MLB to Small Town America: Drop Dead

I will say that 6 years ago, the local Class A team had a couple sections of box seats for $20, while most of the place was $12 and $8.
A couple hundred people could sit on the outfield lawn for $5.

Now, the seats are $18 and $32 (which includes a dog and a drink). Lawn seating $10. Probably a clue as to why they're drawing 800 people for holiday week fireworks.

Oh, and parking used to be pretty much free; now it's a strongly enforced $5 or $10.

 

It’s got to be time. The Diamond is nearing 40.

 

Bring back Parker Field! That was one very sketch area of the Boulevard when I was in school there. Luckily we didn't have to drive down to the Arena for basketball, as the Robins Center opened my freshman year.

 

I wasn't there (I haven't lived there since I left for college), but my hometown Midwest League team, the Lansing Lugnuts, drew almost 1o,000 on July 3. I don't know how often that happens.

 

I pointed out the same trend during Spring Training, wanting $30-plus for Cactus League games. The pitchers you've heard of throw a couple innings, and the regular lineup guys get a couple at bats.

The rest of the time goes to the minor leaguers you will later have the opportunity to see for $18 and $32 ...

 

I know it's Lansing, but at least a view of the Capitol in centerfield would exceed a 4-floor apartment complex that seems de rigueur with every development.

 

There's no way to configure it on that site that you'd get much of a view of the Capitol. You might see whatever they now call the Michigan National Tower. And the sun would be setting in the batters' eyes.

 

While @Starman's version of what MILB will look like in 2030 could ring true -- and MLB is nothing but consistent when it comes to being penny wise and pound foolish -- I'm interpreting the tea leaves a little differently.

I get that fewer than 10 percent of all minor leaguers will ever wear a major league uniform. But for the past 150 years, the problem has always been figuring out which 10 percent that's going to be. That's why the minor leagues exist, to refine and polish the diamonds in the rough.

Playing games that count against your own talent level, then being challenged by the next level up until you're worthy of one of the 750 places on a major league roster. You honestly cannot get that experience in high school, college or summer wood bat leagues.

But ...

1. I think we'll see expansion before 2030, getting us to 32 teams and solving some of the intraleague scheduling issues. That's 14 more minor league teams, not including complex and Latin America.

2. While the "junior team" concept works well for soccer, I don't see MLB scraping the current minor league system in order to play extra "practice" games at Comerica Park instead of Toledo. Premier League teams haven't wiped out England's First, Second and Third Divisions. Why should MLB, which now owns MILB, kill their own golden goose? Attendance aside, those teams are making money just on souvenir sales alone. I think the Carolina Mudcats turned a massive profit on the Muddy logo before they ever played a game.

Only fools with money burning a hole in their pocket pay to see the Detroit Tigers now. Who the hell would pay to watch guys not good enough to take Akil Baddoo's place? People in Toledo and Erie, that's who.

3. With just 80-90 players in the system, that's a hell of a churn rate every year when the draft comes along. That leaves almost zero chance for development, especially kids transititioning from high school to full-season pro ball. What organization is good enough to determine over 132 games if that skinny 19-year-old kid they picked in the ninth round might be the next Tarik Skubal? Or worse, lose a top talent to an injury that puts them out for the season? That puts an enormous amount of pressure on already mediocre front offices, which means nobody will draft outside of college juniors or seniors with no eligibility left. They can't afford to wait on a high school kid to mature.

So the Tigers end up with more Casey Mizes and Matt Mannings and fewer Kerry Carpenters and Justice Bigbees. Swell.

4. The cost of running five minor league teams is less than the Tigers are paying Javier Baez. And suffice to say, Baez couldn't make the roster of the Lakeland Flying Tigers if it came down to production.

But let's say MLB is dumb enough to eliminate everything below AA ball. Now you're looking at something close to the minor leagues, pre-World War II, where the majority of players (hopefully not all white) are under contract with independent teams without the benefit of organizational coaching, nutrition and development. If you excel, would your team "sell" your contract to a major league team to cover expenses? It may become "pay to play," where only guys with upper-middle class parents can afford to put their son into a "baseball academy."

I just don't see where MLB comes out ahead in the long run. Then again, I would have bet the house that the SWC, Big-8 and Pac-10 would still be around in 2025. Shows how little I know.

 

One counter to that is that college baseball is about to become a lot more attractive with full scholarships, plus NIL money for a few in the top conferences. More and more teams are treating college as a Single A equivalent.

 

Big week coming up for our team/league. Our club might have its second 1/1 alum (Adley is the first) in the draft with Travis Bazzana; certainly, our third alum all-time in the top 4 (Madrigal is the other). We have two alums in the ASG (Adley, Kwan). And our all-star game will be televised by MLB Network on Wednesday night from Bellingham, one of the league's premier franchises.

 

7? Here, at 7 PM they’re starting the third inning.

 

This again? How long have you been claiming this?