2025 was one of many higher seasons baseball has had in a protracted, very long time. Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge had two of the best seasons this century, a catcher with the nickname “Big Dumper” hit 60 homers, younger gamers like Paul Skenes and Nick Kurtz established themselves as future (and current) stars, and, most of all, the Dodgers and Blue Jays performed one of many biggest World Series of all time, with a recreation seven that had extra folks across the planet watching it than any baseball game in 34 years.
(*5*)The sport is worthwhile, streaming channels are lining as much as pay for its recreation stock, and, thanks largely to the pitch clock and different pace-of-play changes, video games are more and more crisp, taut, and thrilling. Next 12 months even brings the World Baseball Classic, which was a large hit three years in the past and guarantees to be even greater this 12 months.
So what may probably go incorrect? Well, the collective bargaining settlement between the house owners and the gamers expires in December 2026, and it positive seems like house owners are going to push onerous for a wage cap — traditionally a deal-breaker for the gamers union. Baseball has survived nearly every little thing you may throw at it — PEDs, playing scandals, juiced balls, banging schemes, A-Rod — however what it has struggled most to recuperate from through the years are protracted labor fights. Can it keep away from one this time? The sport has extra momentum proper now than it has in greater than a decade. Hopefully it gained’t squander it.