The pitch clock is now a thing. We’ve also seen the commissioner of baseball take a drastic measure and reduce an inning from three outs to two.
You seem surprised? Don’t be.
Attention spans are already bad enough. Just imagine them 13 years from now.
The Cleveland Indians are still searching for their first World Series title in nearly a century and the Chicago Cubs, despite winning it all in 2016, are worried they might never win a championship again.
Florida lost one of its Major League franchises. The low point for the downtrodden Miami Marlins was when only 15 people showed up to a game last August.
The team was sold to Dana White, who decided it was time to expand his horizons beyond UFC.
He moved the team to Las Vegas and renamed it the Vegas High Rollers. The Marlins just didn’t make sense in a city that sits in the middle of a desert. Vegas now has a team in every major sports league.
The Tampa Bay Rays were nearly sold as well. Nashville looked like a possibility. The deal fell through. Talks of a sale are expected to start up again this winter.
And in Philadelphia, Bryce Harper is preparing to play out the final year of the 13-year deal worth $330 million he signed in 2019. The deal pales in comparison to what baseball players are making now. Some phenom in Los Angeles inked a 20-year deal in 2025 worth $800 million. Some believe the first $1 billion contract in baseball is expected to be signed by 2055.
The Phillies have already said they have no plans to re-sign him, but there are a handful of teams ready to bring Harper on board, desperately hoping he has something left in the tank.
Most offers appear to be two to four years in length and the value of those deals sits around $150 million. Apparently, overpaying for a star past his prime isn’t an issue.
Harper’s run in Philadelphia has come with mixed results. He made the all-star team every year, won a few batting titles, led the league in homers three times and took the Phillies to the 2025 World Series where they swept the Toronto Blue Jays in four games.
Side note: It’s the only World Series the Boston Red Sox haven’t made it to or won in the last 13 years.
Philadelphia nearly made it to the World Series a second time in 2028.
Unfortunately, Tim Tebow and the New York Mets stepped on the Phillies’ title hopes.
Tebow batted .650, crushed 10 home runs and drove in 25 runs as he carried the Mets past the Phillies four games to three in the National League Championship Series.
The NLCS loss put a dent in Harper’s legacy. He performed well in the series, hitting over .300, but he struck out swinging with the bases loaded in the ninth inning of Game 7. A hit would have lifted the Phillies to a victory. Harper punched a Gatorade cooler on his way back to the dugout after the strikeout, forcing him to miss the first 15 games of the 2029 season.
The Phillies are hoping for Harper to have a decent year in 2032. Considering they paid him $330 million, a World Series title would be nice to close out a 13-year run with.
But at the very least, they don’t want him punching any more Gatorade coolers.