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With the latest changes to the MLB’s rules, baseball will become even more popular. Find out how to get into baseball in the year 2023.
Have you ever wished you liked softball as much as people who do? I have, especially when the NFL and NBA aren’t playing during the boring summer months. It could just be me, but it’s hard for me to get excited about a sport where the players look just as bored as I do when I watch them. But for both of us, this is the year when everything changes.
I talked to all the baseball fans I know and did a lot of study to put together a complete guide on how to become a baseball fan in 2023.
Getting a handle on the new rules
By adding a pitch clock to speed up the game, getting rid of the shift, and adding other rules that make the game more fun,
This season, the MLB has added several new rules that are meant to speed up the game and make it more interesting. In fact, these changes are the main reason why I’m interested in baseball again after not caring about it for more than 30 years.
First of all, the pitch clock has been added. It works like the shot clock in the NBA, and its purpose is to speed up the game. When there are no runners on base, a pitcher now has 15 seconds to throw a pitch. When a runner is on base, he or she has 20 seconds. A tweet by @PitchingNinja showed the difference between a game with and without a pitch clock:
Next, the rule for outfield shifts has been added. It seems that defenders got so good at guessing where a player was going to throw the ball that they were already in the right place before the pitcher made the throw. This led to the lowest hitting average in the league since 1968 and a lot of boring pop-ups that didn’t do anything. Now, defenses can’t move until the pitcher throws the ball, which should lead to more diving saves and, God willing, more players getting on base.
Also, the bases are a little bit bigger this year, and changes have been made to limit how many times a pitcher can throw to first base when there is a runner there. This will encourage more stolen bases and activity on the field.
As I watch baseball while writing this piece, I feel like the game has changed a lot. Since I started writing this sentence, a lot of exciting things have happened. I took about 5 minutes to write this sentence because I kept getting distracted by baseball games.
From what people on Twitter have said, it’s clear that the initial response on these rule changes has been very positive:
Also, I’m still getting used to the language, but SB% stands for stolen base rate. In other words, as was mentioned earlier, players are now more often able to successfully steal bases, which makes the game even more fun to watch.
Getting to know the best baseball players
These are the people who make it fun to watch baseball.
Having stars in the games makes them more interesting. Fans have been interested in players like LeBron James and Tom Brady (both of whom are now retired, but you get the idea) for the past twenty years. Whether you’re a fan or not, you can’t deny that stars add to the exciting drama in sports. Ryan Parker, a lifelong Padres fan and baseball fan at Reviews.org, talks about some of the most interesting baseball players in this section:
Shohei Ohtani
When Ohtani plays, he does things that have never been done before in baseball. It’s like seeing history being made. Ohtani stands out because he is the first real two-way player in recent years. He is good at both hitting and pitching. It’s like Patrick Mahomes was an all-pro QB every week and then an all-pro safety every other week. Ohtani is a very important player to keep an eye on.
Still, even stars like Ohtani need time to learn how to follow new rules.
Mike Trout is one of the best baseball players of all time. Every year, he has MVP-level performances, and even if he stopped tomorrow at age 31, his record would still be better than many Hall of Famers. But he gets a lot of flak for being one of the least interesting people in the sport. This isn’t his fault, of course, but it does show that his popularity comes mostly from what he does on the field.
Judge Aaron
Judge, a tall player for the New York Yankees, is breaking home run records and making history. Last year, he broke the American League record for the most home runs in a single season, which had stood for 61 years. This was a big deal, since the number of home runs has gone down since the end of the steroid era. During the 1990s and 2000s, when Sosa, McGwire, and Bonds easily broke National League home run records, this time period is very different.
Mookie Betts was traded from Boston to Los Angeles in one of the strangest deals of the past 10 years. Despite that, he has kept up his MVP-level achievements while playing for the Dodgers. He is also the 19th best bowler in the United States.
Yordan Alvarez
Yordan Alvarez has always been good at hitting the ball hard, and the current champion Houston Astros want him to keep doing that this year.
Choosing a team to root for
Even though I think it’s important to support your local team, I know that as a basketball fan who grew up on the edges of Los Angeles, I’ve had an advantage. You can never be called a “bandwagon fan” if you cheer for your city team, because it’s your birthright and no one can take it away from you. But if you live close to Washington, D.C., and don’t want to go through the pain of being a Nationals fan, I won’t hold it against you if you choose to root for one of the intriguing stars like Shohei Ohtani instead.
No matter which team you choose, make sure you stick with it. Listen to podcasts that talk about the games and follow writers and other fans on social media sites. Even if your team has been losing, there are always good things to look for, like bright rookies who could become the next big star after a few more years of practice. From 2013 to 2018, this way of thinking kept me going as a Laker fan.
If you don’t already have a favorite team, here are some of the most exciting ones to cheer for in the upcoming baseball season.
San Diego Padres
If you’ve already asked yourself, “Really? Who are they? I hardly remember them being around!” then you already know why they are one of the most interesting teams in baseball right now. The Padres’ owner, Peter Seidler, has gone against all the common ideas about “small market” teams by putting an unheard-of amount of money into their talented lineup. As a result, many experts see the Padres as the top contenders for the 2023 World Series. Two of the most exciting young stars in the game, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Juan Soto, are on the team, as well as the Japanese great Yu Darvish and the runner-up for MVP, Manny Machado. In the 2022 playoffs, they beat not just one 100-win team, but TWO (the Mets and the Dodgers). This put them in the National League Championship Series and gave them a goal for 2023: to go even further.
The NY Mets
In contrast to the Padres, who are praised for how much money they spend even though they play in a small market, the Mets have taken advantage of the huge New York media market and Steve Cohen’s deep pockets to pay their players the most in baseball history ($340 million in 2023). Even though losing to the Padres in the first round last year was a big disappointment, they have since added Justin Verlander and Kodai Senga to a group that was already very strong.
Atlanta Braves
With players like Ronald Acuna Jr., Ozzie Albies, Max Fried, and Spencer Strider, who are all very good for their age, the Braves are the favorites to win again in the tough NL East. Their ability to develop homegrown talent and sign them to terms that are great for the team is unmatched.
Los Angeles Angels
The only reason the Angels are on this list is because they have both the number one and number two players from the previous list. Even though the summer wasn’t too exciting, they have only won one playoff game in the 11 or more years that Mike Trout has been on their team. It will be interesting to see if 2023 is the year they break through and make a strong case for Shohei Ohtani to stay with the team even though he is about to become a free agent.
Accounts on social media that are worth following
A big part of watching live sports is seeing how people react in real time and getting news as it happens. Here are a few baseball-related Twitter accounts that I think you should follow.
Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan)
Jeff is known as the “Adrian Wojnarowski” of MLB because he is a great source for the latest news and moves in the league.
Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ)
Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman run a well-known baseball blog where they show how much they love baseball at all levels (major, minor, college, and foreign). And if you want to know why the blog is called what it is…
Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello)
Mike is a writer for MLB.com. He writes about baseball from an analytical point of view. Prepare to hear a lot of STATS.
Ken Rosenthal on Twitter:
Ken, who writes for The Athletic, is also a great way to get up-to-date news. He pays more attention to what’s going on every day in the MLB.
How to Stream Live Baseball and Watch It
Here’s what you should know about going to a live baseball game:
Seeing a game on ESPN, TBS, FOX, or the MLB Network that is shown nationally
Keeping an eye on your local sports station
Getting an MLB Extra Innings or MLB.TV subscription
For regular baseball fans, a streaming service or cable package that gives them access to major sports networks is enough to watch big games.
But if you want to be a die-hard fan of a certain team, which is highly recommended, you’ll need to make sure you can watch all of their games on a local sports channel or by signing up for MLB Extra Innings or MLB.TV. Getting area sports networks through streaming can be hard, so the easiest way to get them is through a cable or satellite service.