From performance-enhancing drug scandals to three-hour game times and decreased scoring, baseball is battling a litany of issues that seem to drive casual fans from the game.
Statistics show that attendance numbers are declining from their all-time peak in 2007, likely a product of ever-increasing ticket prices and the comfort of watching games at home.
That's not to say Major League Baseball isn't trying to improve. The institution of instant replay has been a positive and relieved pressure from umpires trying to call the game.
But one of baseball's most enduring problems is also rooted in one of its most deep-seated traditions: the 162 game schedule.
Baseball's lengthy season wasn't a problem in the past when it was still the nation's favorite sport, but the schedule now over steps its bounds, extending well into September and October when it has to compete against not only the NFL, but college football as well.
The start of football season, which in this area also coincides with the Atlanta Braves' annual fall from relevancy, snatches the spotlight from America's pastime during its most dramatic time.
Football is king in the United States, and its legion of followers is only growing.
According to a Harris Poll conducted in 2014, 35 percent of adult fans (ages 18 and over) called the NFL their favorite sport. That's an 11 percent increase from the 24 percent of fans who called the NFL their favorite sport in a 1985 Harris Poll.
College football even managed to bring in 11 percent of fans in the 2014 poll.
Baseball, meanwhile, is down from 23 percent in 1985 to a measly 14 percent in the 2014 poll.
A reduced schedule wouldn't be the ultimate cure to baseball's interest ailments, but it would give the MLB a chance to take a page from the NBA and showcase its best product: the drama and inspiration of the postseason.
Moments like Game 6 of the 2011 World Series, where David Freese saved my St. Louis Cardinals with his two out, two strike triple before crushing a walk-off home run in the 11th inning, are what help baseball create lasting memories.
But baseball currently doesn't spotlight the best portion of its product.
Instead, it drags on from April to October, leaving casual fans ready for a swift end so they can focus on football.
As important as each and every game can be (just ask the 2011 Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves), it's difficult to generate excitement in the casual fan when their team still has 40+ games left to play in the middle of August.
As much as I love regular season baseball, the sport's best moments are not written in the dog days of summer.
They're written on cool autumn nights under the lights of the great baseball cathedrals of Fenway Stadium, Busch Stadium and Camden Yards.
But as long as those moments are competing with two ongoing football seasons, they'll never quite get their due.
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