It used to be that baseball was a distraction from the real world; these days, baseball needs the real world to distract attention from it. At the moment, the real world is complying. The start of the 2008 season coincides with epic turmoil in global financial markets, growing fears of a protracted recession in the US and a compelling race for the White House.

With Americans fretting over their jobs, their retirement accounts and the shape of things to come in Washington, they have less time to focus on the scandalous state of the national pastime, and that is a welcome development in the executive suites of Major League Baseball. Just so long as fans keep filling the seats, of course.