2014 MLB Thread

[Zinto]

I might have a heart attack in the bottom of the ninth.

[ISiddiqui]

Now this is fun!

(and thanks to my MLB.tv subscription I'm watching the strange "Quad View" alternative camera angles view of the game - which is better than not being able to watch it at all, being a cord cutter...)

[sterlingice]

Aoki Doki!

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

Just checked the espn pbp ... that's a very cool bottom of the 9th.

[EagleFan]

Thought stranding 2nd and 3rd with only one out in the bottom of the 8th was going to end it for them. Nice manufactured run in the 9th. Would be nice to see them win it in the 10th, hasn't been much to cheer about for Royals fans.

Why on earth did he slide at first? Made it closer than it would have been if he ran through the bag.

[Scoobz0202]

bunt bunt bunt bunt

[sterlingice]

Even if they don't win, this certainly has been a memorable return to the playoffs

SI

[britrock88]

!!! Salvador Perez, of all people!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Congrats KC fans, well done Royals

[kingfc22]

Horrible coaching to not have Donaldson hugging the line. How do you get beat late in a game with a ball hit down the line. Inexcusable.

[sterlingice]

Well, I had game tickets for Sunday. Now I have plane tickets. Rental car next!

SI

[SirFozzie]

And Adam Dunn retires because he's unhappy that he did not play in the wild card game.

I'm serious.

[NobodyHere]

I'd be pissed too if I played 14 seasons and never got to play in the playoffs.

And when my team finally gets in they bench me.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

And Adam Dunn retires because he's unhappy that he did not play in the wild card game.

I'm serious.

I thought he was retiring regardless?

[SirFozzie]

Oakland Athletics designated hitter Adam Dunn is retiring, he told ESPN's Pedro Gomez.

"I guess the computer got me," Dunn said, referring to the A's "Moneyball" tactics.

Dunn, 34, did not play in the Athletics' 9-8, 12-inning loss to the Kansas City Royals in the American League wild-card game Tuesday night.

[miami_fan]

To be fair, he had already announced that he would be retiring.

[ISiddiqui]

How silly. Dunn can't really pretend he was a great hitter this year, and the DH for last night's game was Moss... I think that worked out.

[jbergey22]

LOL@Adam Dunn. Has he seen his numbers since coming to the AL?

As for the getting beat down the line comment. Anything into the outfield was likely going to score the winning run so playing it straight up was the right decision IMO. You only take away the lines when you are trying to prevent a baserunner into getting into scoring position. The winning run was already in scoring position.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Well, I got locked out of the board when the Royals took a 3-2 lead. Bad news is that I didn't get to enjoy it with some of the fellow Royals fans on the board. Good news is that I got to gnash my teeth, fall to the floor, and jump up and down and even cry with every pitch. I think my wife got more entertainment out of my reactions than the actual game.

Ned really f'd up, but if he hadn't have f'd it up, we wouldn't have had the epic comeback that we enjoyed last night. That's my positive spin on that.

SI, let me know if you want to meet up while in town. Some BBQ or even drop by my place for some free wine if you have time.

So excited that this will continue for at least a few more games. This means so much to our city.

[Lathum]

Someone in MLB needs to take a serious look at the playoff structure. The one game scenerio aside, how many people stayed up for the finale of that game?

I struggled to watch the bottom of the 8th then went to bed. Glad the Royals won, but how are they ever going to develope a young fan base when games end at 1 AM on the East Coast?

[miami_fan]

Not sure how silly he is being. The computer DID get him. If the situation is being accurately described in the ESPN article that I saw, the A's played more for defense than offense. That is what ended up putting Dunn on the bench. Given the A's reputation for taking an analytic approach to the game, I am assuming (yes, I know about assuming) that bringing Dunn in the game as a PH was not the right move at any point of the game.

[Karlifornia]

Lathum with some serious. GAMBLERS RAAAGE

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I struggled to watch the bottom of the 8th then went to bed. Glad the Royals won, but how are they ever going to develope a young fan base when games end at 1 AM on the East Coast?

Well, I assume it'd be slightly easier if the game ended at midnight local time.... which it did .

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Well, I assume it'd be slightly easier if the game ended at midnight local time.... which it did .

It was still a bit rough getting up for work this morning

SI

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Well, I got locked out of the board when the Royals took a 3-2 lead. Bad news is that I didn't get to enjoy it with some of the fellow Royals fans on the board. Good news is that I got to gnash my teeth, fall to the floor, and jump up and down and even cry with every pitch. I think my wife got more entertainment out of my reactions than the actual game.

Ned really f'd up, but if he hadn't have f'd it up, we wouldn't have had the epic comeback that we enjoyed last night. That's my positive spin on that.

SI, let me know if you want to meet up while in town. Some BBQ or even drop by my place for some free wine if you have time.

So excited that this will continue for at least a few more games. This means so much to our city.

Still working on weekend plans and everything is in crazy flux with too little time right now. Almost certainly going to be visiting some folks I haven't seen in too long in Lawrence on Saturday. Going to game Sunday. Beyond that- it's still a lot of fuzzy but I'll drop you a line in the next day or two.

SI

[ISiddiqui]

I'm sure... but its kind of silly to be all upset over not building a fan base in the Eastern Timezone. Plenty of EST teams play baseball games that go to midnight if it hits extra innings.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Well, I assume it'd be slightly easier if the game ended at midnight local time.... which it did .

Not really, they need to find a way for kids to be able to watch these games. These one game playoffs should be a real showcase for the sport, as much as I hate them I get the drama of it, but you get no young viewers. Maybe tweak the schedule so the game is on a Saturday afternoon instead of a Tuesday night?

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

I'm sure... but its kind of silly to be all upset over not building a fan base in the Eastern Timezone. Plenty of EST teams play baseball games that go to midnight if it hits extra innings.

and those teams don't get any exposure to young fans either. It isn't about the local team, it is about the sport overall.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Pretty cool gigapic from last night's game. Lots of fans tagging themselves in the photo. So many people holding their phone during the picture too.

TagOramic | royals.com: Photos

[miked]

Yeah, Dunn was going to retire anyway, but isn't this why he was dealt for? I think the A's got lucky, which is fine. The guy that ultimately replaced him (Dunn) was really Vogt who played 1B while Moss went to DH. They got really lucky with Moss as he was awful the second half.

Dunn wasn't great, but had an OPS+ of 115 or so with CHW and probably has a much higher upside than Vogt, but I can see how this would sour him slightly as the game went to 12 innings and they couldn't find him an AB.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Lathum

and those teams don't get any exposure to young fans either. It isn't about the local team, it is about the sport overall.

Baseball is really all about the local teams. People are fans of their teams first and then the sport second (a lot of fans are barely interested in playoffs when their team doesn't feature).

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Not sure how silly he is being. The computer DID get him. If the situation is being accurately described in the ESPN article that I saw, the A's played more for defense than offense. That is what ended up putting Dunn on the bench. Given the A's reputation for taking an analytic approach to the game, I am assuming (yes, I know about assuming) that bringing Dunn in the game as a PH was not the right move at any point of the game.

When you're pinch hitting Nick Punto over Adam Dunn, I think he's got a legitimate gripe.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Not really, they need to find a way for kids to be able to watch these games. These one game playoffs should be a real showcase for the sport, as much as I hate them I get the drama of it, but you get no young viewers. Maybe tweak the schedule so the game is on a Saturday afternoon instead of a Tuesday night?

Available TV audience is much lower on Sat afternoon. You're going to get home markets but that's about it. And competing against college football? Suicide.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by miked

Dunn wasn't great, but had an OPS+ of 115 or so with CHW and probably has a much higher upside than Vogt

Well... Dunn's OPS+ for Oakland was 82. While Vogt had a 112 OPS+.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Baseball is really all about the local teams. People are fans of their teams first and then the sport second (a lot of fans are barely interested in playoffs when their team doesn't feature).

And that is the problem. Knicks fans will watch the NBA finals regardless, baseball needs to find that formula.

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Available TV audience is much lower on Sat afternoon. You're going to get home markets but that's about it. And competing against college football? Suicide.

I was just throwing something out there, I certainly don't have the answers, but if you or anyone else thinks it makes sense to have the games end so late on a schoolnight we will just have to disagree.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Royals win boosts TV ratings over last year’s opening playoff game | The Kansas City Star

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Lathum

And that is the problem. Knicks fans will watch the NBA finals regardless

Well la-di-da! Good for Knicks fans.

(Of course that's probably the only good basketball Knicks fans could hope to see...)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Lathum

And that is the problem. Knicks fans will watch the NBA finals regardless, baseball needs to find that formula.



I was just throwing something out there, I certainly don't have the answers, but if you or anyone else thinks it makes sense to have the games end so late on a schoolnight we will just have to disagree.

It's not that it "makes sense" in the oh-how-perfect way, it's more in the not-a-better-option way.

You can't go head to head with college football, you give up too many markets. You damned sure don't want to go head to head with the NFL. That leaves weeknights.

It's not 1970 anymore. People don't get off work at 5, get home by 530, have dinner at 6 and settle in for a nice leisurely evening in front of the television in the family room. That's not the life of most people.

You start at, say, 7p EST (to get wrapped normally by 10p or so). You've just eliminated the entire west coast from most of the game. You've taken out a big chunk of the central ... who is in front of the TV at 6p there? Certainly not the younger demos. The parents are still at work, or with/picking up their kids at Scouts, or at football practice, or at cheerleading practice, or wherever. You go too early with a show, the audience just isn't there to be had.

Does it suck that younger viewers can't watch? Absolutely. But at the massive prices networks pay, they HAVE to get the biggest audience they can find ... and that means scheduling pretty much just like they've been doing.

And if you think MLB is going to forfeit dollars now (in TV contracts) on the hope of bettering "the future of the game", well ... no, you know as well as I do that ain't gonna happen.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Lathum

And that is the problem. Knicks fans will watch the NBA finals regardless, baseball needs to find that formula.

I don't think baseball has ever been that kind of sport. At least not for the 25 or so years I've been following it. I'm not sure how much it needs to find that sort of formula.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

I don't think baseball has ever been that kind of sport. At least not for the 25 or so years I've been following it. I'm not sure how much it needs to find that sort of formula.

Your time span reference made me curious, so I looked at World Series ratings and share.

Let's say you "arrived" with baseball in 1990.

1990 - 20.8 rating / 36 share
1991 - 24.0 / 39 share
1992 - 20.2 / 34 share
1993 - 17.3 / 30 share
1994 - no WS
1995 - 19.5 / 33 share
1996 - 17.4 / 29 share

That's a big marker right there IMO. '95 numbers rallied a bit, perhaps the joy of having a WS after missing one. But immediately afterwards a dip below 30 share ... and it's never gotten back to that level since.

There had been declines before.
57 share in '73 vs 46 share in '74
52 share in '75 vs 48 share in '76
56 share in '80 vs 49 share in '81 & '82

But there were recoveries.

Let's also look at a few points in time with regard to "it isn't just baseball, it's the nature of television & viewing habits"

1970 -- 19.4 rating / 53 share ...
19% of the country watched, 53% of TV household watching anything were on the WS

1980 -- 32.8 rating / 56 share
2nd most watched WS ever (behind only 1978)

1990 -- 20.8 rating / 36 share

2000 -- 12.4 rating / 21 share

2010 -- 8.4 rating / 14 share

See how much closer the percentage of the country watching is getting to the percentage of the country watching anything has become?

It isn't only that "people aren't watching baseball" ... fewer people have the TV on at those times PERIOD.

[TRO]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I've decided I hate the one game wildcard.

Nope, best drama I've ever experienced. It should stay forever.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by TRO

Nope, best drama I've ever experienced. It should stay forever.

Meh

I agree on the drama part, but I hate that 162 game season is decided on one playoff game.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Meh

I agree on the drama part, but I hate that 162 game season is decided on one playoff game.

Neither of those two teams should be in the playoffs anyway.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Lathum

And that is the problem. Knicks fans will watch the NBA finals regardless, baseball needs to find that formula.

They will?

[cuervo72]

Wait...wouldn't the ratios staying about the same for 1980/1990/2000/2010 imply that TV watching is fairly steady, but people are just watching other things? The ratio was much larger in 1970, even though the share was about the same; I would think this would point to a large increase in TV watching in the 70s, which then leveled off. I would think that if fewer were watching TV overall, you would see the WS rating go down steeper than the share.

ETA: That is to say, if 19.4% of the country was watching in 1970 and that was 53% of all TVs watching something, then that means 36.6% of the country was watching something. In 1980, that jumped to 58.5% of the country watching something...and for 2010, 60% of the country was watching something. No?

[Vince, Pt. II]

I don't understand any argument AGAINST the one-game wild card playoff. It lends additional (and much needed) significance to winning the division, provides drama, gives teams out of the divisional race something to fight for late in the season, and provides intense, game-7 like atmosphere to an incredibly important single game.

And that's not even including the awesome drama of last night's game.

[bronconick]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

I don't understand any argument AGAINST the one-game wild card playoff. It lends additional (and much needed) significance to winning the division, provides drama, gives teams out of the divisional race something to fight for late in the season, and provides intense, game-7 like atmosphere to an incredibly important single game.

And that's not even including the awesome drama of last night's game.

I like it more than the previous setup. Win the division or be in a must win game.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

I don't understand any argument AGAINST the one-game wild card playoff. It lends additional (and much needed) significance to winning the division, provides drama, gives teams out of the divisional race something to fight for late in the season, and provides intense, game-7 like atmosphere to an incredibly important single game.

And that's not even including the awesome drama of last night's game.

shrug...

I don't like that 162 game season comes down to one game. Either you are good enough to be a playoff team and play a series or you aren't. I don't like the one and done.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Lathum

shrug...

I don't like that 162 game season comes down to one game. Either you are good enough to be a playoff team and play a series or you aren't. I don't like the one and done.

How do you feel when teams are tied and need a Game 163? Eliminate that too?

[molson]

I really like the playoff change because it actually made the regular season more important while expanding the playoff field. (I hated those "division races" where you know both teams were making the playoffs anyway, and would be identically situated once they got there.....this year, the Royals/Tigers and Cardinals/Pirates races actually meant something.) If it helps you can think of the playoffs as really starting later this week - the wild card team just got demoted and has to win an extra game before they can make it and join the 3 teams that earned their spots during the season. I like byes in my tournaments - especially in a sport like baseball where a short series is a complete toss up.

As for the lengths of these games, I like following the playoffs, but I can't really watch very much of it anymore. I can't be alone. One season I watched every Red Sox playoff game and a bunch of the other games.....it could me quite a while to recover. 4-5 hours a night, weeks at a time, who can do that? I've never attempted it again, even in years where the Red Sox were in the playoffs. The TV ratings are still decent all things considered, but I think there's a lot of passive viewing. The TV is on, people are checking in here and there.