2019 MLB Regular Season running thread

Promoting your brand by supporting your affiliate is not, IMO, unnecessary travel.

 

I would put 'playing your best baseball' ahead of 'promoting the brand.'

 

Have a couple Quadruple-A players and the MLB manager show up to an autograph session in January then. Brand is promoted. Travel is minimized. The team can pay the players some extra money that they may actually appreciate. Season travel isn’t affected.

Problem solved.

 

I remember as a kid going into Buffalo to watch their major-league affiliate play the Bisons. The Twins even played in PDX a couple times when the Beavers were their PCL affiliate in the late 1980s-early 1990s.

I saw Ted Williams in Buffalo when he was the manager for the Senators, playing one of those games. Drew a huge crowd. My memory is hazy but I think he took some hacks in BP and looked just like Roy Hobbs, who assaulted the right-field stands in War Memorial Stadium about 15 years later.

 

Life meets art:

“I’m Ted Fucking Williams. Here comes Young Berry. Jesus H. Christ himself can’t get me out, I sent John Rhodes back to his shit Nebraska farm and and Young Berry going to come after me with his little shit slider? I’m Ted Fucking Williams.

 

Agreed. MLB had to act. Although it's not on the same scale as Judge Landis banning Joe Jackson and the rest of the Black Sox, it is precedent for acting despite the lack of legal action.
Maybe he can head back to Berkeley and help the kids on KALX doing Bears games?

 

I had the opportunity to meet him at my health club way before he became CEO, around 27 years ago and then by happenstance he was in Hawaii on the beach when I was on my honeymoon (23 yrs ago) and he couldn't have been more humble and or nicer. I don't know him beyond that but I wish him and his wife the best going forward (I'm sure he's going to be fine.)

 

Here's a perfect example of where MLB pales in comparison with the NFL in terms of marketing. The NFL announced it's opening its season with the Bears/Packers, a great, storied rivalry. MLB's reigning champion, Boston, is opening at 7:10 p.m. eastern in Seattle against the freaking Mariners. Meanwhile, the Astros are opening on the road in Tampa, the Cubs are playing their long-time rival the, uh, Rangers in Texas.

I know that putting together the MLB schedule is challenging, but it's not asking that much to have the reigning champions play against a divisional foe. Moreover, the game-time start means fans in Seattle will be tuning in at freaking 4:10. And it's not even their opener because they already played in Japan!

I love Opening Day, but that's ending it with sort of a whimper. Chris Sale versus Marco Gonzalez...

 

That's the thing. MLB already had its opening day and nobody noticed.

 

Baseball has watered down it's opening day. It used to be the Reds at home on Monday, then everyone else on Tuesday. Then it went to a single Sunday night game and now it's just a mash of games on a Thursday.

Numbers won't allow for everyone to play a divisional foe, but there seem to be a lot of random games. Sending the Sox across the country seems dumb.

 

This has been happening for decades. The Sox often open on the road, including on the West Coast, because March 28 is not spring here. There are still pockets of snow in my admittedly shady lawn left over from plowing the driveway in early March. It's 40 degrees right now.

 

Except for the games played a week ago in Asia.