MLB 2022: The Long and Winding Thread

Speaking of market inefficiency, I read an interesting note about the playoffs that made some sense to me, and it was in reference to the Phillies, in particular (it may have been Joe Sheehan, not sure). We've heard a lot about how anything can happen in a short series, and that's why a 111-win team can be shown the door after one short series. That's understandable. That's baseball.

But how can that happen? It can be as simple as a team that may have a glaring weakness, but over a small stretch of games at the right time, they outperform their weakness to a degree that it elevates everything they already do well. Logical and simple, and the note was if the Phillies are playing significantly better defense over a seven-game stretch they they had comparatively all year, suddenly they aren't so prone to their glaring weakness, and boom, those big homers and timely doubles add up without anything being subtracted. I seem to remember the Braves bullpen struggling a lot last year during the season (I could be wrong; I didn't watch that closely)...until they didn't.

 

I understand that. Bob Nutting knows exactly what he is doing. He lies about building for the future while repeatedly forcing his baseball people to tear the team down before it can ever really contend. He does just enough to keep attendance from completely cratering, in part because people just want to see a game even when the team stinks.

In the long run, that is going to turn off fans. How much are you going to care about the game if you no longer have a rooting interest?

There is a partial fix for this, a salary floor, one high enough to keep franchises from tanking.

 

Angel Stadium is 10 miles away. We haven't gone to an Angels game in 4 or 5 years, but we do watch just about every game on TV. We went once this season because my wife wanted to go see fireworks. They have them after every Saturday game.

Dodgers? Growing up and when I covered them in the '80s, I always considered Dodger Stadium my second home. But I haven't been in the stadium in 20 years -- mostly because I detest Frank McCourt and he still owns the parking lots. With all of the TV channels I get, none of them carry the Dodgers and I don't want to pay even more to watch them. I watch occasionally if they are on a national telecast and I did watch most of the playoffs.

 

True, but both teams also relied on pitching and those arms failed when it mattered most.

 

Pirates averaged 30K/game the two seasons they were really good (2014-2015). They were at 28K in 2013, which was the start of their good years.

So it does make quite a difference. Pirates fans will show up when the team is good.

 

Of course, look what Nutting did after they broke a 20-year streak of losing seasons and made the playoffs. He raised ticket prices and cut payroll.

 

The average ticket price for SPRING TRAINING is $95. That's fucking ridiculous. I took my kids to 3 spring training trips to Florida in the late 90s and I think the most I paid was something like $25 per seat for a Cardinals game (just cuz we wanted to see McGwire). Lower bowl games between the bases at Progressive Field are in the $200 range. And parking is $30-50 around the stadium. I know I'm an old guy yelling at a cloud, but they've priced me out.

 

Yeah, I'm not really sure who can afford to go to games anymore. It's awfully telling when even the Mets and Yankees don't sell out their last games of the year. The Yankees were somewhat understandable, b/c they were cooked and it was a shitty night. But the Mets were in a winner-take-all game 3 on a perfectly fine Columbus Day eve and didn't sell out.

 

Mets much moreso than the Guardians, who would still be playing in the ALCS if Bieber had any balls. #CirclingBack

 

I'm with you there. It's just not worth what you get.

 

I think that’s where the demise of the paper ticket hurts too when it comes to butts in seats. You might drive downtown back in the day and see what you could find outside the stadium. Maybe the tickets were legit and maybe not, but at least you could eyeball them yourself and make an educated choice. Now you have to trust that you are getting a legitimate batch of electrons downloaded to your phone, which means you wind up paying an extra cut to Ticketmaster or Seat Geek or somebody like that.

The guys in the back office with the yield management spreadsheets say they come out better with cheapskates like me staying home anyway. But meanwhile the stadium looks emptier and emptier and the product looks less and less attractive.

 

Paging maumann

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/s...sident-assistant-general-manager/69589672007/