On Wednesday, Colorado Rockies All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado smashed a career-high three home runs in a game in which the Rockies annihilated the San Diego Padres, 18-4. Not only did he collect five hits, but Arenado drove in seven, which tied a career-high. Unfortunately, Arenado’s 14 total bases were only seen by the fans at Coors Field, as the game was not televised in Colorado.
Seriously.
According to a report by Sports Illustrated, Colorado’s broadcast partner, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, only broadcasts 150 games per year. Of course, they decided not to broadcast a game in which, the team ranked second in the NL in runs, put up an 18 spot.
The saddest part of this story, besides Clayton Richard giving up 10 earned runs in less than four innings (prayers up to Richard and his ERA), is the fact that people are missing out on watching one of the game’s best players in Nolan Arenado.
In fact, the majority of people do not even know who this guy is. Arenado, who does not have social media because he’s “kind of afraid of it”, is on pace to be one of the best third baseman ever.
No player before the age of 26 whose primary position was third base, has had at least one 40 homer and 130 RBI season. At 26, Arenado has already done this twice and could very well be heading to a third straight year of eclipsing those numbers. In 2015, Arenado’s 89 extra-base hits were the most in a season by a third basemen.
So how does he stack up against the all-time greats at age 26?
THROUGH AGE 26
Mike Schmidt .251/131/373
- Two All-Star appearances
- One Gold Glove
George Brett .309/74/461
- Four All-Star appearances
Nolan Arenado* .288/147/513
*Projected stats are added in for his 26-year-old season since it has not finished
- Three All-Star appearances
- Four Gold Gloves
On pace to be arguably the best third baseman this game has ever seen, Arenado is barely known. So what is the problem with the MLB?
CONSPIRACY THEORY #1: THE BEST PLAYErS CANNOT CONTROL THE GAME
Ahh America’s Pastime. A game played on a diamond with four bases. While arguably one of the hardest sports, baseball is also really hard to control, especially for one player. Growing up, young fans admire the players who can take over the game and lead their team to victory.
As a kid, I remember countless times in which Kobe Bryant would take over the offense and lead the Lakers to victory with ease. Tom Brady seems to always find ways for the Patriots to achieve success, hence the five rings.
When compared to the NBA or NFL, the MLB is just one of those leagues in which their stars cannot control the game, hence why its players are not as popular.
So what do I mean by this? Of the last five times Mike Trout has gotten at least four hits in a game (dating back to 2013), the Angels have lost three of them. In those five games, Trout batted .909 with three home runs and 14 RBIs.
Essentially flawless games, Trout dominated and somehow the Angels have a losing record in that span. In games in which Kobe Bryant scored 25 or more points on 70 percent shooting or better, the Lakers went a perfect 8-0.
In games in which Tom Brady completed 75 percent of his passes, the New England Patriots are 26-0. When these athletes perform, 3/4th of the time, their teams are undefeated. Trout succeeded 90 percent of the time and the Angels were unable to maintain a winning record.
During his 12 years with the Toronto Blue Jays, Roy Halladay won 66 percent of his games. In those 12 years, the Blue Jays never made the postseason. During his storied career, Brett Favre won 62 percent of his games and was considered one of the most popular athletes.
One thing is clear, baseball players cannot control games like players from the NBA or NFL can, which makes it hard to popularize.
CONSPIRACY THEORY #2: BASEBALL IS BORING
This might not even be a conspiracy theory. At this point, many people think that baseball is boring and almost impossible to watch. The game is simply too slow. As a player, you have to wait your turn to bat, and if you’re not pitching, you have to hope the ball is hit in your direction so that you can attempt to make a play.
As a viewer, you only get to see the best player bat about four times a game, and see your ace pitch every fifth day. Imagine if LeBron James only shot four times in a game? Or if Aaron Rodgers only threw a handful of times?
As we know, the Cubs ended their 108-year championship drought by winning the 2016 World Series. It was one of the most hyped Game 7’s in baseball history, but did you know that more people tuned in to watch an NFL divisional playoff game between the Steelers and Broncos than for the final game of the World Series?
Not only is it tough to watch, but it is also hard to relate to for the kids growing up. You can’t pretend you are Bryce Harper and hit a 450-foot home run in your backyard, but what you can do is this: Go to a local court and pull up from half court like your Steph Curry. If you want to get real fancy, you can get a group of friends together and try to make crazy one handed catches like Odell Beckham Jr.
CONSPIRACY THEORY NUMBER THREE: IT’S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO BE POPULAR UNLESS YOU ARE ON A BIG MARKET TEAM
No MLB players cracked ESPN’s 2017 World Fame 100, which ranks the 100 most famous athletes on the planet. Unless the MLB markets better, this will be the trend for future years. When you think about popular MLB stars of recent years, you think of guys like Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and David Ortiz. These are superstars who played on two big market teams. Now that they are gone, baseball is in dire need of a superstar on a big market team.
To wrap this up, we will take a look at the Instagram followers of the best baseball players in the world, compared to really solid NBA players, who play on small market teams.
MLB Players (Followers)
Mike Trout (1.3 MIL)
Bryce Harper (1.2 MIL)
Max Scherzer (96.3K)
NBA Players (Followers)
Damian Lillard (3.7 MIL)
Paul George (5.3 MIL)
Demarcus Cousins (2.1 MIL)
As you can see, the NBA has no problem marketing for their good players, even on teams that are not as popular. Could this be because the players take over games, always have opportunities to make plays and play a sport that is fun to watch?
Featured image by DenverPost.com
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