OPINION By Alexa D'Amato

  Major League Baseball’s demise is going to be because of their own inability to attract young fans.

  Between the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, and Major League Baseball, baseball has the fewest number of Generation Z members who consider themselves Major League Baseball fans. According to USA Today, 49% of Generation Z fans said that they were football fans, 47% said they were basketball fans, and 35% said they were esports fans. Only 32% of Generation Z said that they were casual baseball fans.

  The gap between the number of sports fans in baseball compared to other major sports has led to Major League Baseball creating a TikTok account, matching the efforts that basketball, football, and hockey leagues have put in. In an effort to reach out to a larger audience, the Major League Baseball TikTok account announced a plan to create an annual “Creator Class” in 2021. The Creator Class was made as a way for baseball fans to promote to younger generations through popular creators, including popular baseball creator Jackson Olson.

  The major problem with the Creator Class is that the creators selected made baseball-related content prior to their ambassadorship, meaning that their audience was mostly baseball fans. While their content was able to grow and become more advanced, as members of the Creator Class were allowed on the field and in press boxes, their new content was not reaching the intended audience. Their platforms expanded, but only to more baseball fans, not to fans of other sports. The Creator Class was not reaching non-baseball fans, but it was creating a community for young baseball fans to share content.

  A common complaint among Generation Z fans, fans with school, part time jobs, and extracurricular activities, are the start times of games. The post-season started at a later date than usual, on Friday, October 7. The first postseason game of 2022 was between the Cleveland Guardians and the Tampa Bay Rays, and started at 12:00 P.M. Eastern. Obviously, much of Generation Z is at school during Friday afternoons, decreasing the number of young viewers. On the same day, the Wild Card game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners started at 4:00 P.M. Many young fans are either on their way home from school or have just arrived home. Many of the weekday games started while Generation Z was still in school, despite the timezones. 

  All of the World Series games started just after 8:00 eastern time. The average Major League Baseball game takes over three hours to complete, meaning that the games ended at around 11:00 for fans on the East Coast. Many young fans were not able to take three hours out of their night to watch baseball games, regardless of their importance. When games start at 8:00, dedicated fans are likely staying up until past 11:00, later if they want to watch the postgame show. Games are being played at inconvenient times for young fans and the number of Generation Z baseball fans is reflecting that. How can organizations expect to have young fans if they aren’t available during game time?

  On top of that, individual players that build their name into their own brand have developed bad reputations in recent years. Former Los Angeles Dodger starting pitcher Trevor Bauer was notorious for speaking his mind and doing what he wanted, regardless of who mocked him for it. His name became recognized by all sports fans, not just baseball fans, and he was celebrated for speaking his mind. Major League Baseball realized that Bauer was bringing sports fans back to baseball, he was modernizing the ancient sport. The general style of promotion for Major League Baseball shifted from headlining games to showcasing players. Unfortunately for this promotion strategy, it relied on players being able to show the positive aspects of their character. 

  In June of 2021, the Pasadena Police Department told news sources that Bauer was under investigation for assaulting a woman in May. Days after the confirmation from the police, Major League Baseball placed Bauer on administrative leave and the Dodgers organization canceled their Bauer bobblehead giveaway. Since this incident, Major League Baseball has been cautious about which players they display. Because of the actions taken by Major League Baseball to promote Bauer prior to his investigation, Bauer still has a community of fans who defend his actions. Sports media has gradually left Bauer and stopped giving him attention, and instead ushering fans towards the action on the field.

  Sports media also has a large influence on fans. New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge was on the hunt for the American League single season home run record for the better part of the season. His chase brought fans back to baseball, fans who were excited to watch history happen. Writers and fans on social media found every way to explain how Judge’s climb to beat former Yankee Roger Marris wasn’t as impressive and exciting as it was. Fans who were looking to return to watching baseball were slowly turned away, thinking that Judge’s feat wasn’t as monumental as they once thought. 

  The constant negativity from people looking to draw attention away from Judge’s record isn’t anything new to baseball. In 2019, The Athletic announced that the Houston Astros cheated throughout the 2017 and into the 2018 season, using an elaborate system with trash cans and buzzers as a way to relay signs to the batter. Despite the roster and front office being almost completely different in 2022, fans and writers were still looking for ways to discredit the organization. Casual baseball fans are turning away from baseball, yet again, because the constant negativity is something that has become overbearing.

  Who can blame someone for not being a baseball fan in 2022? The promotion methods have yet to show any promising change and young people are not being accommodated into the game schedules. Young fans don’t want to see the same things that their grandparents saw, and it’s time for Major League Baseball to make the necessary changes. If they don’t, then it is only a matter of time before baseball’s time is up.