[ot-caption title=”Bryce Harper wants to usher in a new era in baseball, (via Robb Carr, Getty Images)”]

“Make Baseball Fun Again”.

An open letter to the MLB:

This was the slogan on the cap that Bryce Harper wore while taking questions after his Nationals’ Opening Day victory. The phrase on the hat is not a joke; Harper said just a few weeks earlier that the sport needs some new flare, and that they need to, you guessed it, “make baseball fun again.”

Harper was perhaps the biggest modern name to get involved in the ongoing fray between baseball’s old against the new. Others include Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench, who called Harper out directly, and Hall of Fame pitcher Goose Gossage, who called Jose Bautista “a disgrace to the game.”

This battle is no joke. Baseball is on the verge of losing America for good or transitioning into the exciting game that the 21st century and its players want it to be. Players like Harper, Jose Bautista, and Ortiz have voiced their beliefs and are ready to leave the showmanship of the game behind and move on.

So while this issue rages on, how will it be decided? How is it possible for old-timers like Bench to keep baseball clean, polished, and censored while Harper is the one hitting 40 home runs and Bautista is flipping bats into orbit? The point is, it is not possible. There is no way for baseball’s past to “save” it from progressing into the future. The game has to become current, it has to transition, before it lets go of any hope of having an audience in twenty years. Look at the numbers – the average age of someone who watched a baseball game in the 2015 season was 53 years old. It’s happening before our eyes. Baseball is not fast enough, not flashy enough, and, to most, simply not entertaining enough.

Now, this issue is not complete without mentioning that the league is trying to, if you will, win the country back. The MLB is continuing to make amendments to speed up the game with the so called “pace of play” rules. Umpires are told to expand their strike zones to induce more swings. The league is also trying to diversify (as of 2014 only 8.3% of players were African-American) and bring baseball back into America’s cities. But beyond the surface of baseball’s growing audience troubles is the civil war amongst the old and the new.

The main topic of the debate is celebrations. Bat flips are viewed as inappropriate and disrespectful towards pitchers. Most fans want the celebrations. After all, what’s the difference between a bat flip or a fist pump and a goal celebration in hockey or soccer? But the old-timers are heard around the game calling for ejections and bat flip bans. Also, why should pitchers be offended by bat flips? It is totally fine by me if you celebrate after a huge strike out. Fans love that – show that you’re competing.

As mentioned before, Goose Gossage and Jose Bautista skirmished, and Johnny Bench and Bryce Harper joined the fray. It’s a war between the baseball’s old and its new, its gentlemen and its flashy lights, and only the players on the field can decide if baseball will move forward or be held back in the 20th century.

MLB, let the players play and let them celebrate. Let them hit and let them run wild. And for the game’s sake, please tell the guys in Cooperstown to stop fighting a battle they have no chance of winning. Make baseball fun again.

Here are a few notes from the first week of the 2016 season.

Trevor Story is the story. Sorry about the pun, but I had to. Trevor Story is unbelievable. Through his first four MLB games, the new Rockies shortstop clubbed six home runs! Talk about taking advantage of a great opportunity. Jose Reyes goes down due to legal issues, and in comes Story who doesn’t skip a beat from the years of Troy Tulowitzki in Colorado. Who could’ve seen this coming?

It’s really cold. The season starts in April. Winter seems to end in May. Sadly, this first week of baseball has seen snow, sleet, and consistent 30 degree temperatures. There is not really a remedy to this, but the question must be posed: why did Houston open the season in New York? Why did two other warm weather teams in the Dodgers and the Padres open against each other? Why did two teams who play in closed roof stadiums in the Blue Jays and the Rays open against each other? What is the point of sending the Marlins on the road after two home games? If the Red Sox have to play the majority of their home games in the summer because it is cold in Boston in April, May, and September, then shouldn’t warm weather teams play more home games now? Worth thinking about.

There is finally a new, young group of shortstops. Correa, Lindor, Bogaerts, Seager, Addison Russell Brandon Crawford, (the injured) Jung Ho-Kang, and here’s one you might not have heard of, but should grab in fantasy, Eugenio Suarez. All of these guys are budding stars, and shortstops are back on the rise.