In a year when Major League Baseball is celebrating rising attendance, higher TV ratings, and a wave of young stars, one of the game's legendary figures is tuning out entirely. New York Yankees icon Jorge Posada has declared that he will not watch a single MLB game in 2026, delivering a fiery critique of the sport's modern direction.
Posada, a four-time World Series champion and five-time All-Star, didn't mince words during a recent appearance on Abriendo El Podcast. The catcher, who was part of the famed Core Four alongside Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Andy Pettitte, issued an old-school rant that has resonated with traditionalists across the baseball world.
“The baseball being played today is garbage,” Posada said bluntly. “I can’t watch today’s game.”
At the heart of Posada's frustration is the growing influence of analytics, which he believes has stripped the sport of its soul. He took particular aim at how data-driven approaches have replaced instinct and feel. “You can’t judge Jeter through a computer,” he argued, suggesting that modern metrics fail to capture the intangibles that made the Yankees dynasty so special.
Posada’s sentiments were echoed loudly by ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit, who took to social media with a lengthy tirade of his own. “THANK YOU!!!!! Where did the athletic ability go?” Herbstreit posted, rattling off a list of lost arts: clutch hitting, complete games from starting pitchers, base stealing, and sacrifice bunts. He lamented the absence of contact hitters like Tony Gwynn, Rod Carew, Wade Boggs, and Ichiro Suzuki, arguing that such players “wouldn’t exist in today’s ridiculous HR or K ‘launch angle’ game.”
Herbstreit went on to claim that baseball has been “dying with the youth of America for years” and is now losing its core fanbase due to a “dreadful” product that has been served up for the past seven to ten years. He called for a return to “Small Ball and athleticism,” a sentiment that aligns perfectly with Posada’s critique.
Not everyone agrees, of course. MLB's 2026 season has seen strong attendance figures in most markets, and the league has touted a new generation of electric players who are redefining athleticism on the diamond. But for Posada and Herbstreit, the numbers don’t tell the full story. They see a game that has become robotic, obsessed with launch angles and strikeouts at the expense of the fundamental skills that once defined the sport.
The debate over analytics versus tradition is hardly new, but Posada’s refusal to watch represents a symbolic stand from one of the most respected figures of the Yankees' golden era. His comments have already sparked widespread discussion, with some fans applauding his honesty and others arguing that he’s simply out of touch.
In a league that continues to evolve, Posada’s stance is a reminder that not everyone is on board with the changes. For now, the four-time champion is content to leave the game behind, even as the rest of the baseball world moves forward.
