re: Why does the nation care so little about college baseball and so much about MLB?

Actually I think when you look at MLB popularity you get your answer for college baseball.
MKB is NOT a nationally popular sport but rather a regionally popular sport. The areas that have good teams LOVE their teams, which leads to high profitability. The league is struggling with its national brand however because it just doesn't resonate region to region. Recently, the list of most popular sports figure in America came out and basically includes none of the top baseball players in it. This is baffling because the game has never had more young marketable superstars that not does now. The problem? Baseball is not a game made for TV. It's a game to take in either live or on the radio- both of which require proximity.
College baseball is wildly popular in regions for the same reasons.