Jane Leavy, the renowned author and veteran journalist, paints a great scene in her excellent book, “Make Me Commissioner, I Know What’s Wrong with Baseball and How to Fix It,” about an eye-opening exchange between two baseball hall-of-famers.

Sitting down with Joe Torre and Sandy Koufax for a conversation, the three friends were lamenting on the current state of Major League Baseball, a proud game that had fallen under the crushing spell of analytics, growing into an almost constant struggle of power vs. power. Can this flamethrowing pitcher, armed with the 100-mph fastball, strike out the overzealous slugger who is only looking to swing for the fences? Gotta raise those launch angle numbers, you know.

For Torre and Koufax, who can easily recall a much different game of station-to-station baseball, crafty pitching by starters who went deep into contests and hitters who actually perfected the fine art of bunting and stealing bases, this new Sabermetric form of baseball was a bit foreign to them. And not attractive.

“Half the time, the pitchers don’t even know where the ball is going,” Sandy said in Leavy’s book.

“Hard to watch,” Torre replied.

“I don’t watch,” Koufax said.

Yikes.

That’s arguably the greatest left-handed pitcher of all time admitting to one of the finest managers to ever grace a dugout that he no longer watches MLB on a regular basis. But as a lifelong fan, I couldn’t agree with him more.

But Leavy also quotes a source stating that they’ve abandoned baseball for women’s college softball. I also couldn’t agree more with that statement.

I’ve been telling sports fans for years – women’s softball is where it’s at.

The shorter, all-dirt infield, the bang-bang defensive plays, the sprawling, leaping catches against the outfield fence to rob home runs, the pitcher shouting and pumping her fist after striking out the side, the humorous dugout chatter (and singing!), the dramatic walk-off bombs into centerfield, the small-ball strategy, hit and runs, drag bunts, slap hitting … it’s so many things baseball is not in 2026.

Canady fundamentally changed the Softball landscape when she sealed a transfer from Palo Alto to Lubbock for a reported $2 Million.

And this time of where, specifically the month of May, is one of the most exciting on the sport calendar. Conference tournaments will be held this week across the country with selection Sunday set for May 10. That’s when 64 programs eagerly anticipate hearing their names called for the NCAA tournament, beginning with regionals, super regionals then the grandaddy of them all – the Women’s College World Series May 28-June 5 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Only eight teams can advance to Oklahoma City. If they survive the steely double-elimination round, it’s onto the best-of-three championship series. But I believe the real high-stakes drama lies in the super regional brackets with teams scratching and clawing to earn one of those coveted eight spots.

“May Madness,” anyone?

Sure, the women’s softball tournament will likely never eclipse the popularity of the men’s basketball or even women’s basketball bonanzas, but sports fans are starting to pay attention. Last year, the WCWS averaged 1.3 million viewers through 15 games, with the finals averaging 2.2 million viewers – the most watched WCWS on record. In fact, all three games broke viewership records, with 2.4 million watching Texas nip upstart Texas Tech in nail-biting fashion.

Who Will Win It This Year?

Speaking of Texas Tech, the Red Raiders look primed to return to OKC and avenge last season’s frustrating loss. They’re currently ranked fourth in the nation, powered by ace NiJaree Canady who closed out the regular season tossing the first perfect game in Red Raider history.

Other dangerous teams include defending champ Texas which comes roaring into the postseason with a 39-10 record, while you can never count out powerhouse Oklahoma. The Sooners (48-7) are ranked No. 1 and will be looking to climb back to the mountaintop after winning four-straight national titles from 2021-2024.

Oklahoma is led by Head Coach Patty Gasso, who boasts one of the best winning and developmental CVs in college athletics.

I’ll be curiously watching Nebraska (43-6), ranked second in the country. The Cornhuskers are on a tear, having won 17-straight games, including 31 of their last 32 contests. Nebraska wrapped up its first outright regular season Big Ten title in program history. Can they keep the momentum going in the postseason? Not counting UCLA, who won the 2019 national title but was not in the conference yet, you must go back to 2005 with Michigan’s victory in the WCWS as the last time a Big Ten program won it all.

Sport Shows Steady Growth

The boom in softball popularity has coincided with the rise in women’s sports in the past few years, creating professional leagues such as Athletes Unlimited. In my own backyard, the Madison Night Mares, members of the Northwoods League, have given talented college athletes a shot at more playing time in the summer while entertaining fans with their high-energy play in Madison, Wisconsin.

And there’s more good news. After being mysteriously omitted from the 2024 Paris Games, softball will make its triumphant return to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Olympic competition will be held in OKC, however, which just feels right. It’s the undisputed softball capital of the world. The reason why it was left off the 2024 Olympic calendar is a head-scratcher. Break dancing over softball? What are we talking about here?

I’ll always have an affinity for baseball. It was my first love. The sport that hooked me into sports. Baseball was a way for me to bond with my older brother. But it pains me to see it taken over by bespectacled Ivy League number crunchers who value acronyms like OPS, WHIP and WAR more than a good ol’ fashion .300 batting average. Out of touch commissioners and owners who believe silly gimmicks will help draw younger fans and that computers should replace umpires, sucking humanity out of the game.

No, I’m not at the point of totally abandoning baseball. I’ll still keep tabs on my beloved Milwaukee Brewers, living and dying with their fortunes, which, come October, usually means the latter. But for a month in late spring, let that beautiful brown diamond consume me. Let me be enthralled by the “Greatest Show on Dirt.”

Let me enjoy the majesty of May Madness.