Sports Remain a Rare Meritocracy Worth Watching Despite Institutional Corruption and Game-Altering Changes
Source: https://www.facebook.com/americanspectator/. "God Bless October: Baseball, Meritocracy, and the Last Honest Games in America | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics." October 21, 2026. spectator.org
The Gist
The author admits that sports leagues are greedy and that baseball's rule changes and stats obsession have hurt the game. But he argues that the games themselves are still one of the few places where skill and performance, not politics or connections, decide who wins. That makes watching them worthwhile, even if the games have no larger consequence.
Conclusion
Despite commissioner meddling, analytics obsession, corporate greed, and the encroachment of gambling, watching sports (especially baseball) remains a worthwhile use of time, because on the field they are still an honest meritocracy that rewards skill and craftsmanship, a quality increasingly rare elsewhere in public life.
Premises
- Outcomes in sports are determined between the lines by skill, coolness, and courage; connections and wealth are of no use to athletes in competition.
- Sports still have moments of real craft, such as double plays, long outfield throws, and hit-and-run plays, that reward honed skill under pressure and move fans.
- Activities with no consequence beyond themselves are not trivial; as Epstein argues, their lack of external consequence makes the enjoyment purer, so games can be appreciated as a form of art.
- Other spheres of public life (literary and entertainment prizes, academic promotions, business, politics) are driven by ideology, conformity, and connections rather than merit, so sports' on-field honesty is conspicuous by contrast.
- Baseball has survived many past threats (the 1919 fixed Series, wars, the Depression, strikes) and remains alive, as shown by average 2026 attendance above 29,000, so current damage from Manfred's rule changes and analytics has not destroyed its appeal.
Assumptions
- Time spent enjoying skilled performance and craft has intrinsic value that can justify spending it on sports rather than more socially useful activities.
- The on-field meritocracy of sports is not substantially undermined by off-field corruption, greed, or rule changes.
- Other areas of public life are in fact as non-meritocratic as the author claims.
- Attendance figures are a reasonable indicator of the game's continued vitality and appeal.
- Sports outcomes are not meaningfully influenced by non-merit factors such as bias, officiating, resources, or team payroll.