2025 MLB Thread

[LD84]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

ESPN to stop showing MLB games after this season.

MLB is in for a hard economic reality when their next media rights deal comes up

I am hearing that Apple is quietly already set to try and opt out of their deal when they are able to.
And has plans to spend no further money towards it's Friday night coverage.

Warner Brothers which owns Turner is out of the NBA business now, but they are looking to slash costs any way they can, I would be semi surprised if they take on additional MLB and would not be surprised if they also exit the MLB business altogether.

NBC is probably not an option after their Sunday leadoff on Peacock did terrible numbers.

I do not think Netflix wants in the MLB business.

Amazon is a possibility but they just did the NBA deal. But can never count them out.

I have no idea who MLBs national partner will be going forward.
It is such a local sport now where most fans watch their teams and little beyond that.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Yanks allow beards.

About time.

The inclusion of the little "well groomed" at the bottom there gives me hope for some more pointless drama in South Yonkers going forwards.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Hrycaj

Or someone gets injured, because someone always gets injured and it works itself out.

Heh. Do you think Boston's "Chief Baseball Officer" has this in the back of his mind, in a hopeful fashion? "Gee, if something were to happen to Devers, I would look brilliant for acquiring Bregman, wouldn't I? Hmmm."

Originally Posted by Hrycaj

As for the ABS system . . .

In my devious mind, I foresee two things:

1) Challenges from pitchers and catchers consistently being upheld, exposing the ineptitude of some umpires at calling balls and strikes. Will the league be tracking this and exact some sort of discipline?

2) Challenges from pitchers and catchers being quickly defeated and exhausted, thereby "freeing" the home plate umpire to, say, expand or contract the strike zone in order to exact his vengeance. "I'll teach you bozos to question my calls!"

Originally Posted by Hrycaj

As for the uniform fiasco last year MLB should have had an opt out clause for it taking the contract away from Nike for all, the heat the league took. Of course that will never happen!

Not unless there is a monetary advantage to be gained. It's all about the money.

Regardless,

Originally Posted by Hrycaj

Really glad baseball is back!

You and me both, brother!

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Yanks allow beards.

About time.

At first, I wanted to cry "Blasphemy!" but beards are ubiquitous these days. Even I grew one recently; being retired, I got tired of shaving, finally. Although a beard cannot be neglected; it requires frequent shampooing, trimming, and conditioning. But it's not the daily scrape, scrape, scrape.

I was a bit disappointed that the wife didn't notice it for over a month.

Anyway, yeah, the Yankees looked silly and even arrogant with their former facial hair policy, so out of step with the times. And maybe even a drawback at times when dealing with free agents.

Look for them to put player names on jersey backs in the near future, I predict. I would have thought they would have done that first.

But just please, no more uniform advertising. The arm patches are bad enough. The Yankees have "Starr (Insurance)" on theirs, but at least it contains the word "star." Some other teams' patches are laughable. How would you like to play with the word "Sheetz" on your sleeve?

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

I was a bit disappointed that the wife didn't notice it for over a month.

Mrs. Bru probably did, but figured that you'd tire of it without her having to raise her voice.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Westheim

The inclusion of the little "well groomed" at the bottom there gives me hope for some more pointless drama in South Yonkers going forwards.

That's a funny thing about beards. It's not about the length; I think it's about whether it looks like it's tended to once in a while.

I thought it was about whether it's growing sideways that bothers people, too, but it can be done if the grower has the proper style. Like this guy; he looks like he's wearing a lion's mane, and it works:



But here is where it crosses the line. It looks unkempt, sidewise and lengthwise:



To your point, though, who is going to be the judge?

Originally Posted by Westheim

Mrs. Bru probably did, but figured that you'd tire of it without her having to raise her voice.

You may have something there.

[Westheim]

I have the Rays-Yankees game on right now, and Reddick was the guy I thought about as the "no; just no" example they were looking for

Don't know who it was, but at some point I watched a game against the A's and the guy on the broadcast of the other team I was watching talked about his beard, "that thing is out of control; there's stuff living in there"

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by LD84

MLB is in for a hard economic reality when their next media rights deal comes up

I am hearing that Apple is quietly already set to try and opt out of their deal when they are able to.
And has plans to spend no further money towards it's Friday night coverage.

Warner Brothers which owns Turner is out of the NBA business now, but they are looking to slash costs any way they can, I would be semi surprised if they take on additional MLB and would not be surprised if they also exit the MLB business altogether.

NBC is probably not an option after their Sunday leadoff on Peacock did terrible numbers.

I do not think Netflix wants in the MLB business.

Amazon is a possibility but they just did the NBA deal. But can never count them out.

I have no idea who MLBs national partner will be going forward.
It is such a local sport now where most fans watch their teams and little beyond that.

I am old and nobody give a flip anymore about what I think, especially marketers. But those people better take care that more folks, younger people, start thinking the way that I do now about this situation.

Which is this: I am tired of this chasing around after televised sports, not knowing from one moment to the next which channel or web site to go to in order to view my favorite teams and sports. Others may subscribe to or cancel from cable packages and streaming services at the drop of a hat, but I am not like that.

Case in point: For decades, the MSG channel was carried by Optimum (a division of Altice; you may know them, Westheim). Apparently, there was a beef over how much MSG wanted to charge, or how much Optimum wanted to pay. The result? "MSG is no longer available on Optimum TV. [But] You can still watch the Knicks, Rangers, Islanders and Devils with us."

Want to know how? Their website suggests you "Watch your team on MSG Networks with Fubo" and offers 30% off your first 2 months, on them. After that, you pay Fubo, AND Optimum by the way — they have not reduced their price without MSG — until such time as Fubo loses their MSG contract or wants even more money because MSG is gouging them now.

Well, okay. Let's bring this back to baseball. I looked at MLB.TV; it's up to $150 a year now and I can watch only half of the Yankees' games. And I would have to watch it on my laptop or my phone. No sale.

So here is my approach: Serendipity and Simulation. And I am quite serious about the latter.

Serendipity: Optimum also says "For national games, many NBA and NHL games are available on other networks that you already get as part of your Optimum TV subscription and various streaming platforms, including ABC, ESPN, TBS, TNT, NHL Network, NBA TV, as well as ESPN+ and Hulu." I don't get all of these channels, but I get most. Serendipity says "Watch the games you can watch, Yankees or not. Also, CBS Sports has good highlights of every game."

Simulation: Yes. I am talking about OOTP25. I have adopted a game-playing style that calls for less in-game management in exchange for more intensive personnel management. This allows me to observe and play out games more quickly (which is a benefit for building league history, the real attraction of the game for me). There are replays and highlights. In other words, I am watching more [simulated] baseball than ever.

I still have the YES (Yankees) network, for now, but I don't depend on it. I am already planning for its cable demise and I will not be following it to Fubo, either.

[Déjà Bru]

Sorry for waxing hairy on this beard topic, and for my thread loquacity in general (despite everything, I am excited about baseball returning today), but I was surprised to read that the Yankees no facial hair policy started with George Steinbrenner. I thought it went back much further than that.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Sorry for . . . my thread loquacity in general (despite everything, I am excited about baseball returning today) . . .

Heh, I just yipped when my man Kyle Hewins tripled off the Green Monster at Fenway driving in two Yankee runs to go up 2-0 against the Red Sox in our Division Series. Simulated of course.

I looked up to the real Yankees spring training game on TV that I had not been following closely, and I saw the following:

THE YES NETWORK IS EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES. PLEASE STAND BY.

I smiled.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

THE YES NETWORK IS EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES. PLEASE STAND BY.

So it wasn't just me.

"It's spring training for everybody", including the intern tripping over a cable in the truck outside.

[LD84]

MLB TV is a great deal since that is less than a $1 a game and you can watch all of the games.

The big problem is the blackouts which is just beyond assine.

And since baseball is hyper local now, no one really wants to watch other teams. So if you live away from your team, it is great. But if you live in your teams market and just want your teams baseball, not so much.


Also, you can very easily watch MLB TV or any other sport or movie/show on a TV.
Most TVs from the mid 2010's are 'smart' and can have apps added to them.
Add the MLB app, sign in and then you can watch.

If your TV cannot do that, then you can use a Roku or Fire stick and plug it into an open HDMI port.
They are $20-50 and you can add the apps via those sticks.
Then sign in and watch.

I watch a lot of sports on my tablet since I usually have multiple games going on at once. But for the games I really want to follow close, I will still watch on a TV.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by LD84

MLB TV is a great deal since that is less than a $1 a game and you can watch all of the games.

The big problem is the blackouts which is just beyond assine.

And since baseball is hyper local now, no one really wants to watch other teams. So if you live away from your team, it is great. But if you live in your teams market and just want your teams baseball, not so much.


Also, you can very easily watch MLB TV or any other sport or movie/show on a TV.
Most TVs from the mid 2010's are 'smart' and can have apps added to them.
Add the MLB app, sign in and then you can watch.

If your TV cannot do that, then you can use a Roku or Fire stick and plug it into an open HDMI port.
They are $20-50 and you can add the apps via those sticks.
Then sign in and watch.

I watch a lot of sports on my tablet since I usually have multiple games going on at once. But for the games I really want to follow close, I will still watch on a TV.

Yes, you are right about this; I forgot about the capability of plugging my laptop into my TV monitor's HDMI port. I have done that in the past.

But to pay $150 for only half of the Yankees games will still prevent me from going down the MLB.TV path. I rather depend upon Serendipity, as I mentioned above. Plus I still have YES, for now.

It's unfortunate, but I don't think asinine. It is my impression that blackouts are meant to respect the interests of local sports networks like YES. Don't forget that YES is not just cable; they stream now as well. It's not MLB TV's fault in that regard.

[LD84]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Yes, you are right about this; I forgot about the capability of plugging my laptop into my TV monitor's HDMI port. I have done that in the past.

But to pay $150 for only half of the Yankees games will still prevent me from going down the MLB.TV path. I rather depend upon Serendipity, as I mentioned above. Plus I still have YES, for now.

It's unfortunate, but I don't think asinine. It is my impression that blackouts are meant to respect the interests of local sports networks like YES. Don't forget that YES is not just cable; they stream now as well. It's not MLB TV's fault in that regard.

I think blackouts in all sports are assine.

The 'local' games on services like MLB.TV and NBA League Pass are just the local broadcast.

You could cut them in on the sub revenue and make sure that commercials are shown as they are on the local broadcasts.

The NFL mostly got rid of blackouts in 2014 and are better for it. NFL Sunday Tickets subs are very high despite being 3x-4x the cost of the other services.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by LD84

I think blackouts in all sports are assine.

The 'local' games on services like MLB.TV and NBA League Pass are just the local broadcast.

You could cut them in on the sub revenue and make sure that commercials are shown as they are on the local broadcasts.

The NFL mostly got rid of blackouts in 2014 and are better for it. NFL Sunday Tickets subs are very high despite being 3x-4x the cost of the other services.

Well, write some letters, will you?

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Sorry for waxing hairy on this beard topic, and for my thread loquacity in general (despite everything, I am excited about baseball returning today), but I was surprised to read that the Yankees no facial hair policy started with George Steinbrenner. I thought it went back much further than that.

It's a no-BEARDS policy, specifically. The Bronx Zoo and beyond were full of staches.

Reggie
Sparky
Goose
Munson
Dick "Dirt" Tidrow
Rickey
Winfield
(and even Claudell Washington, when he came in to replace Winnie in 1989.)

Don Mattingly wore a mustache every bit as famous as Keith Hernandez's for his entire career.

It's possible the Jeter-era teams might have forbade the hairy upper lips, too…but King George III was fine with his Yanks having soup-strainers, all around the clubhouse.

[low]

Originally Posted by LD84

The big problem is the blackouts which is just beyond asinine.

Truer words have never been spoken.

[Westheim]

For a handful of teams there seems to be an MLB TV offer where you only get that team's games, subject to national exclusivity shenanigans, but not to local blackouts from what I saw? It's almost the same price as MLB TV proper at 130 bucks (150 for the regular serving), but for some this might be what they're looking for. Only a few teams offered, though, f.e. Mets yes, Yanks nah.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by low

Truer words have never been spoken.

It’s just so… 1950s coded, the whole idea that people will stay home and watch a game on TV instead of going to the ballpark if they have the time and money. If anything, having the game readily available on a streaming platform is going to lead more people to tune in to games, even just to have them on the background in the evening, and that in turn is going to make “hmm, I’m off tonight, why not go to the game instead of just listening to it” seem like more of an option.

I think there’s also an implicit admission in this that they think watching the game is better than seeing it in person and a. I just don’t think that’s true, especially with the pitch clock rules (although even before I found batters dawdling in between pitches a lot more tolerable when going to see games than at home, and b. with streaming you can even have the game on your phone if you want to catch the score bug (the live experience is inevitably better IMO but hey, I do use my phone to look guys up on FG and Baseball Cube) or listen to your favorite announcer (and unlike the radio, reception is at least a different issue). At worst you get the best of both worlds; at best, I insist that seeing baseball live is a transformative experience.

[Déjà Bru]

I was saddened to hear that Anthony Rizzo remains unsigned at this late date, not because he's looking for a great deal but apparently nobody wants him.

He was quoted in The Athletic:

"I've definitely thought about it [i.e., retirement]. I think I have a lot to give to the game still.

"But at the same time, if teams are not going to want to pay a few million dollars for veterans, I've seen it the last 10 years of my career. It's what happens to the older guys. They kind of get squeezed. You've seen it happen more and more. I'm not naive to it. It could be it."

I feel bad for him. I'm speaking not from a Yankees perspective because Cubs fans fondly remember him and he seems to be a genuinely good guy. After all is said and done, Anthony Rizzo is a Good Italian Boy.

Seriously, look him up on Wikipedia and check out the "Charity work" section. I guess his beating Hodgkin lymphoma in 2008 may have had an effect on that.