Baseball is doomed if it loses people like me

I am a huge baseball fan.  In some ways my baseball fandom has been a defining trait.  Its long seasons and requirement that you take a nuanced view of the game always appealed to me.  This year baseball lost me.   I didn't participate in a live fantasy baseball league,  I didn't buy and read any pre  or post season baseball analysis or anything like that.  The game simply slipped away and I didn't miss it.  Why and how did this happen?

Couple of reasons come to mind.  One,  nuanced and statistical view of the game is now accepted.  That was the one thing that got me excited about the game, now everyone views the game, that way. Two, having folks to talk to regularly about the game. I used to go to the same bar week after week and talk about the game.  Without the constant need to catch up, the drive to be informed has waned.  Third,  the game itself has changed.  Most of my deep fandom seasons came during the "steroid era" offense was big and pitchers were bad.  My entire understanding of the game was based around offense.  This is no longer the case.  That shift has cause so much of my game understanding to shift.  Third,  fatigue and lack of intrigue.  Fundamentally,  the best team in town,  the Yankees, are boring.  I'm tired of the narrative.  Without the Red Sox as their "Cowboy up!" foil they simply aren't interesting.  The team has taken on Derek Jeter's personality - boring, buttoned down, with no personality. 

Lastly,  other sports have taken up my brain space.  The NBA has been outstanding the last few years - the decison, the hated Miami Heat, and Lebron in general is a better story.  The Premier League - the great game is so good, that just watching it for a couple of weeks gets you hooked. It has the passion of college football,  with the atleticism of basketball and poetry of baseball.  (Plus Manchester City's Mario Balotelli is the most captivating sportsmen on the Planet - an African Italian,  with a blond mohawk he is just as likely to kick a guy in the face as score a goal!)  It seems I don't have the patience for the pace of baseball anymore.

You will catch me on Saturdays watching Premier League football and not watching Sunday night baseball.