Baseball was having a peak season in virtually every way.

The number of visitors has increased. TV ratings have increased. Streaming numbers are up. Youth participation has increased. International viewership has increased. Digital engagements are increasing.

Everything is fine except for the playing time. Unless you’re the Red Sox.

We’re just down. The number of visitors fell by around 12,000 fans. NESN’s ratings, which weren’t that high to begin with, fell by five percent overall and by 25 percent in the coveted 25- to 54-year-old age group. The NESN360 app is a buggy mess.

With an uninspiring roster and an ownership group that has been peddling the same platitudes for three years in a row, it’s easy for Red Sox fans to believe that baseball has problems everywhere. But that would be wrong.

The playoffs are in full swing and baseball is reigning in cities like San Diego, New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

The Padres are poised to resume their rivalry with the Dodgers after eliminating the Braves in front of a raging sea of ​​San Diegans on Wednesday. The Mets extended their magical run with a stunning win over the Brewers on Thursday. The Phillies, who boast the best home-field advantage and atmosphere in baseball, could be the overall favorite.

Elsewhere, the Tigers turned on the Jets in August and didn’t look back, dismissing the playoff-tested Astros. Meanwhile, the Royals celebrated defeating the Orioles behind five-headed superstar Bobby Witt Jr. That leaves the Yankees, who believe they are finally in a position to end their 15-year title drought.

All this excitement and none of it in Boston. The Red Sox used to be at the center of the baseball universe, but now they are a distant satellite like Pluto, in danger of being downgraded from a planet to a celestial body, which in astronomical jargon is always referred to as an eternal celestial body Pitching.

Because we tend to look inward—some would call it “provincial” while others might opt ​​for “myopic”—it’s not necessarily clear that baseball as a whole is thriving. But it is like that. Was there a bigger “HOLY S***!”? What’s the second time in any sport this year than Shohei Ohtani joining the 50-50 club with a 6-for-6 three-homer masterpiece?

Baseball has delivered great moments all season, from Aaron Judge’s hunt for 60 bombs to Pirates phenom Paul Skenes firing 100-mph fastballs with Pedro Martinez-like command to the Mets beating us in four days gave two Game of the Year candidates, and the highlight was Pete Alonso – possibly in his final fight with the franchise – hitting a go-ahead three-run home run in the ninth inning of Thursday’s winner-take-all wild-card game in Milwaukee.

If you think baseball is boring, just watch Francisco Lindor, the lynchpin of the New York franchise, step out in the middle of his postgame interview with ESPN to be the WWE hype man before a team photo play.

Francisco Lindor leaves the ESPN postgame interview early to take a team photo and he got the Mets AMPEDDDD#LFGM pic.twitter.com/1TgS0Qjert

— Rob Lopez (@r0bato) October 4, 2024

That’s what $341 million will get you if allocated correctly. Maybe a more financially responsible operation could have gotten him at a cheaper price, but who cares? You build your team around such a player and then watch as an entire city rallies around him.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, are betting on Rafael Devers, a talented hitter whose overall contribution diminishes the moment he leaves the batter’s box.

If you’ve watched the playoffs, you already know that the Mets are not an outlier. The Padres threw their old friend Don Orsillo onto the jumbotron during their loud elimination of the Braves on Wednesday night, and Petco Park exploded.

Another fun evening. @Padres On to LA! pic.twitter.com/b85ja5icdI

– Don Orsillo (@DonOrsillo) October 3, 2024

Except for perhaps Dennis Eckersley, it’s hard to imagine a Red Sox broadcaster eliciting this kind of reaction after five mediocre seasons.

We declare baseball second-rate or dead because that’s how it feels on the ground, but that’s not true. The Phillies fill Citizens Bank Park with crazy people reminiscent of 2003 Fenway. Dave Dombrowski has assembled the perfect team to call this place home with bandana-wearing MVP Bryce Harper, playoff superhero Kyle Schwarber and fiery Nick Castellanos. Bearded, boisterous and tough, they embody their city.

The Red Sox used to field teams like that, but the Dirt Dogs and Idiots now only exist in Netflix specials.

John Henry and Co. are content to push all the chips to the farm system and hope that Roman Anthony and Co. don’t represent a roulette variant of the Russian variant. Youth without veterans can provide a spark, but it has its limits.

Just ask the Orioles, who were eliminated from their second straight postseason despite having young stars Adleyrutschman and Gunnar Henderson. They’ll likely lose superstar Corbin Burnes and hard-hitting outfielder Anthony Santander in free agency, meaning their experience deficit will only widen.

On the other hand, the Dodgers are desperate to prove their star-studded roster can win it all in a COVID-free year, and they’re on the verge of giving the great Ohtani his first postseason appearance. It’s the biggest storyline of the playoffs, and if he succeeds, he could become the most famous athlete in the world.

So don’t try to tell me baseball is boring. It just feels that way when you live in Boston.