Alex Rodriguez thinks baseball will be top sport within a decade

New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez thinks that baseball will top both the NFL and the NBA within the next five to 10 years.

Up until probably the 1980s, there was no question that baseball was the most popular sport in the United States. That all changed when the NBA used their superstar combo of Magic, Bird, Jordan and Isiah to claw at the top spot, while the NFL had the 49ers and later the Cowboys to go along with their allotment of individual stars.

Over the last two decades, Major League Baseball has taken a backseat as the “national pastime” for more of the country as pro football and basketball are enjoying so much profitability that it’s not even funny.

One MLB superstar thinks that all is going to change within the next decade. New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez told NJ.com that it will be the MLB that can claim the top spot in the near future:

"When I grew up, baseball was the No. 1 sport. I’m making a prediction that in the next 5-10 years we’re going to become No. 1 again. I really feel that way. Already [MLB commissioner Rob Manfred] has made some incredible movement forward."

On the surface, A-Rod is out of his mind when you look at what the NFL has going on with the popularity of individual players as well as fantasy football and the NBA with somebody named LeBron James, who pretty much bankrolls the league by itself.

Rodriguez did admit in the article that the problem baseball has is its regionalization and how that hurts the national brand of players. MLB does have some national names like Bryce Harper, Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw, but as long as they also have “unwritten rules” and games that seem to be boring to the current generation of short attention spans and instant action, they will be laps behind the other two leagues and fighting with the NHL to stay out of the cellar.

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