Three Trends to Follow as a New MLB Season Begins

Major League Baseball steps into the sports spotlight this week with the arrival of Opening Day. As always, the season promises to deliver its share of highs and lows for fans who choose to come along for the emotional roller coaster. Spirits are high today, however, because for the final time in 2018, the slate is clean. Every team has 162 games to go; every team has a fighting chance.

While we wait for the action to start, I thought it might be a fun exercise to call out a few key topics that will surely find their way into the season’s narrative between Opening Day and the crowning of a World Champion. Any hot topics you’re following this season that you don’t see below? Be sure to comment and share your thoughts.

Pace of Play:

Major League Baseball has convinced itself that its games are too long and methodical to retain the attention of an increasingly distracted fan base. For the first time, managers must account for an added layer of strategy around the frequency of mound visits. And perhaps this season, we’ll see stricter adherence to existing pace of play rules. I’m a purist who feels that more baseball is always better, but I remain hopeful that the Commissioner’s Office can find a happy balance that reduces wasted time without radically changing the way the game has functioned for 130+ years. Putting a runner on second base in extra innings or allowing the losing team to bat players out of order — two ideas that had been considered — may chip away at some of the unpredictability that helps keep baseball games unique.

Rising Threats to Labor Peace:

Don’t do it, guys. After 20 years of peace between MLB owners and players, a war of words is brewing. Contentious negotiations on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement have led some to wonder if the peace we’ve enjoyed may come to an end. A strike, like the one that ended the 1994 season prematurely and wiped out that season’s World Series, would be devastating for a league hellbent on rejuvenating it’s footing as America’s National Pastime and focused on expanding its fan base. Cal Ripken’s chase of Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games played streak, and the epic home run battle between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire, are credited with saving baseball once. Let’s just say another work stoppage would be less than helpful today with so many other options for entertainment within reach.

Innovation Integration:

Every MLB ball club employs a staff of data analysts tasked with crunching numbers to find a competitive edge. Most insights from these operations are, obviously, proprietary. However, we’re starting to see the beginnings of consumable data and insights trickle into the fan experience and I’m curious to see how much further it’ll progress during the upcoming season. Tune in to any MLB Network program, and you’ll see a data overlay on highlights to show a player’s route to a ball, running speed, distance covered, etc. Now imagine if, through an augmented reality app, you could simply hold your phone up at a ballgame and see that kind of data splash across your screen? Imagine sitting in the crowd, watching a game, and having a full understanding of the tendencies of every player on the field — in an instant. That might be a little further down the road, but it’s coming. This season, you can count on seeing more games streamed to platforms like Twitter and Facebook — in fact, MLB has a deal in-place to live-stream a handful of games to Facebook all season. However, this only scratches the surface of where tech might take the game in the not-too-distant future.

At the risk of encouraging fans to lose themselves in their phone screens more often than they already do, the potential for what advanced technologies can deliver to diehard baseball fans is enticing and will be something I’m keeping an eye on this season.

Whatever the 2018 season brings, it’ll surely deliver a cornucopia of highs and lows; unexpected success, heartbreaking defeat, and a million moments we can’t even begin to predict today. Here’s hoping your favorite team delivers the kind of joy and excitement that drew you to the game in the first place. Unless, of course, they’re playing my team.