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Going back to previous comments, I honestly do not find the length of games a deterrent to future fandom.
I admit that the length has almost completely stopped my ballpark trips and it is unlikely that I will return due to the ease of watching from home, better views, the fanbase after the 6th inning with consumption, as well as a bathroom line that satisfies my old man prostate needs, lol. The one change I would like to see is some (what I would consider easier changes to eliminate wasted time) limits to pitching changes and stepping out of the box to dink around with swings. Abuse of leaving the box should equal a strike added to the count. |
Now that all of the fun has been sucked completely out of it, "the game" is nothing but money. I'm done. I should have been done with the strike of '94, as so, so many others were. Dying? It's dead! All that's left is a corporation.
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I'm still waiting for someone to prove to me that the old system, whereby pitchers were expected to finish their games unless they were really getting knocked around, produced worse results than bringing in relievers after low pitch counts compared to the old days. I don't understand how anybody can look at the records of hundreds of old-time pitchers, and not just the special ones, and not at least question the modern strategy. Were the old-timers actually worn out in the later innings and costing their teams games before the light bulb went off in some manager's head with the idea of replacing them before that happened, or did good pitchers more frequently get into grooves whereby they were throwing just as well in the eighth, ninth, and sometimes eleventh, twelfth, or even fifteenth or sixteenth innings! I Want to see SABR-type analysis of the comparison between yesteryear and today. Which was actually more effective?
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There's been untold numbers of studies done on the effectiveness of starting pitchers in the early, the middle, and the late innings, and outside of a few anecdotal outliers it's pretty cut and dry. As far as the "Old-Timers", it was a completely different game, with different ballparks, equipment, circumstances, and strategies. You may not like present day strategy, but they wouldn't do it if it didn't work. |
Parody perhaps but Baseball does have problems
Although (due to political inflammation before the start of the 2020 season by MLB and the local 9) I have not watched MLB in 2+ years, I read this article as parody. "The Biden administration could seize all 30 teams and dissolve the league by executive fiat ... more realistic to assume that Congress would have to be involved ... " Seriously? Well, in this era of COVID and "official" responses thereto (not to mention the amazing progress shown in DC since January 20, 2021), I guess author Matthew Walther and the NYT are on solid sand.
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"Corporate": Not sure what this means. Most private enterprise these days involves corporations. Hell, I was a one-person corporation for 18 years while I was practicing law. Perhaps you would prefer that baseball be run by the federal government? They do such a great job! I can only imagine the new regs. "Robotic": Again, not sure what this means. Last time I checked, there were no robots on the MLB diamond. Just flesh and bones fielders, batters, umps and coaches with all of their human foibles. "Bernie Madoff": I never rooted for Bernie Madoff. The guy made-up stats and defrauded his clients of hundreds of millions of dollars. I haven't seen that in baseball. In baseball, you can watch the game and track the stats. No fraud so far as I can tell. Just big business, big contracts, big money--which you perhaps don't like. Baseball is rather like our country. Fundamentally sound and flawed; worth preserving and improving. |
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As I sat in the Citifield parking lot yesterday for an hour after the game ended waiting to move my car a few more inches I stayed calm by just repeated to my self over and over “baseball is dying ….. baseball is dying ….. baseball is dying”.
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Even with the disaster that is the Oakland As, baseball attendance in April up meaningfully from 2019 levels, last full season before covid.
Baseball is dying . . .baseball is dying. . . .baseball is dying . . . . |
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Your apparent dissatisfaction with the expense and crowds involved in attending the games, would appear inconsistent with your premise that the game is dying. Kinda like "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded!" Unless you are making a long-run prediction.
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The quote below is from a post I made in April. My passion for the game of baseball is as strong as ever. My beloved Phillies just clinched their first playoff berth since 2011. They went into the game with a Magic Number of 1 and took care of business. They got a home run on the very first pitch of the game. As it turned out, that was all they would need, as they shut out the Astros, 3-0.
Can the Phillies win the World Series? Perhaps not; however, baseball is often all about the thrill of possibility. They're in the playoffs. Starting Friday, a championship will be a mere thirteen wins away. It's October and anything is possible. Man, I love this game. Quote:
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My 2022 Baltimore Orioles also pulled off a miracle of sorts. They became the first team since 1900 to lose 110+ games the previous season then to have a winning season the next and were actually in playoff contention until last week. With a young core of talent, the #2 farm system in baseball and only $20 million committed to payroll next year, the future is so so so bright in Charm City! |
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My 2022 perspective on the overall health of baseball . . .
The LLWS was awesome (as usual) -- regionally expanded bracket -- great viewership and attendance. I attended several high school playoff games. Attendance was impressive. Full venues everywhere I went. Attended my first CWS regional. Expanded seating at the venue essentially sold out every day. Tickets were bringing premiums. Attendance weak at my local AA affiliate (only attended one game this year) but late season. Saw my beloved Bucs a few times at PNC. Experience was as great as ever and attendance was surprisingly strong given their late season standing. |
I've pretty much stopped going to MLB games in person since they've pretty much priced me out of going (I could, but would have less money towards any of my hobbies). I should be able to watch several games on my big screen tv, but my cable provider has done away with the MLB channel and there are very few games that they put on the tele...and when they do they're teams I don't care about. With all that said, I will be glued to the TV starting Friday when the wildcard games start.
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baseball is dying...just like the rest of us are dying...a slow death!
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Matt We will need to make it through the lions season before that can happen, so a slow death is still a possibility. Lol |
I've observed an interesting demographic shift in Toronto over the last few years. More and more young people are going to games, making it a social experience for groups of friends. 10 years ago the average age of attendee was 50+ (or so it seemed), but lately it's been much younger. Lots of potential factors causing this but definitely the state of the game is healthy up north. Having a playoff team doesn't hurt, as many younger people are bandwagon jumpers or just want to post their experience on social media.
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Baseball is Dying
Just watched my Reds win against the Cubs. Can't believe the season only has one game to go. The Reds have to win, or they lose 100 games. Go Reds!
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I will go to a game at Coors Field every day of the week vs an NBA game. The disgrace of a “National Anthem” on tv during Covid, explaining to my wife (who was a veteran as a Marine AND Army, Kosovo conflict) that we will never watch this, and the audacity of doing something like that with no in person crowd.
Met my wife three years ago. Took her to opening weekend of Rockies/Dodgers and she fell in love. Going to a game vs watching on television are two different animals. She loved being at the game, and I made sure we sat 10 rows back, dead center behind home plate. They also honor the veterans during the game. Sure, the cost is up there, but not nearly as close as sitting at the top of Mile High in January for a meaningless game. I can go on and on about how television can make something look so different in person vs football. QB’s so inaccurate, the standards are different. Everything is dying, they say. Baseball changes with the time, and we are coming out of two years with Covid, and the cost of everything going up sky high once things opened up this year. I worked in printing during my 20’s, and that industry on big Heidelbergs is dead, along with skewed newspapers, gas powered cars (they say), and so on. Sure, the current commissioner is a hypocrite, and not well liked. I expect the game to look a little different next year, but not too much. I recommend watching Ken Burns original Baseball documentary from time to time. It never gets old, and is a friendly reminder of the way things were, are, and will be. |
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I'd say about once a year he and his mother, Danny's daughter, go up to Pittsburgh for some sort of celebration of the Pittsburgh old timers. This year, they were up there for the inaugural induction of the Pirates HoF though I can't believe it's taken this long to do that for a team with so much history. Back on track, my friend was telling me how so many of even the former players and family members are sick and tired of this owner and what he has done to the organization. It would do wonders for him to sell to someone who cares about the actual product on the field. My friend's mother wouldn't even talk to him during the ceremony and follow up gatherings that were held. |
Baseball is dying?
While I didn't make it out to a major league park this year I went to 10 Salt Lake Bees (AAA Angels affiliate) games and had a great time every game. If the games dying you could have fooled me. |
Baseball will continue to thrive despite Manfred's attempts to kill it! :)
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Baseball is dying....
I live 270 miles from the closest major league park, Dodger Stadium. If MLB moves to Las Vegas I will be around 260 miles.
The last professional game I watched in person? The Reno Aces in 2016, about 185 miles from home. I watch an average of three games a day., and with the “cable” ageeements of the Dodgers and Angels, I watch 40 times as many Yankee and Pirate games as I do the “local” Socal teams. At my age and with mobility issues, money is just not a primary reason to attend. I have never enjoyed the mess of getting to a game in Southern California. To be honest I’d rather watch my boys play in their high-end beer leagues than burn time getting to and from a congested overpriced hostile bad beer sometimes dangerous park. Our local high school took out the baseball diamond to put in a dog park. And that’s because attendance at the school is half what it was ten years ago. But there are still little league teams playing everywhere. Seems the OP may be getting caught up in pride of ownership of an opinion based on whatever seems an appropriate basis to confirm a bias. Just watched the Yankees end their regular season. And Trout hit number 40. Cool as hell. I am ready for the playoffs and hockey season. Just sayin’. Peace out, and Go Kings Go (lol). |
Eventually we will all be old, and retirement will be spent watching a lot of baseball on television. The options are much better now, and boy would my grandma from Depression era Arkansas be jealous of the options now.
Salaries for baseball, an entire roster is how much a year? Granted there is the minor league system, but you have stadiums half to larger than NFL stadiums. Tickets for Rockies games are pretty cheap, the team always sucks or is sub par, but that stadium, built as a monument to the game when I was a kid never gets old going to. No bad seats, super cheap tickets, like any stadium. You only need X amount sellouts and concessions to match an NFL team who gets 8? Home games plus preseason. It isn’t going anywhere, and looking forward to what the new era looks like next year! |
I think baseball will hit the wall at some point.
There are so many things that baseball players and the culture of baseball do, that really are not necessary. I always thought it would fall apart, but it was an opportunity to revive in a newer way that can last into the future. Some thoughts I had after playing baseball in college and not really watching too often are: 1. Make all stadiums have retractable domes 2. Standardize the work week 5 games a week (all teams play on the same days) same amount of games in a month, etc... (this makes new records too) 3. Make fantasy sports friendly (the above will help it) 4. This one I am debating --- make a speed clock that if the teams are tied after 9 innings, the "faster" team wins 5. Let the teams use technology for signs (pitches, stealing, etc.) like a Bluetooth ear piece so there isn't all this looking at the 3rd base coach or stealing of signs 6. Shorten the season but allow ALL THE TEAMS INTO A GIANT PLAYOFF -- make the division winners get multiple byes, and much harder for the last team to get in, but all those games in August of 4place teams vs. 5th place teams mean nothing... idk.....but me, personally, all the stats mean nothing --- lets have fun and make a new beginning...... *also that makes the historical greats more mythical |
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Three times in Justin Verlander's last six starts, Dusty Baker pulled him with no-hitters in progress: - Aug 23 - 6 innings, 91 pitches, 10 Ks, 0 walks. Only baserunner he allowed was on a 3rd strike-passed ball. - Sep 16 - 5 innings, 79 pitches, 9 Ks, 1 walk. - Oct 4 - 5 innings, 77 pitches, 10 Ks. Only baserunner allowed was on a walk leading off the 5th inning. Also on Sep 19th, Buck Showalter pulled Max Scherzer after six innings, having thrown only 68 pitches. He had 9 K's, and was pitching a PERFECT GAME!!!!! Steve |
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could always do just a traditional home run hitting contest as well... |
The Washington Nationals are about to be sold, rumors are in the $2 billion range. They paid MLB $400 million for the franchise in 2006.
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not this weekend in Cleveland
Just sat through about the shortest and one of the longest MLB playoff games in history - Its not dying .... 35,000 fans sat ... and mainly stood for 15 innings yesterday in Cleveland and game time was about 45F and windy...
Many families and more kids than I have ever seen ...and i've seen alot . Its still fun - enjoy it ... see you next NYY! (Kudos to my wife! spent her birthday at the game) |
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