Podcast Summary: "How to Fix Baseball" with Jane Leavy

Podcast: New Books Network – America and Beyond
Host: Paul Starobin
Guest: Jane Leavy
Air Date: December 27, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features acclaimed baseball writer Jane Leavy discussing her latest book, Make Me Commissioner: I Know What's Wrong with Baseball and How to Fix It. With her trademark wit and deep expertise, Leavy explores the core issues plaguing Major League Baseball today—from analytics overload and game length to youth engagement and corporate ownership. The conversation is candid, often humorous, and brimming with insights and storytelling from a true baseball romantic.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Magic of the Cape Cod League and Idyllic Baseball

• Setting the Tone: Both Jane and Paul reminisce about the Orleans Firebirds and the Cape Cod Baseball League as the "idyll" of traditional baseball, contrasting it with the problems of the modern MLB.
  • “It is so idyllic. It is so perfectly baseball, which... is something that Al Leiter has to say.” – Jane Leavy [03:00]
• Al Leiter's Colorful Commentary: Discussion of former MLB pitcher Al Leiter's annual "verbal overflow" against analytics and his love for grassroots baseball.
  • “He has sound effects and everything. The sound a fastball makes, I mean, it’s the curveball and the splitter…” – Jane Leavy [03:35]

2. The "Plexiglass Wall" Proposal and Reviving Excitement

• Home Runs Overload: Leavy suggests adding 18-foot plexiglass to outfield walls (except iconic spots like Fenway's Green Monster) to cut down on “cheap” home runs and encourage more doubles and triples.
  • “If you want to achieve what people have told MLB they want... this would encourage doubles and triples.” – Jane Leavy [05:48]
• Rediscovery of Speed and Defense: This change would, according to Leavy, incentivize drafting athletic players with speed and strong arms—recalling "the most compelling" defensive plays.
  • Memorable moment: recounting iconic defensive plays like Roberto Clemente’s throw and Mookie Betts’ right-field feats.
    • “Have you ever seen a play more compelling?” – Jane Leavy [07:12], [08:29]

3. Critique of the "Ghost Runner" (Extra Innings Rule)

• Fundamental American Fairness: Leavy opposes the "ghost runner" (automatic runner on second in extra innings), arguing it violates baseball’s core principle: “You have to earn your way around the bases.” [09:38]
• Fans and Players Shortchanged: The rule is called “unnecessary” and “boring” now that the pitch clock has shortened games.
  • “The fact that they don’t use the ghost runner in the postseason tells you everything you need to know about what’s wrong with it.” – Jane Leavy quoting Dan Okrent [14:04]
• Host’s Dilemma: Paul admits to occasional fatigue during long West Coast games as a fan, yet agrees the rule feels unsatisfying.

4. The Analytics Revolution—Blessing or Curse?

• Not All Analytics Are Equal: Leavy distinguishes between helpful data and analytics wielded without “domain knowledge.”
  • “They’re very smart and very good at what they do, but they don’t have... domain knowledge. In short, they don’t know shit about baseball.” – Jane Leavy, quoting MIT professor Peko Hosoi [18:22]
• The Loss of the Human Element: Leavy details infamous examples where rigid adherence to analytics spoiled transcendent moments (e.g., Blake Snell’s premature removal from the 2020 World Series, Clayton Kershaw denied a perfect game).
  • “There’s no situational dexterity... The problem with baseball is there’s no ability for a manager to say, wait a minute.” – Jane Leavy quoting A.J. Ellis [22:58]
  • "Because the guy didn’t get a chance to find out how good he could be." – Bill “Spaceman” Lee, via Leavy [26:55]
• Managers Marginalized: Joe Madden anecdote illustrates managers losing on-field autonomy to data staff.

5. Seeking a Human-Analytics Balance

• Analytics Should Inform, Not Dictate: Leavy suggests a balance where data is a tool—never the only arbiter.
  • “Analytics should inform decisions, not make the decisions. Because baseball is uniquely a game in which the unexpected is what is the source of the excitement.” – Jane Leavy [35:32]
• Examples of New Thinking: Cites slight “regression” in 2025 postseason with managers sometimes overriding analytics, giving young pitchers extended outings.

6. Kids and Fans—Reviving the Next Generation

• Kids in the Ballpark: Leavy’s proposal: free admission for all under-10 (or ages 5–12) with a paying adult.
  • “Let’s put kids up there... it will pay itself forward, grow a new generation of fans.” – Jane Leavy [43:24]
• Baseball’s Country Club Problem: She laments the spiraling costs of youth baseball and resulting lack of diversity, connecting it to declining African American participation.
  • Sharing a story: “Some baseball guy took his granddaughter... fourth inning, ‘grandpa, when does the game start?’” [38:12]
• Law of Supply: With a glut of games, Leavy says, the sport must prioritize cultivating future fans.

7. Corporate Ownership & The Profit Motive

• Old Families to Global Capital: Explores how MLB ownership shifted from family-run teams to private equity groups, critiquing the disconnect from baseball tradition.
• Ticket Prices & Empty Seats: Paul notes Fenway’s sky-high prices and ownership as a “hedge against the stock market.”
• Luxury Tax Loopholes: Leavy highlights that small-market teams sometimes pocket luxury tax revenue rather than reinvesting in players, threatening parity.

8. Labor, Health, and Pitching Staff Proposals

• Injury Epidemic: Leavy decries the trend of “max effort” pitching from youth up, spurring a Tommy John surgery epidemic.
• Health and Roster Fixes: Her fix: expand the number of available pitchers (more jobs!), but limit the number available per game to encourage stronger, steadier rotations and reduce the “carousel” of failing arms.
  • “Let’s create a healthy scratch list, as in hockey, increase the number of pitchers. Who wants to watch somebody else’s retread?” – Jane Leavy [46:39]

9. Addressing Economic Parity & The Future of Baseball

• Cap Alternatives: Leavy discusses ways to encourage parity without a hard cap (which the union opposes), such as strengthening luxury tax penalties and draft pick forfeitures for non-spenders.
• Relegation Radicalism: Proposes English football-style relegation for teams that habitually fail to invest, pushing chronic bottom-dwellers to the minors.
  • “If you want to field a AAA team... then fine, go play a AAA schedule.” – Jane Leavy [55:30]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Analytics Overreach:
  “I don’t hate, revile, or reject all analytics… but the whole of the player doesn’t matter anymore. That’s the problem.” – Jane Leavy [17:45]
• On Iconic Moments Lost to Data:
  “The decisions made beforehand based on numbers and then the judgment factor, what your eyes tell you… that’s what happens all the time.” – Jane Leavy [25:11]
• On Baseball’s Unique Appeal:
  “Because baseball is uniquely a game in which the unexpected is the source of the excitement. Doesn’t everybody say, go to a baseball game, you might see something you’ve never seen before?” – Jane Leavy [35:32]
• On the Ghostrunner Rule:
  “Baseball is premised on the idea… that you have to earn your way around the bases. And the fact that you can now short-circuit that… it’s just, it’s… boring.” – Jane Leavy [09:38]
• On Youth and the Ballpark:
  “Get the kids in there… it’s chump change for any of the 30 owners… and it will pay itself forward, grow a new generation of fans.” – Jane Leavy [43:24]
• On Ownership Greed:
  “Let’s give them… the old family-owned teams at least knew and cared about baseball… Now… global capital… sports franchises because… it’s a hedge against the stock market.” – Jane Leavy [45:13]
• On Relegation:
  “If you want to field a AAA team and make your money by not spending the money you’re required to spend, then fine, go play a AAA schedule.” – Jane Leavy [55:30]

Important Segment Timestamps

• [02:20]–[03:35] – Cape Cod League and the essence of traditional baseball
• [04:07]–[06:54] – Proposal for 18-foot plexiglass wall, debate over home runs
• [09:38]–[14:18] – In-depth critique of the ghost runner and the meaning of “earning bases”
• [16:36]–[18:22] – Analytics, domain knowledge, and computer scientists running the game
• [21:54]–[26:55] – Iconic failed moments due to analytics: Kershaw’s near-perfect game, Bill Lee’s reaction
• [28:45]–[30:20] – Japanese methodology and discipline, Yamamoto’s multi-day start
• [32:36]–[36:14] – Human element vs. science, regression away from analytics
• [36:55]–[38:12] – Youth engagement, cost of entry, diversity
• [43:24]–[44:48] – Free admission proposal and addressing ownership motives
• [46:35]–[48:21] – Pitching injury epidemic, healthy scratch proposal
• [51:56]–[52:37] – Economic parity, luxury tax, draft pick penalties
• [55:30] – Relegation proposal and tough-new-rules vision

Closing and Call to Action

• Jane Leavy is actively promoted as a potential MLB commissioner:
  • “There’s a petition online… I would be very happy for people to sign it.” [40:07], [56:09]
• Paul thanks Jane and encourages listeners to read her “wonderful, fun book," reminding the audience of Leavy's candid, insightful, and often playful proposals for restoring baseball’s magic.

Essential Takeaway:
Jane Leavy offers a spirited, deeply informed, and much-needed critique of modern baseball with inventive, sometimes radical suggestions for restoring its joy and humanity. At the heart of her vision: let managers manage, let moments happen, let kids in the ballpark—and let baseball reclaim its soul.