Decline of baseball?

I hear and read a lot about baseball loosing interest from viewers, and I am sure there are good reasons to explain this. But one thing I haven't heard at all that would do quite well defending the opposite is that people increasingly are more multitasking and have less focus to do one thing for an extended period of time.

I have loved baseball for a long time with ups and downs in watching regularly, but in the last year or so my interest has really increased exactly because what baseball offers for me: something I can do while doing other things. I love having it on in the background while doing other work in the house, on the computer, even my normal day-to-day job. I peek in occasionally, perhaps stick around for an at-bat or two and go back to what I was doing. An incidental increase of crowd noise or added excitement in the announcers voice will pull me back in, and if the score or game setting is highly interesting I may stick around a bit longer. But the point is I do not feel the need to watch every second of the game. Post-season will change this, but during the season watching baseball on the side works very well.

Hockey doesn't. Football doesn't. Soccer doesn't. I find these sports hard to get in and out of and then back into. If I had to change focus based on crowd or announcer noise I'd probably in very good shape, but I doubt I would get anything else done.

The beauty with baseball is also that you can co-watch pretty much every day for half the year. As there are 162 games per team it's OK to miss a few.

MLB is trying really hard to decreasing the game by a few minutes. Quite frankly I believe it is not going to change anything, other than making things look "forced". So the game goes from #hours+ to 2 hours and 45 minutes. Still a long game to watch in full.

Changing things like the number of innings will brake the connection to all games played before. I am not one to suggest to keep things the same as they always have for nostalgic reasons, but one of the things that pulls so many people to baseball (some bias is coming) is the statistical, analytical or "numbers" part of baseball. From comparing back-sides of baseball cards, to Strat-O-Matic, to StatCast, baseball numbers are fun! Comparing games with a different number of innings would disconnect many of the folks who are drawn to baseball because of the numbers..

Perhaps MLB can have a look at cricket, not completely unrelated to baseball int he first place: old-school watchers will still get excited about the 5-day test matches that may end up in a draw (I used to watch those too, mostly for the same reason as described above: they are nice to have on in the background while doing other stuff) but the "new crowd" get excited by the limited over games (compare to reduced innings), with a push to be more aggressive while batting (getting runs rather then not getting out), colorful outfits, fireworks, etc.

Rugby is getting more popular due to Rugby Sevens: an incredible display of athleticism as they play on the same field with half the number of players but shorter periods. The game appeals to many people but the "old game" is still there too.

Image from Ryan Woodward's Bottom of the 9th

Is there room for 5-inning baseball in a futuristic stadium, with a walk after two balls, two outfielders and a 7 second pitch clock? It sure would increase the action, and reduce the game duration, and as such attract a younger crowd perhaps. As long as they leave the current game as it is for those who listen and watch while doing other things, who enjoy just relaxing for three hours in an ever increasingly busy world, and who want to compare the numbers for the Babe, Bonds, Koufax and Kershaw; I'm fine with that.