2025 MLB Thread

[Déjà Bru]

And we're off. It was quite a shindig in Tokyo.

In baseball-mad Japan, Shohei Ohtani and Dodgers triumph on Opening Day

When Shohei Ohtani stepped into the batter’s box to open Major League Baseball’s season against his fellow countryman, Shota Imanaga, the 42,365 fans inside the Tokyo Dome quieted. Such is the custom.

Imagine that.

[Déjà Bru]

Ohtani has become quite a phenomenon.

It’s hard to be ubiquitous in Tokyo, one of the largest cities in the world, but Shohei Ohtani has found a way. The Los Angeles Dodgers star seems to be everywhere: on billboards, on products, in television ads and news and entertainment shows and, of course, on the field when his games are broadcast live in Japan.

In sports, money often follows success, and Ohtani’s success has created a windfall for himself, the Dodgers and the league. Ohtani has about 20 active sponsorship deals at any time, like with the Japanese drugmaker Kowa and with New Balance, and the value of his deals spiked after he joined the Dodgers last season following six years with the Los Angeles Angels.

The Dodgers have seen the number and value of their deals skyrocket, and they are poised to surpass the Dallas Cowboys as the top-earning team, according to SponsorUnited, which tracks sports sponsorships.

When Ohtani comes to town, home teams have seen a surge in sponsorships from Japanese companies who buy in-stadium ads that can be seen by fans watching Ohtani’s games in Japan. Ads for more than three dozen Japanese brands were visible on television during Dodgers away games, SponsorUnited said.

In October, the number of fans in Japan and South Korea watching the Dodgers play the Yankees in the World Series equaled the number watching in the United States and Canada.

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Well, one of the things that I have heard here (and thanks to all for the responses) is that "It's hotter than hell in Florida in the summer." True, and that explains why the NBA and NHL are okay with their indoor arenas. The NFL plays in the fall and winter. Only MLB would have to slog through the hot months.

But until Hurricane Milton perforated the roof, Tropicana Field was air-conditioned. You would think that fans would flock there just for some (albeit expensive) relief. Sure, they can stay home and be AC'ed for much less money. My point, though, is that the hot and humid Florida summers should not have been an impediment to MLB in that state from the 1990s onward.

So, catching (myself) up on this,


Here is a map of Hillsborough County:

Attachment 1053602

According to Wikipedia, "In the 2020 census, the population was 1,459,762, making it the fourth-most populous county in Florida and the most populous county outside the Miami metropolitan area." If it wasn't for Tampa Bay (the body of water), Hillsborough County would be nearly a perfect square, 36 miles to a side. From the farthest point in the northeast of the county to St. Petersburg is only 45 miles (as that proverbial crow flies).

But probably not a whole lot of the 1.5 million county residents live that far out. Of course, the vast majority would be living in or near the city of Tampa.

One source says the Channel District is the "downtown" of Tampa. A ride by car from there to Tropicana Field is about 23 miles and takes less than half an hour:

Attachment 1053604

So, I cry "B.S." to Tampa Bay Rays ownership and management about that logistical excuse (which, by the way, ignores the quarter-million folks living in St. Petersburg and who knows how many more in Clearwater and other towns north of St. Pete). Even when the team is winning and goes to the playoffs, they fail to attract fans and must beg for public assistance. My response would be "If you can't get fans to travel a half-hour to your stadium, what makes you think a fifteen minute drive will do so much better?"

A stadium halfway between Tampa and Orlando would have HUGE population to draw from.

[Boomcoach]

Looks like I finally have an option to watch Reds games this year. Bally Sports has transmogrified into FanDuel Sports Network, which is offering streaming options. Its 20 bucks a month, more than I want to pay, but you can two concurrent connections, so I should be able to share it with a friend who is a Tigers fan and split the cost. ESPN and MLB network games will still be blacked out, but its better than what I have had for the last 3-4 years.

[Déjà Bru]

[Boomcoach]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Attachment 1054123

Luckily I no longer get that screen.

[Hageneezz]

Go Mets!

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-A346E met Tapatalk

[Westheim]

Seven Orioles pitchers pool together for a combined no-hitter against the Pirates, who got just three walks in the game.

I wonder why that kid didn't want 30-year Pirates season tickets for his one-of-a-kind Skenes card.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Seven Orioles pitchers pool together for a combined no-hitter against the Pirates, who got just three walks in the game.

I wonder why that kid didn't want 30-year Pirates season tickets for his one-of-a-kind Skenes card.

Hmmm. That is a bit extraordinary. One, two, three pitchers may have a great outing on the same day, but seven?

[Cobra Mgr]

Brett Gardner's son dies @ 14.

Unspeakable tragedy & shock. I wonder what got the family sick?

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Brett Gardner's son dies @ 14.

Unspeakable tragedy & shock. I wonder what got the family sick?

I read that earlier; I was wondering the same thing.

[Ragnar]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Brett Gardner's son dies @ 14.

Unspeakable tragedy & shock. I wonder what got the family sick?

I wonder where they were vacationing.

[Déjà Bru]

Whoa, there is something seriously wrong with Mookie.

Mookie Betts' availability for Opening Day unclear as Dodgers star reports serious weight loss during illness

Betts, a late scratch from Sunday's exhibition game against the Los Angeles Angels, told reporters, including "Dodgers Talk," that he's switched medications recently, and that he feels better except for persisting stomach issues. Indeed, Betts said that he's still unable to keep down solid food and has instead subsisted off smoothies. Predictably, he's lost serious weight in the process: he's now checking in at 150 pounds after entering spring training weighing around 175 pounds.

[Amazin69]

he's still unable to keep down solid food and has instead subsisted off smoothies

Not a long-term solution, Mook. Your body is cannibalizing itself. Gotta fix that, even if the surgery costs you serious time. Yikes.

[Syd Thrift]

I'm seeing nothing about this being anything but an illness and certainly not something that surgery would necessarily fix.

[CONN CHRIS]

Oh man, I don't like the 'super team' and bottomless bank account aspects of the Dodgers but I would hate to see Mookie with a serious issue.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

Oh man, I don't like the 'super team' and bottomless bank account aspects of the Dodgers but I would hate to see Mookie with a serious issue.

Yeah. I would hate to think that photo is not all that recent and that he's lost even more weight since then.

[kq76]

It kind of boggles the mind that even with all the Dodgers' money and their access to many of the best doctors in the world that they can't figure it out. Unfortunately, this is just how it is with stomach illnesses sometimes. I went through some and you think, "man, these doctors must just not care enough", but no, sometimes things just aren't that easy to diagnose.

Hopefully he'll get better soon. Not only is he a great player, but I think he's also one of the most likeable. The league is definitely better with him playing in it.

[Westheim]

Yeah, I don't like how that article sounds. It reminds me of my 2021/2022 era, where I spent 12 months with **** like that. It started slow, where once a month I'd randomly barf out whatever I had eaten, but most of the time I was fine, and then in like August/September it kicked into third gear and from then until February I was wasting away. Article says he lost 25 pounds in about a month, which rings familiar. If you warg almost everything out you eat, you stop eating at some point. I once went without eating *anything at all* for five whole days and didn't even feel hungry, and otherwise largely subsisted on the saddest sandwiches ever seen by man and soups. At one point I was losing weight so fast, Amazon could hardly deliver new pants quick enough. With Prime.

Btw, I never got a diagnosis. Doctors just ruled everything that it couldn't be (including all your usual suspects for something like this like Crohn's, Coeliac etc.; it's not gluten, and not milk, and not sugar etc. in particular). At one point the hospital decided to remove the appendix because "it looked weird", then botched that too. And after four surgeries that didn't do a whole ******* lot and more clueless doctor faces it stopped on its own.

Mostly. Some things still set off my innards, sometimes. And those things have absolutely nothing in common.

Yeah, well. Mookie might be doomed. I lost about 90 pounds, but I had a cushion. Mookie doesn't look like he can afford it.

Two things make me wonder whether he's been dealing with crap like this for years: the half-sentence about a change in medication (although the article didn't say when that occurred), and his Wikipedia page says he went vegan in 2021, but stopped with that in 2023. However, the link to the go-vegan article is dead, so I don't know whether any reasons were given back then, and whether that move would have been motivated by medical necessity.

And nope, I never went vegan. Raccoons would rather starve than chew only on leaves and grass til the end of eternity.

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Yeah, I don't like how that article sounds. It reminds me of my 2021/2022 era, where I spent 12 months with **** like that. It started slow, where once a month I'd randomly barf out whatever I had eaten, but most of the time I was fine, and then in like August/September it kicked into third gear and from then until February I was wasting away. Article says he lost 25 pounds in about a month, which rings familiar. If you warg almost everything out you eat, you stop eating at some point. I once went without eating *anything at all* for five whole days and didn't even feel hungry, and otherwise largely subsisted on the saddest sandwiches ever seen by man and soups. At one point I was losing weight so fast, Amazon could hardly deliver new pants quick enough. With Prime.

Btw, I never got a diagnosis. Doctors just ruled everything that it couldn't be (including all your usual suspects for something like this like Crohn's, Coeliac etc.; it's not gluten, and not milk, and not sugar etc. in particular). At one point the hospital decided to remove the appendix because "it looked weird", then botched that too. And after four surgeries that didn't do a whole ******* lot and more clueless doctor faces it stopped on its own.

Mostly. Some things still set off my innards, sometimes. And those things have absolutely nothing in common.

Yeah, well. Mookie might be doomed. I lost about 90 pounds, but I had a cushion. Mookie doesn't look like he can afford it.

Two things make me wonder whether he's been dealing with crap like this for years: the half-sentence about a change in medication (although the article didn't say when that occurred), and his Wikipedia page says he went vegan in 2021, but stopped with that in 2023. However, the link to the go-vegan article is dead, so I don't know whether any reasons were given back then, and whether that move would have been motivated by medical necessity.

And nope, I never went vegan. Raccoons would rather starve than chew only on leaves and grass til the end of eternity.

I had a co-worker whose wife went vegan. She took in very little protein, and wrecked her body. Seriously wrecked. She was dead in a year, with blood oxygen levels in the twenties, instead of the upper 90's.