2019 MLB Regular Season running thread

Attendance numbers across the majors have less truth than a string of Trump tweets.

The Angels are, by my estimate, consistently 7-10 thousand short a night.

Not sure who they think they are fooling with that 'tickets sold' bullshit.

 

half the teams have losing records, 4 have lost 100+ and another 4 teams have lost 90+. There was 1 pennant race this year and the loser still gets to go into the play-in game, even possibly as the home team.

given the uncompetitive nature of the season, the fact that no player is chasing any significant record, that the best player in baseball is not on a competitive team, the hot off-season free-agents have been underwhelming (Machado and Harper) its amazing that attendance is as good as it is.

The post season may be great. Cardinals Dodgers then A Yankees Dodgers Series can always be fun. Yankees Astros brings the Yankees Royals 70's rivalry to mind.

 

I would, selfishly, like to see Cardinals-Yankees, the two standard bearers (at least in World Series titles) in each league facing off.

 

Buckle in for four and a half hour playoff games as the Astros and Nats are the only teams with deep starting staffs so there will 10 pitching changes each game.

Note: The Dodgers have a deep starting staff but also a manager who tends to pull them really early. (or in Kershaw's case, an inning too late)

 

Most stadium "rental" agreements have clauses dependent on attendance -- how much the host franchise is going to pay/ get paid by/ the taxpayers, and usually when/if the host franchise can threaten to leave.

Essentially taxpayers should file lawsuits to reveal accurate attendance figures.

Attendance figures are becoming a complete farce across sports. The Detroit Pistons claim to average 16,486 per game; in reality they have 4-5,000 butts in the seats.

 

But they don't have a player named Roasted on the roster. Figure Dee Gordon is their biggest name left now.

 

On Tuesday night, Ducks-Sharks preseason game at Honda Center, drew an announced crowd of 13,000+. Might have been 4,000 in the house, if that many. Driving home on the 57, you can see into Angel Stadium. Announced attendance was 36,000+. I said as we were driving past that the Ducks must have accidentally announce the Angels attendance.

 

Journalists can file State FOI requests for taxpayers funded, managed or owned stadiums. The. Journalists can write about it. Are the taxpayers ripping off richnowners? Are the rich owners being subsidized? Story yes. But not one that the local papers and TV will cover

 

From a team's point of view, once a ticket is sold, who cares if its owner puts his ass in that seat? It is amazing how often the view on TV from behind the pitcher's mound shows empty seats right behind home plate, especially at Yankee Stadium. You know those seats were bought by somebody. But if Hedge Fund X or Big Bank Y doesn't send anybody to the game, the Yanks don't care. They have the money.

 

Yeah but what if the figures supplied by the franchise to the stadium authorities are fabricated in the first place -- really that's the whole point.

 

Concession sales.

 

Those unused prime seats go for $300-$400 a game. Even at Yankee Stadium prices, that's a boatload of beer and hot dogs.