2013 MLB Regular Season running thread

All of this because an umpire botched a review? Jesus. Take a tranquilizer.

Unhappy? Who's unhappy? I'm very happy with where baseball is. Any objective look at it would give two big thumbs up to the current state of things. Maybe not to those "blacked out" people who don't want to pay for cable, but I guess it's up to everyone to decide what's worthy entertainment.

Some people just love to think baseball is doing everything wrong no matter what. I guess you're one of those.

 

"Any objective look at it would give two big thumbs up to the current state of things."

Right, nothing says stability like the great October moments occurring on Channels 245 and 247. Bravo (the cable next home of playoff baseball?).

"...those "blacked out" people who don't want to pay for cable."

So all those folks in North Carolina who can't watch the Orioles are just a bunch of thieves? I don't think so.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/23783/the-absurd-unjust-north-carolina-baseball-blackout

 

Why does it matter what channel it's on? It's on. Watch it or not. Baseball makes as much money as the NFL.

You're a bore. Later.

 

Yeah, it's a good thing the NFL, NHL, NBA, college football & college basketball don't show all or part of their postseasons on cable TV.

Baseball's the only one that does that...

 

The increasing emphasis on travel/club teams as opposed to local/high school competition is a fact in virtually all U.S. sports.

 

Football is the last true high school sport in the US.

 

These aren't the morons you're looking for ...

 

These aren't the morons I'm looking for...

 

And even that is falling apart as the 7-on-7 summer passing leagues become a bigger and bigger deal every year.

I bet we are within 5 years of kids getting D-I football scholarships who never set foot on a high school football field --- strictly on the basis of what they did in 7-on-7 leagues.

 

Yeah, it's a real breeding ground for linemen.

 

OK, that last page was good for a laugh. Let's get this thread back on track:

The umps in Houston just allowed the Astros to warm up a pitcher and then replace him without facing a batter. That's illegal. Mike Scioscia is protesting.

The last upheld protest was in 1986: http://www.retrosheet.org/protests.htm

 

It's not simply the postseason migrating to the far reaches of cable TV. It's the massive drop in ratings -- of baseball's marquee events -- over the last two decades.

Maybe I'm just too romantic, but I see a problem with a supposed "national pastime" that draws talent from a very narrow socio-economic pool in this country.

I should have elaborated my point about the umpires. But hey, Fieldin Culbreth and Crew spoke for me last night in Houston. One day they ignore replay screens, the next the rulebook. Who is policing these rogue umps? Why do they continue to get away with it? They can't even be bothered with explaining themselves.

It's been 17 years since the Alomar spitting incident, 14 years since the Sandy Alderson-led purge, and these guys are still out of line.