Major League Baseball's progressive new leadership seems to like this idea as well, and ESPN always has programming time to fill, so all we need are a few meetings to make it happen. The Baseball Channel New media and technology have exploded in the last 10 years, and the pace will only quicken in the next 10. Baseball's biggest advantage in this area is its continued association with ESPN, which came of age in the '90s and should reach full flower as a genuine media megaforce in the '00s. With all the baseball programming ESPN networks will have in the coming years, the eventual creation of a baseball-only network seems inevitable, especially as the Internet and television become increasingly intertwined. If the NBA can do it, baseball certainly can.
Franchise changes Every decade brings changes to the major league landscape.
In the 1990s, the big news was expansion, as Major League Baseball added four teams, including its first teams in Florida and the Mountain time zone. The '00s are going to bring changes as well, but we're not sure expansion will be among them. What might be more likely is contraction, with baseball getting out of a couple of bad markets, but we doubt that will happen either. What you'll probably see is some realignment and baseball's first franchise move since 1972. The only one we're bold enough to predict is the career home run record, though we know others will fall.