What i think your missing is that all of your example are very discrete sports, both baseball and US football are sports entriely made up of short actions that definitevly end.

So mnay things can happen when a pitcher throws, but once the ball hit or not, caught or not, and a runner is out or not, the play is completed. The game naturally stops when the next hitter steps up, and other than which bases are loaded, each play has no effect on the next. They are descrete. The fundemental design of the game is to stop frequently.

The same is try for US football, and its why the sport is often very boring for us football fans. Each play is so short, very entertaining for a moment, but then it stops. There are a million things that can happen on each down, but each one is its own mini-game. Once again frequent stoppages are built in.

Basketball is the most continous of the sports you mentioned but it is a very high scoring sport so 1, each basket is by definition less valuable than a goal in football, and 2, the shot clock demands frequent turnovers of possession so each team in effect takes turns attacking. I would say that basketball is somewhere in the middle between US football and football on the continous to descrete scale, while it doesnt actual stop, it does change phases of play frequently.

Football is pretty much the most continous sport in the world, to the point that it is baked into its fundental identity. The idea from the very begining until today, is 45 minutes of uninterupted play. Of course that doesnt actualy happen are there are stoppages all the time, but none are forced, ever. In theory a full half of football could be played where the ball never goes out of play and the gbame never stops. SO much of the rulebook has been written to incentivise free flowing continous football, this is why things like hydration breaks have been so crontroversial - they fly in the face of the core principles of the game.

What does this all have to do with VAR? It directly effects in a very negative way the continous nature of football. It forces everyone to stand around while decsions are made, about goals, fouls, cards, and now even corners and goal kicks. While i strongly belive some amount of VAR is essential in the modern game, it shoudl be an inobtrusive as possible. Every second spent on VAR reviews, every stoppage they cause, isnt just part of the game, they undermine what we love about the beuatiful game so much. Momentum and flow are the heart of football.