Baseball United And The Growth Of Baseball - Asian Baseballers

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Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Baseball United And The Growth Of Baseball



Baseball United makes the game of baseball grow.

 

No other time in the last 30+ years has the growth of baseball been expedited more than today with the emergence of Baseball United, the very first baseball league in India, Pakistan, and the Middle East. It is something exciting and will eventually grow the game of baseball in the region. But it is going to take some time. It is not going to be an overnight success because cricket still rules the circuit. To many, cricket is still the only game to watch. Understandably so. It is the sport people in the region grew up watching. That, and, of course, football. Not that kind of football. Yes, the one we call soccer in America. 

 

The more popular the league grows, there is more room for growth. As of this moment, there are only 4 teams. The ideal number of teams is 6 teams because more varieties of teams can compete against one another. The problem with having fewer than 6 teams is that there will be many instances where the better team just plain out dominates unless there is a trading agreement in which players are often swapped. That itself presents many challenges because fans would not identify themselves with the team. Teams always have star players who are fan favorites. It is not to sound selfish, but that is just human nature. 

 

There are currently four teams

Mumbai Cobras, a team based in India. 

The Karachi Monarchs is a team based in Pakistan.

The Dubai Wolves or Arabian Wolves is a team based in Dubai.

The Abu Dhabi Falcons, a team based in Abu Dhabi.

 

Familiar faces

You may recognize some of the players, players like Bartolo Colon, and Didi Gregorius. Legendary former MLB players like Felix Hernandez, Ryan Howard, Mariano Rivera, and Barry Larkin are part owners, suggesting that they believe the future of the game of baseball is bright in the region. Ronald Acuna Jr., one of the most prolific baseball players, and a current MLB player recently became the youngest investor in the new league. Ronald is already thinking about his future. Didi Gregorius, a shortstop for the Arabia Wolves, and former MLB player, is also an investor.

 



The season, slated to begin later this year, will be very important for the organization. Just like any kind of business venturing into uncharted territory, there are going to be many challenges, especially for Chairman, CEO, and co-founder, Kash Shaikh. There are, of course, going to be plenty of naysayers. There are always going to be some of those. It is official. Professional baseball is no longer non-existent in India, Pakistan, and the Middle East. Ready, set, go. Believe it or not. 

 

What Sets Baseball United Apart

Down to its core, Baseball United is pure baseball. There are just slight differences in the rules when it comes to assigning baserunners. Teams are allowed to have 3 uses for assigned baserunners whose main responsibility is, you guessed it, running. The batter who had to be substituted for a designated runner may come back to the game.  

 

Managers are given 3 money balls which they can use when their team is at bat. If the hitter hits a home run, it is double the runs. For example, a homerun with 2 runners on base becomes a 6-run homerun because, in traditional baseball, it would normally be a 3-run homerun. This gives the team trailing by a large margin a chance to come back or possibly take the lead. If the team is losing by 8 runs and has a bases-loaded scenario, it is possible to tie the game with a grand slam. The money ball remains in play if the hitter gets hit by the ball and remains so until a hit or an out is recorded.

 

There are no extra innings in Baseball United. If the game has no winning team after 9 innings, 2 hitters from each team partake in a home run derby. They get 10 pitches each, totaling 20 pitches for each team. If there is still no winner afterward, then there is a sudden death homerun swing-off to decide the winner. This could be good for the game but also can be unappealing to some fans who prefer traditional rules. Some fans were still not fond of the pitch clock when MLB implemented it. To a subtle degree, even the current changes in MLB have not altered the game enough that it would bother traditionalists to a large extent. Even so, a 6-run homerun is simply impossible in MLB.

 

Baseball United will grow the game of baseball because a flood of new MLB talent will eventually come from the region, but it will take some time, possibly a generation or two. Right now, the league is still at the introductory stage. It will take this long because kids are the future and kids are the ones who will eventually grow up and play the game. And among those young kids, there could be several MLB-worthy talents. Who knows? There could be an Ichiro, a Hideo Nomo among them. 

 

It is an exciting time for baseball. Let's embrace this new league and support it. Baseball United all the way!



3 comments:

  1. Will it succeed? Maybe

    ReplyDelete
  2. Un jour, le baseball en France.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's superior, however , check out material at the street address. baseball reviewers

    ReplyDelete

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