Alright! I like the direction the Tigers are heading. Should be a fun season.
As always with these things, I never really felt like the season was going to be in serious doubt. There's way too much money on the line for both sides to not get a deal done.
But for a sport that is still trying to find ways to lure fans back, this wasn't a good step in that direction.
I agree with all of that. I always thought it would get done sometime prior to mid-March.
But it must be said: the owners, Rob Manfred and Tony Clark. NONE of those guys inspired too much confidence over the last several months. It won't happen, but I'd prefer that Manfred be replaced - pronto.
Baseball's on it's way out, and this is coming from a baseball lover.
They keep focusing on very short term financial gains, and not on the overall health of the sport, which, in it's current form, is not going to be something you can sell to the next generation.
Do we really need ads on jersey's or half empty stadiums with $18 beers or endless luxury boxes? I get it, those are all bottom line decisions. The Yankees went to war with Stubhub a couple years ago to guarantee that there were no cheap tickets listed because it undermined the price gouging that they were doing. How messed up is that? Keep a family out of the stadium who may only be able to afford cheap tix in order to make sure the hedge funders don't feel slighted?
This game is headed the way of boxing. There may be more $ being made off a handful of PPVs a year, but if the current middleweight champ walked into your living room, would you know who they are? Does any non-baseball fan know what Mike Trout or Juan Soto look like? Exactly.
Long-time Red Sox/Giants fan who saw the Giants play at the Polo Grounds during the last weekend before they moved to San Francisco, but I can't recall the last time I watched a full MLB game other than the "Field of Dreams" game last season, only because I love the movie and it always reminds me of how much I miss my dad who died over 30 years ago.
I recently told a fellow Red Sox fan that I now might be able to recognize more players on Liverpool FC (owned by the Red Sox ownership group, Fenway Sports Group) than players on the Red Sox. I also know the names of more players on the Michigan Wolverines hockey team than the names of players on the Detroit Tigers.
Baseball is Back! Rule changes reported: Pitch Clock, restricted shifts, larger bases.
Games should be faster, more balls in play, more baserunners, more stealing. Going to be great.
Oh, and the NL has a DH now!
Wait, really? That sucks.
Keep your American League doodadery out of my pre-modern pastime.
As with every other televised sport, it's easier to change the game because games are too long instead of addressing the real problem - commercial breaks.
Pitchers take twice as long between pitches in the majors compared to the minors. That was a real problem.
Also, commercials are what pays for the entire thing, that's not going away.
Dunno. MLB.tv doesn't have commercials, and neither does my HBO streaming subscription which somehow manages to pay for exclusive access to dozens of shows that cost millions of dollars per episode to produce...
One of the single biggest problems to me was the fact that there can be damn near 5 minutes every time there is a pitching change.
Why does the pitcher, who has been warming up for 4+ innings, need 2 minutes to throw warm up pitches when he first takes the mound??
March 11th, 2022 at 12:14 AM ^
True and welcomed changes, unfortunately these don't take effect until 2023.
March 11th, 2022 at 11:52 AM ^
More balls in play? Like pinball?
Sweet! Excited for the new guys to start playing should be an exciting season.
Great news! Sure the millionaires are taken care of, but all the regular folk who work the stadiums and deliver the food, beer, hats, etc. get to go to work, too.
The 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson (April 15) had a lot to do with keeping the April 7th start. And rightfully so!
Billionaires are taken care of*
Can someone explain to me what issues were even controversial/being negotiated? I really didn't follow the stupidity.
Dolla dolla billz y'all!!!
Short bullet points:
- Whether there would be an International Draft or not.
- Qualifying offers --- which is a topic so esoteric there's no way I or anyone else can explain in any short and coherent way.
- Competitive balance tax threshold. Basically if you spent a lot of $$$ (e.g., were the LA Dodgers), a "tax" was applied and you had to pay even more.
- Minimum-salary structure. Seriously, whether the minimum annual salary was $600K or $700K/year. Both are a lot of money.
- Bonus-pool for pre-arbitration players. Revisions in when someone first became arbitration eligible, particularly high-performing rookies/players.
- Size of the playoffs. Seems like they landed on 12. It was 10, owners wanted 14.
Great summary. Bonus money for MVP, ROY, Cy, and runner up for each was also discussed.
Because I haven't been closely following the details of the negotiations and I'm not sure whether the end of the lockout will make me any more interested in MLB, I thank you for the bullet points. I was wondering if they might've considered:
- Games tied after 12 innings go to "penalty kicks" -- a five-round, home run derby with alternating batters getting two swings each after a coin toss to determine which team chooses the order in which the teams hit. If still tied after five rounds, they continue alternating players until there's a winner.
- A home team trailing by at least two runs entering the ninth inning may wear their caps backwards while in the field.
- September 8 will be designated as "Campy Campaneris Day" (or "Andrew Romine Day" for Detroit Tigers' home games) when one player on each team will play all nine positions during the game in honor of Bert Campaneris who on September 8, 1965 became the first player to do that in an MLB game.
- Handshake lines after the final game of every series.
Baseball struggling to keep and attract viewers.Doesn’t help with silly rule changes pitch clock,shift bans,runners starting on second in extra inning games.Call me an old fuddy duddy but leave the game alone.Manfred and Goodell are trash commissioners.
But, but, but the fans want these things,
I'm looking forward to hitting a few Reds games this year as well (I live about an hour east of Cinci). Now that I have a couple of grand kids we like to try to take each of them to a ball game each summer, and GABP is a pretty good place to do that.
Nothing like teaching a young kid about the game.
IDK why we need to play 162, but OK. DH in the NL is a good idea. The rest, is whatever.
Good for the 4/15 date for Jackie Robinson Day
Glad they were able to get a deal done.
It looks like the rules changes (pitch clock, shift, etc) don't go into effect this year though right? And only in 2023 if the union agrees to them. Otherwise they don't go into effect until 2024?
March 10th, 2022 at 11:10 PM ^
For the most part, you appear to be correct, except for the 12-team playoff.
No more game #163 to break ties, either--- they'll be setting up specific tie-breakers like other sports already do.
But I think most of the new rules start in 2023.
March 11th, 2022 at 12:22 AM ^
That's how I understand it as well rob f, tie-breakers will be predetermined like most other pro sports, Also, instead of the one-game wild-card playoff, playoffs will now be best-of-three series -- with the higher seed hosting all three games...which is logistically more convenient but just stupid.
I can only imagine it's a hugely fair deal and the owners just decided to relent and give in.
the tigers have been so bad for a decade that its really hard to care too much. i would like them to do well, but without television coverage for most of us (no bally's, whatever that is), and with world events, its about all i can do to care about michigan sports.
i'm curious what therecent attendance and television money, history and projections are. that is one sport i could see hitting a big decline, but maybe not.
This game gets less recognizable every year. Its a shame. I miss the consistency and values of the Bud Selig era (steroid era included).
It seems they still didn't fix the service time issues so we'll still have stupid things like a young star player sitting in the minors for several weeks because that guarantees the team another year of control.
As someone who quite literally lives in the Angel’s Stadium parking lot, this should make my summers a little more fun.
The George?!
I had to do a Google Map to check the "literalness" and sure as shit there's some apartment/condos around there!
Yup that’s me! I live 100 yards tops from the home plate entrance.
Almost worked in their marketing department this past Fall before taking a job at a more digitally focused company, but I would be lying if I wasn’t eager for that 1 minute commute every day.
I will say that the stadium’s traffic - particularly semi trucks - has picked up a ton in the past day. By far the busiest it’s been (outside of Monster Jam) since last season ended. Certainly feels like the season is coming back now.
We have to find a new stupidest thing in sports now that we no longer have pitchers batting.
March 11th, 2022 at 12:12 AM ^
Shohei Ohtani does not endorse this statement.
What’s baseball? An old man’s sport?