Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees swings his bat during the first inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field on September 3, 2024 in Arlington, Texas.
Sam Hodde | Getty Images
Major League Baseball is likely on a different trajectory than it was a couple of years ago after the league implemented rule changes and renewed its focus on amplifying its players' talents, according to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.
Manfred spoke at CNBC x Boardroom's Game Plan sports business event Tuesday afternoon alongside former MLB greats CC Sabathia and Albert Pujols, and they touched on everything from regional sports networks to why young stars like the Cincinnati Reds' Elly De La Cruz are so important to the game.
As part of its mindset shift, MLB has its sights set on becoming a more national sport, according to Manfred. The league has traditionally been more regional, even with its broadcast rights, but Manfred said growing the sport the way he believes is possible will require a greater focus on bringing MLB games to a larger audience.
“We need a more national strategy,” Manfred told CNBC's Scott Wapner. “We're fortunate to have a tremendous amount of content — 2,430 games. Because of the amount of content, I think there will be some local component, but I think the strategy needs to be more national and our reach needs to be more national.”
Meanwhile, MLB has been one of several leagues affected by the bankruptcy restructuring of Diamond Sports, the largest owner of regional sports networks in the country. Some teams have already divested themselves of regional networks and turned to MLB itself to produce and broadcast their games instead of Diamond Sports.
As for MLB's star power, all three panelists said they're excited about the talent the game has to offer. But Sabathia said the league needs to do a better job of creating and marketing star starting pitchers specifically.
“I don't know if it's more stars because I think we have stars,” Sabathia said. “I think we have [Aaron] Your Honor, we have [Shohei] Ohtani, we have [Juan] Soto: They are star pitchers, they are starting pitchers.”
As baseball has advanced, pitchers have thrown fewer and fewer innings, meaning the number of complete games and intensity of two elite starters facing each other has been reduced. MLB has already tweaked rules to try to keep pitchers in the game longer, and the league is reportedly flirting with a minimum innings requirement for starting pitchers, according to ESPN.
Major League Baseball has already seen its fair share of changes recently. The league instituted rule changes in 2023 that included placing limits on the number of stolen bases and installing larger bases, and the result has been a boom in stolen bases over the past two seasons. Shifting, or realigning players on the field, has also been reduced, so there are more opportunities for batted balls to become hits or for players to make more athletic plays on batted balls.
All three panelists also said it’s important to diversify MLB’s audience. They noted that the league officially recognized Negro Leagues statistics for the first time earlier this year and has plans to do more work in underserved communities to appeal to a broader demographic of players and fans.
