:01.0	Oh, let the guardian party begin.
1:04.0	But the return of baseball has also met the return of some of the problems that were plaguing the sport, even before the pandemic.
1:12.0	Martin Powers and I did a story about some of those problems in 2019.
1:17.0	And it still rings true today.
	...

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