Dodgers Cody Bellinger and Walker Buehler Lead a Historic Shift in All-Star Game Lineup
As the America’s past time has evolved in the age of instant gratification, the game of baseball has always been at risk of losing out on maintain a fan base of the young and digital.
Critics have talked about the pace of the game, which can slog a game past the four mark some times.
Old people talk about the unwritten rules which make baseball even more confusing to maintain those barriers to entry.
One of the few shining lights of hope is the downward trend of pee wee football registrations over the last decades as moms and dads across the country have begun to shift their children towards less combative sports like basketball and baseball with the studies on brain injuries to football players.
If you study group social dynamics, you know that just because parents are shifting sports doesn’t mean the number of parents who drive their kids to get college scholarships have gone down. Instead of football, the logical sport to choose if you don’t win the genetic lottery of being 6’6″ or taller, is baseball, so there is an uptick in the type of athletes you’re seeing in baseball now, from Mike Trout to Mookie Betts to our very own Cody Bellinger.
In the upcoming All-Star game in Cleveland, the average age of the 8 national league starters is 25.8 years old. If Dave Roberts goes with Pete Alonso at age 24, this would be the youngest lineup every since the 1967 NL and 2017 AL lineups.
“I’ve never seen this much young talent in the game,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who will lead the NL. “There’s a lot of fun players to watch — talented and the personalities from some of these young players.”
The chances are Roberts won’t be giving the honor to the rookie, but at the end of the day, it shows a shift in voting demographics. MLB has made it easier for younger demographics to vote (albeit a work in progress system) with their partnership with Google. This year, fans were asked to vote up until June 21 and the top 3 vote-getters for each position were then submitted in a new round of votes on the following Wednesday and Thursday.
Despite the clunkiness, the votes show that there is interest amongst a young, digital demographic and the sport has a potential to get back on track towards an upward trend in interest to counter the downward trend in the stats you see below:
h/t: GVWire
LA Dodgers are historically the best
This article proves my point about it being a popularity contest and not always the best players. Remember when there were 2 all-star games each year?
When the All Star game actually meant something, like, having the best players showcased, the teams were elected by coaches and players. Having uninformed fans (Home Town Fanatics) voting is a joke at best. I am a Dodger fan but, having someone that is hitting .230 and striking out 23% of the time and hitting .179 lifetime against southpaw pitchers almost come into the top 3 in outfield voting because he hit 20 home runs is a joke. Go back to letting the players, coaches and managers pick the players. Then the All Star game will be nothing but all stars
In my heart, I totally agree with you but there’s a big BUT!…….the game must have an audience and the world has changed. If baseball can’t adapt, it will ultimately receive the Darwin Award. The Young rule as did we. Tempus Fugit.