Oakland A's headed to Las Vegas

Well if you put it that way…

 

The funny (not funny ha ha) thing is he's shortened the games w/o addressing why they were so long and dull in the first place. Everyone's still invested in the three true outcomes. The .300 hitter is still an endangered species. Guys are stealing more bases because everyone this side of you and I can steal a base with the limited pickoffs and the larger bases. Eventually the non-diehard fan will realize it's the same boring-ass game, just half an hour shorter, and any little boost MLB got from this will disappear. Hopefully Manfred is in the Hall of Fame by that point and we can stop thinking about how awful he is and pivot to thinking about how awful his replacement is.

 

I'd prefer to be able to think about how much better his replacement is, but the odds of that are slim.

 

Non-existent.

 

Bart Giamatti made it there. I know that pro commissioners anymore generally lack any substance, but hope springs eternal.

 

Giamatti was the last truly independent commissioner. He died too quickly to do anything transformational.

Vincent’s nuts were always in a vice grip, and it was the Cubs and Cardinals who snipped ‘em off once he proposed something (move them to the NL West) they didn’t like.

Manfred has been the owners’ toadie for 30 years.

 

Manfred also awful in an interview setting. I know it's not his position to sell the game but he wouldn't even know where to look. He's a real schmuck, as my father called it.

 

The bases are three inches closer. I don't think that is all that big of a factor in the increase in stolen bases.

 

Was thinking about all this and patterns and I think what it comes down to is something of a "fire triangle." Teams that have relocated in the modern era (now that we don't have teams that are just up and broke) tend to require two of the following:

1. Bad ownership
2. Bad stadium situation
3. Bad results

Let's set the cutoff point at when the A's moved to Oakland, 1967:

1967: A's move from Kansas City to Oakland
1968: Hawks move from St. Louis to Atlanta
1969: Pilots move from Seattle to Milwaukee
1971: Senators II move from Washington to Arlington
1971: Rockets move from San Diego to Houston
1972: Royals move from Cincinnati to Kansas City*
1976: Golden Seals move from Oakland to Cleveland
1976: Scouts move from Kansas City to Denver
1978: Braves move from Buffalo to San Diego
1979: Jazz move from New Orleans to Utah
1980: Flames move from Atlanta to Calgary
1982: Raiders move from Oakland to LA
1982: Rockies move from Denver to New Jersey
1984: Colts move from Baltimore to Indianapolis
1984: Clippers move from San Diego to LA
1985: Kings move from Kansas City to Sacramento
1988: Cardinals move from St. Louis to Phoenix
1993: North Stars move from Minneapolis to Dallas
1995: Rams move from Anaheim to St. Louis
1995: Raiders move back to Oakland from LA
1995: Nordiques move from Quebec to Denver
1996: Browns essentially move from Cleveland to Baltimore
1996: Jets move from Winnipeg to Phoenix
1997: Oilers move from Houston to Tennessee
1997: Whalers move from Hartford to Raleigh
2001: Grizzlies move from Vancouver to Memphis
2002: Hornets move from Charlotte to New Orleans
2004: Expos move from Montreal to Washington
2008: Sonics move from Seattle to Oklahoma City
2011: Thrashers move from Atlanta to Winnipeg
2016: Rams move back to LA from St. Louis
2017: Chargers move "back" to LA from San Diego
2020: Raiders move from Oakland to Las Vegas

 

Dan Snyder seems to be beating the odds, but I'm not sure how many other guys are out there that have two of those three points right now.

 

The 1972 move was the Cincinnati Royals, of course. The team played home games in Omaha as well as Kansas City for a few years as well before settling down in KC, much like some of the regional franchises in the ABA.