How MLB can make baseball relevant on a fast-changing internet
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How it started
"KING BASEBALL, monarch of the American sport world, is sick," a New York Times story on the disappearance of amateur and small town sandlots begins. Hundreds of thousands of fans attended the opening games of the season, and star players are making bank in huge stadiums. "Nevertheless the critics say that his Royal Highness is indisposed."
The story is from 1925 . But it read …
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Column Entertainment Tech How MLB can make baseball relevant on a fast-changing internet The old sport is going all-in on chasing virality. If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. by Mia Sato Mar 1, 2026, 1:00 PM UTC If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Mia Sato is features writer with five years of experience covering the companies that shape technology and the people who use their tools. This is The Stepback , a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the contemporary attention economy, follow Mia Sato . The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here . How it started “KING BASEBALL, monarch of the American sport world, is sick,” a New York Times story on the disappearance of amateur and small town sandlots begins. Hundreds of thousands of fans attended the opening games of the season, and star players are making bank in huge stadiums. “Nevertheless the critics say that his Royal Highness is indisposed.” The story is from 1925 . But it reads like it could have been published a hundred years later. “Baseball is dying” is a perennial claim that feels like old news — but by the numbers there’s truth to it. World Series viewership is far from its peak decades ago. Attendance at ballparks hasn’t yet matched 2007 numbers. Even with viewership and attendance on the upswing, baseball is dwarfed by football, both in sheer audience numbers and in the American imagination . A few years ago, recognizing that games were dragging on and on to their detriment, MLB implemented a pitch clock to speed things up; this season, the league will have an automated system calling balls and strikes , dubbed “robot umps,” at home plate when a player challenges the human umpire’s call. But MLB is going into the 2026 season with real momentum ...
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