NBA or MLB: Which league is on top right now?

Looking at the CONTROVERSIAL CLAIM that MLB is more popular than NBA

It seems Ross Barkan kicked up some dust by suggesting that MLB has overtaken the NBA as our nation’s most popular non football sport.

The World Baseball Classic has been a hit, with the United States making the final round despite certain loud voices complaining about how little the players celebrate. From Newsweek:

If you tune in to any other WBC game, be it a powerhouse or a minnow, the players are alive. They’re hanging from the dugout like it’s a jungle gym. They’re putting on elaborate costumes and celebrations for every small hit and every gigantic home run.

For the Americans, everything was supposed to come off as cool. Instead, it all came off as bland, like a vanilla ice cream cone topped with red, white, and blue sprinkles to make it feel special.

When I watch, the American players are celebrating a regular amount, but that’s not really the topic of today’s post. Or perhaps it is, in a way, since the post addresses how erstwhile tastemakers are locked into the trope of American baseball culture as a stodgy product, doomed to the dying past. The idea that (mostly WHITE) USA players are sooo boring relative to freewheeling, bat flippin’ Latins might even be arguably true, but it’s been invoked for awhile to explain the sport’s loss of public connectivity.

I’m skeptical of the argument that this “USA baseball culture” is to blame for past popularity declines, especially because the sport has largely gotten less popular as it’s gotten less American. Aaron Judge is pretty bland as a persona, but a lot of people enjoy watching him hit 500 foot home runs for the biggest brand. He’s been important for baseball’s current moment in a way the similarly staid Mike Trout never was. I’d hazard that the MLB’s past problems were more related to structure than to culture and personality.