From a Wall Street Journal story by Jared Diamond and Lindsey Adler headlined “The World Series Without Baseball’s Best Teams or Best Players”:

Major League Baseball fundamentally reshaped its rules this season in a drastic effort to improve the product on the field and attract younger generations of fans who had abandoned the sport.

The changes largely worked: The once-controversial pitch timer resulted in shorter and more action-packed games. Limiting pitcher pickoff throws led to a record 41% increase in stolen bases. Attendances climbed to their largest total since 2017, reversing years of decline that started even before the pandemic disrupted the live entertainment market. Nearly two-thirds of teams saw their local television ratings rise.