Major League Baseball, like the country, traffics in contradiction. Revenues are estimated at a record $10 billion for 2017, with some league sources suggesting the number could soar to as high as $12 billion. But its leaders treat the game as though it nears extinction, advocating a host of tradition-altering changes out of fear that today's screen-addicted fans will soon swipe left on the boring old institution. Now, as MLB purposely markets itself locally, it tries to sell an international showpiece, the World Baseball Classic (which runs through March 22).
Not long ago, baseball considered itself in a "renaissance" as the money multiplied during the steroid era, but its greatest players increasingly found the grand jury door open and the one to the Hall of Fame closed.