Organizations that believe in DEI should follow Major League Baseball’s lead
The league is playing smarter, not harder as diversity initiatives are under attack
DEI is under attack. But the ideas and reasons behind diversity, equity and inclusion are helping America’s pastime in every aspect of the sport.
The 2025 Major League Baseball season kicked off with a pair of games in the Tokyo Dome featuring the biggest star the sport has seen in decades. Shohei Ohtani led the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers in a two-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs. According to MLB, the games were a massive success, setting new records for international viewership, merch sales and attendance.
In addition to reigning MVP Ohtani, the Dodgers have another two players who were born in Japan, a Canadian-American World Series MVP at first base, a Dominican-born All-Star in left field and the game’s most popular African American player (and also Hall of Fame–level bowler) switching to shortstop for the 2025 season. The guys in Dodger blue are a shining example of how diversity in baseball leads to a superior on-field product.
The no longer lovable losers from Chicago, the Cubs, are another club that changed their fortunes due to leaning into diversity. The club once had the longest championship drought in the four major North American sports leagues, but that ended in 2016. Thanks to new ownership in 2009, the Ricketts family went out and got the best mind in baseball (and proud Democrat), Theo Epstein, to turn around the historically dumb club.
The on-field product for the Cubs has been similar to the Dodgers, and the ownership group is even more diverse, even though it’s the same family. The patriarch of the family, Joe Ricketts, donated millions of dollars to help Donald Trump and other GOP members win elections since 2008. (Before that he gave to members of both parties.) Joe’s daughter and fellow Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts has also donated millions of dollars, but hers has gone entirely to folks on the blue other side of the aisle. Political diversity in the front office of the Cubs hasn’t hurt one bit, at least when it comes to winning games, selling tickets and making more money than 26 other clubs in Major League Baseball.
With a view of the U.S. Capitol Building (if you’re in the upper deck), the Washington Nationals hosted their annual media tour on Friday. The ball club highlighted some of their new food offerings (around 40 local restaurants ranging from Korean hot dogs to Thai-inspired popcorn are offered throughout the park), giveaways and themed games. As part of the “Art of the Game” initiative, “local artists from diverse backgrounds, including Nationals pitcher Cade Cavalli, each brought the Curly W to life in their own way with unique perspectives and identities.” The 2025 Heritage Days will celebrate Japanese, AAPI, Korean, Italian, Filipino, Taiwanese, Hispanic and Salvadoran cultures.
The Nats annual Night OUT is also returning. Pride-themed games are also returning for the 27 of the 28 other clubs that had Pride celebrations in 2024. (The Texas Rangers were the one team that did not participate in 2024 and will once again not be participating in 2025. But the Rangers do have an HBCU Diamond Day, Hispanic Heritage Night and multiple other themes that would work well in a DEI initiative. The Yankees participated in 2024 but have yet to announce their 2025 plans.)
During the Nationals media tour, DEI was not explicitly highlighted. But throughout the 81 regular season games played at Nationals Park in 2025, they are definitely promoting the fair treatment and full participation of all people, particularly groups who have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination based on identity or disability. As they should.
Even as the Nationals are showcasing their diversity, MLB has removed diversity references from its careers webpage. After Craig Calcaterra of cupofcoffeenews.com noted the update last week, the league issued a statement to The Athletic. “Our values on diversity remain unchanged,” MLB said. “We are in the process of evaluating our programs for any modifications to eligibility criteria that are needed to ensure our programs are compliant with federal law as they continue forward.”
The main concern is the potential loss of MLB’s Diversity Pipeline Program, the Diversity Fellowship Program, the MLB On Deck Diversity in Ticket Sales Training Program and the Diverse Business Partners Program. According to the speculation of Calcaterra at Cup of Coffee and myself, it appears that the word diversity is no longer on the Diversity Pipeline Program page (it is on all other pages) because it’s an attempt to stay out of the spotlight while continuing to do the work. Since an executive order commanded the Office of Federal Contract Compliance to “immediately cease” promoting “diversity” and any encouragement of federal contractors and subcontractors to engage in affirmative action-like efforts that consider race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion or national origin when making hiring decisions, it looks like someone at MLB simply typed CTRL+F “diversity” and hit delete.
Great. Play smarter, not harder. Last month at an owners meeting, Commissioner Rob Manfred acknowledged something like this may be coming. When speaking about the interpretation of the federal law, he said, “Our values, particularly our values on diversity, remain unchanged. But another value that is pretty important to us is we always try to comply with what the law is. There seems to be an evolution going on here. We’re following that very carefully.”
If these programs actually remain and Major League Baseball continues to lean into progress, this is a rose by any other name situation. Peruse any MLB team’s schedule, lineup and even the rest of the MLB careers webpage, and it sure looks like they’re not attempting to go back to a pre-Jackie Robinson era.
Speaking of Robinson, the same week MLB removed some diversity from its career page, a Department of Defense webpage about the Hall of Famer and civil rights icon was removed and restored. The following day, the Defense Department spokesman who’s a fan of purging history, John Ullyot, was removed from his role as a senior spokesman and is expected to take another role in the department.
Sports thrive in every aspect of the game when they lean into diversity, inclusion and equity. Whether it’s on the field, in the front office or inside the stadium, the fan experience is always better when the focus is on winning and many disparate groups are involved. Using buzz words does not matter. The actions behind those words matter. MLB understands this. It’s smart to change words to comply with laws, even if you don’t agree with them. It’s also smart to keep doing what works.
