MLB World Series 2018: Eh. Dodgers/Boston. Eh.
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3 out of 4 Cubs starters pretty much reeked against the Fish for a 2-2 split.
Here's hoping they get it together the second time around.
Here's hoping they get it together the second time around.
Looks pretty promising so far. And now he has a lead to work with.
...I take that back. 
What’s the record for the shortest tenure in MLB history? Kapler might break it.
Well, Ohtani pitched well overall, giving up his only hits in the second inning leading up to the home run, with only one walk and six strikeouts.
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15 pitchers in the first two games?
Yes, he basically had a couple of bad pitches in the 2nd. Otherwise he looked very good. Loved seeing that fastball up in the 96-99 range.
Angels made it a little too interesting at the end today, but still winning 3 of 4 on the road to start is pretty nice.
I will preface this comment by stating that there will be no substantive changes as long as a club of billionaires continue to enjoy their money gained from beating up on the players...
However, I think a Premier league style relegation and promotion system would at least make things interesting for the "bottom 12" teams that rarely, if ever, have a chance of competing.
Baseball damned near knocked the Twins and Expos out of existence. Contraction died in arbitration in 2002 when a new labor agreement was reached. Looking back on how things turned out for each team, that would've been a bad move. The Twins got a stadium deal and have made the playoffs five times since then; and since having moved to DC, the Nationals have become a big success and really taken over this area.
If stadium deals aren't reached in Oakland or Tampa Bay, it would be more likely those franchises move than get shut down. That's why MLB has said several times there will be no real movement on expansion until the stadium issues in Oakland and the Tampa Bay area are resolved once and for all.
Miami has been a poorly run team in a bad sports town, but the Miami area is still the eighth largest metro area in the US, so it's hard not to keep trying there. The problem is getting the right ownership and front office management in place. Is that Jeter's group? We'll see. It could also be that in spite of its size, it's just a market that won't support MLB. None of the pro teams there (even the venerable Dolphins) get much love unless they're winning.
Watch what you say about the Pirates. Attendance was down in 2015, 2016, and 2017, but Pittsburgh still outdrew the Reds.
I'd be okay if they wanted to contract the Reds. It is entertainment, and there are a ton of other things to do, including FC Cincinnati.
You leave the Reds alone!
Seriously, at this point the 162 game season is one long joke for the majority of the teams in MLB.
I broke down some numbers using a 20 year time span (hypothetically from the time a small child could become a fan of the team to the time they would be old enough/interested enough to spend funds on tickets)
In the last 20 years - 12 different teams have won the World Series, but 10 of those WS victories have been by just four teams (Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals, and Giants).
In the last 20 years 12 different teams have won the NL pennant, but 12 of those pennants have been by just four teams (Cardinals, Giants, Phillies, and Mets).
In the last 20 years 10 different teams have won the AL pennant, but 15 of those pennants have been by just five teams (Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers, Royals, and Tigers).
It gets a little better at the Division Series level....
In the past 20 years all AL teams have made it into the ALDS...(and all have been more than once)
In the past 20 years all NL teams have made it into the NLDS...(The Pirates and the Marlins have only made it once)
However unless you are a fan of the Yankees, Red Sox, A's, Rangers, Twins, Indians, Angels, Astros, Braves, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Cardinals, Giants, or Dodgers you have (on average) had to wait more than four years between playoff appearances. So there are 16 teams who's fans spend a longggg time waiting for something to get excited about, and fans of the Mariners, Pirates, Reds, Marlins, Brewers and White Sox might wait a decade or more before they get games in late September that actually matter.
If you look at that list in the previous paragraph - only the A's and the Twins are small market teams with payrolls regularly in the bottom half of the league and only the A's have a craphole stadium.
So when comes down to it - most baseball fans are pissing away money on an empty dream. Kinda depressing.
Meh. The Reds won't go away. They actually do pretty well in attendance for the size of their market. So do the Pirates, for that matter. In recent years, both have drawn better than Cleveland except for last year, and better than Kansas City except for their current bumps from the World Series.
Baseball won't contract, but here are my four candidates for relocation: Miami, Oakland, Tampa Bay, and the White Sox. Not that markets exist to move all four, of course, but I'd say these four have the best reasons for relocating as it stands right now. If Oakland or Tampa Bay got a stadium deal, I'd sub in Arizona.
OK. Right. The White Sox aren't likely going anywhere. Let's be real. But they are a very weak sister to the Cubs in Chicago and in some ways are as irrelevant to the city as the Browns were to St. Louis because of the Cardinals. And the Cubs are living large now, almost doubling the White Sox's attendance in each of the last two seasons. Maybe the Sox actually would do better as the only team in town in another, albeit smaller, market.
Consider that most cases for contraction or relocation are built around teams drawing poorly, having low revenue, and having a crappy stadium with no real prospects of a new one. The Sox have all three.
-- The last five years, the Sox have been 24th, 28th, 27th, 26th, and 28th in MLB attendance even though they are in the game's third largest market. They cracked the top fifteen in MLB attendance twice since 2001. The Cubs outdrew them by 700,000 in 2005 when the Sox won the World Series, and in 2006, while the Sox contended to the end, the Cubs lost 96 games and still outdrew the Sox by almost 150,000.
-- In the third largest market, the White Sox ranked 18th in total revenue in 2016, taking in a little bit more than the Pirates and a little bit less than the Indians. They had 62 percent of the revenue of the Cubs (who were fourth). Now to be fair, the Mets had only 63 percent of the revenue of the Yankees (first), but that still put them in seventh, overall. The Angels (sixth) had 76 percent of the revenue the Dodgers (second) took in. (The Athletics had only 50 percent of what the Giants took in.)
-- The White Sox new 1990 stadium was ahead of its time in the wrong way. It was one year before the "Camden Revolution" in stadium building that has given fans some magnificent parks. It's undergone some renovations, but Guaranteed Rate Field is a pit. A recent "Forbes" article ranked it 28th out of all MLB stadiums, ahead of only Oakland-Alameda County Stadium and Tropicana Field.
Reinsdorf is 80. The White Sox aren't going anywhere while he's alive. Still after he dies, they could go on the market, and I can imagine a new ownership group at least broaching the idea of moving the team.
Baseball won't contract, but here are my four candidates for relocation: Miami, Oakland, Tampa Bay, and the White Sox. Not that markets exist to move all four, of course, but I'd say these four have the best reasons for relocating as it stands right now. If Oakland or Tampa Bay got a stadium deal, I'd sub in Arizona.
OK. Right. The White Sox aren't likely going anywhere. Let's be real. But they are a very weak sister to the Cubs in Chicago and in some ways are as irrelevant to the city as the Browns were to St. Louis because of the Cardinals. And the Cubs are living large now, almost doubling the White Sox's attendance in each of the last two seasons. Maybe the Sox actually would do better as the only team in town in another, albeit smaller, market.
Consider that most cases for contraction or relocation are built around teams drawing poorly, having low revenue, and having a crappy stadium with no real prospects of a new one. The Sox have all three.
-- The last five years, the Sox have been 24th, 28th, 27th, 26th, and 28th in MLB attendance even though they are in the game's third largest market. They cracked the top fifteen in MLB attendance twice since 2001. The Cubs outdrew them by 700,000 in 2005 when the Sox won the World Series, and in 2006, while the Sox contended to the end, the Cubs lost 96 games and still outdrew the Sox by almost 150,000.
-- In the third largest market, the White Sox ranked 18th in total revenue in 2016, taking in a little bit more than the Pirates and a little bit less than the Indians. They had 62 percent of the revenue of the Cubs (who were fourth). Now to be fair, the Mets had only 63 percent of the revenue of the Yankees (first), but that still put them in seventh, overall. The Angels (sixth) had 76 percent of the revenue the Dodgers (second) took in. (The Athletics had only 50 percent of what the Giants took in.)
-- The White Sox new 1990 stadium was ahead of its time in the wrong way. It was one year before the "Camden Revolution" in stadium building that has given fans some magnificent parks. It's undergone some renovations, but Guaranteed Rate Field is a pit. A recent "Forbes" article ranked it 28th out of all MLB stadiums, ahead of only Oakland-Alameda County Stadium and Tropicana Field.
Reinsdorf is 80. The White Sox aren't going anywhere while he's alive. Still after he dies, they could go on the market, and I can imagine a new ownership group at least broaching the idea of moving the team.
Why? I'm sure in another ten years they will be after another new ballpark to replace GABP. Might as well let them go as opposed to building another park that will sit mostly empty.
Hey! I worked hard on the rest of that post and you ignored it...
The only thing about relocation is.... where to? Is there some great untapped market yearning for a team?
The only metro areas that jump out to me is Vegas and, perhaps, the Carolinas, but neither are a home run (sorry) for a MLB team and most of the teams that would relocate would face some kind of PR opposition if they left.
I would say that the Rays would be the easiest team to move, and if they were to move to the Charlotte area they might do well...
Second easiest would be A's... and Vegas would be a nice fit.
But I don't see either move happening any time soon.
Hey! I worked hard on the rest of that post and you ignored it...
The Reds were the only one that concerned my local area.
I wasn't talking about relocation, I was talking about just contracting them and being done with it. History obviously means nothing where the almighty dollar is concerned. Which is why we lost being the first team to open the season. If TPTB don't care about history, why should I?
If you root for a small market team, you have to buy into what that means. The Reds won the World Series last in 1990. The Twins in 1991. The Royals in 2015. These markets have probably more than their share of moments, really. And at the same time, the Mets won the pennant in 2015, but haven't won a World Series since 1986. The Dodgers won their first pennant since 1988, but '88 was still their last WS victory. When the Cards (not a large market team but they are top ten in revenue) went to the World Series in 2004, it was their first appearance since 1987. When they won it in 2006, it was their first WS victory since 1982.
Sorry, you can't contract the A's. They are second only to the Yankees and Red Sox for playoff AL appearances in the past 20 years, despite a much smaller payroll and having to play with the sweet smell of feces drifting into their locker rooms.
The Reds... well I wouldn't blame you for wanting to give up that mess, but honestly they have had the revenue and the players to make a few runs in the past decade, they just haven't ever "put it all together" and they also have the misfortune of sharing a division with the Cardinals. Oops. Maybe they could petition to move to the NL East?
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