With friends like Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball doesn't need enemies

MLB’s commissioner wants to modernize the league and that’s great. But he should focus on doing so behind the scenes and selling the sport in public

Even the most thick-skinned baseball fan can tire of being told that the game needs to change. Baseball is too slow. It’s too stuck in its ways. There are too many innings, too many relievers, too many pitches, just too much ... baseball, apparently, for the sport to compete for the public’s entertainment dollars going forward.

“I’ve got nothing against relief pitchers,” the detractors say. “But they do two things to the game: They slow the game down and ... relievers have become so dominant at the back end that they actually rob action out of the end of the game.”