In the digital and social media age, baseball's popularity has declined significantly in our culture and with the young generation. It's a slow game with little to no action for an audience that craves instant gratification. When watching a game, it's tempting to take out your phone or change the channel to focus on something more interesting in the short term. Major League Baseball is even trying to implement some changes to make it more entertaining and increase ratings. (Like making games Facebook exclusive lol)

Although baseball is not the most popular sport, it's the game that most American sports fans enjoy for the same reasons. Why I think that's important is that there are few things in America today that both Liberals and Conservatives enjoy in unity. In America’s two most popular sports, football and basketball, things can get political and intense which reflects the cold unfeeling darkness of our 21st-century society.

Liberals love basketball because of its individuality and embracing of style and culture.

It's no wonder Barack Obama could ball on the court while living in the White House.

Remember that New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley who ran for President in 2000? Before politics, he was a key member of the early 70s New York Knicks teams that won two championships.

Conservatives love football because of its team unity and trench warfare tactics.

Richard Nixon was a big football fan: In 1969 he proclaimed Texas as the college football champions in a time before college football had playoffs.

Ever heard of the USFL? It was the football league that came closest to being a legitimate rival to the NFL in the past 50 years. One of the big reasons why it fell apart was because the owner of the New Jersey Generals pushed the games to coincide with NFL games that led to its downfall. The owner? Donald John Trump.

In baseball, every player has only themselves to rely on to help the team get better. Their success in winning the game, however, is also dependent on their teammates' effectiveness and motivating one another to get better. Both liberals and conservatives love baseball because it holds the values of individual glory and team unity together.

Several players and personalities of baseball come from different sides of the political spectrum as well:

Some may know Jim Bunning as the late great former conservative Kentucky Senator, others know him as the Hall of Famer pitcher who threw a Perfect Game for the Phillies on Father's Day 1964.

Or Curt Schilling, who on one hand is the guy who posts distasteful political content on social media, but on the other hand is a great teammate, family man, and a should-be Hall Of Fame pitcher on championship teams.

And then there are baseball experts like Keith Olbermann and Ken Burns, who've both advocated for a more liberal and equality version of America while being able to recite the entire history of baseball uncannily.

It’s a game fitting for all types of personalities and characters:

The big home run slugger, the speedy base runner, the acrobatic outfielder, the cold eyes of the pitcher staring down home plate as he releases a fastball, the thoughtful catcher, the wisdom of managers and coaches.

And baseball is still the American game still because it’s history which both celebrates the freedom of the American dream but also lived in a state of hypocrisy by segregating half of the country for the first century of its existence.

Our perception of every player going back into the 1800s maybe different visually from the 19th-century photography of Old Hoss Rathbone and King Kelly to the hard-grained black and white footage of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig we can only see from a distance. Yet regardless of what piece of advanced technology it was archived with, there are moments and events throughout the history of baseball that transcend time itself and inspire our imagination:

When Gehrig made a speech about the simple things in life as he slowly succumbed to the disease the now bears his name. A speech as brief yet powerful as The Gettysburg Address on the 4th of July in 1939.

When a black man wearing the number 42 simply showed up to work on Opening Day for the Brooklyn Dodgers in an event that became one of America's shining moments.

The grainy colored television showing Mickey Mantle and Carlton Fisk bringing out the little boy in all of us.

When a black man became the home run king in the deep south and two white fans ran out on to the field and patted the new king on the back rather than what many feared could have happened.

Reggie Jackson making the biggest stage seem bigger than life in New York's most the chaotic year of 1977.

The proud city of Boston becoming nearly as shook for a ground ball going past their first baseman's legs in 1986 as when President Kennedy was assassinated 23 years earlier. Then having their prayers answered in the most unreal circumstances in 2004.

Joe Carter and the Blue Jays making the World Series an actual World Series by taking the title to Canada in 1992 and 1993.

"The Kid" Ken Griffey Jr. using his star power to save baseball in the Seattle market.

President Bush throwing a perfect strike at Yankee stadium two months after 9/11.

President Obama wearing a White Sox cap throwing the ceremonial first pitch at the Washington Nationals stadium, not forgetting his roots.

The Cubs winning the world series on November 2, 2016, in the “Hell Freezes Over” and "Pigs Can Fly" moment of sports, and the political equivalent of it happening six nights later.

And the Houston Astros winning their first championship in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane.

Like America, baseball will survive unfathomable trials and tribulation. The game survived the Civil War, the Black Sox Scandal, segregation, World War I and II, players strikes, 9/11, and steroids. The game will continue to adapt to the social media age while maintaining its spirit and the sport will continue to inspire hope and joy in this brutal era of American history.

No matter what happens over the course of the Spring, Summer and Autumn, baseball will be here to get us through whatever life has to offer.