2023 Regular Season (Non-Nats)

[English Natsie]

So the London Series returns, after a four year Covid gap. Some changes, this time. MLB have been more upfront about the venue - that it is the best of a lacklustre selection, and that only the infield is regulation. You may notice more netting, for crowd safety, than would be the case at any US ballpark, to cope with the vagaries of the outfield. MLB's decision to ignore UK fan concerns, and keep with expensive ticketing, has come back to bite them - there were quite a few emply seats, and the tracking shots (of the crowd) showed few neutrals - many appeared to be US visitors and ex-pats. I'd guessed that must be the case - unlike in 2019, I was still getting e-mails, as late as yesterday, that tickets were still available. MLB will no doubt claim that attendance was impacted by the UK going through its worst cost-of-living crisis in 300 years - we're all having to think hard about discretionary spending. Fair comment - but the London NFL games still sell-out within minutes of tickets going on sale, under the same condtions. It is a reminder (sadly) of just how far the game has to go, over here.

FWIW, I think MLB faces a particular challenge in that baseball is the most American of all the major US sports. I'll draw an analogy based on my experience of the NFL. When attending a London game, we are grateful that we get to see a genuine, meaningful regular season game, with a sell-out crowd at great venues. All good. But (in my case) watching the Chiefs at Arrowhead, in the US with the home crowd atmosphere, is completely different - it truly is the 'real thing'. With MLB that difference becomes a gaping chasm - those who've been describe the London games as an experience, but nothing like watching at a proper US ballpark. It might be better, for developing the game over here, for MLB to use the money to subsidize cut-price TV coverage (the NFL used to give Channel Four MNF virtually for free, just to give the game a raised FTA TV profile). They could even support competitively priced visitor packages to watch games in the US. The choice of teams doesn't help - the sad fact is that if it isn't the Yankees, Dodgers or Red Sox, then interest will be lower. Even with the attraction (?) of a visit to London, how many WNFF'ers would come over to watch the Nats? I'd be there, but I wouldn't expect it to be anything like watching a game at Nationals Park...

Just some reflections - at least we're not getting 27 - 14 scorelines, this time...

[welch]

So the London Series returns, after a four year Covid gap. Some changes, this time. MLB have been more upfront about the venue - that it is the best of a lacklustre selection, and that only the infield is regulation. You may notice more netting, for crowd safety, than would be the case at any US ballpark, to cope with the vagaries of the outfield. MLB's decision to ignore UK fan concerns, and keep with expensive ticketing, has come back to bite them - there were quite a few emply seats, and the tracking shots (of the crowd) showed few neutrals - many appeared to be US visitors and ex-pats. I'd guessed that must be the case - unlike in 2019, I was still getting e-mails, as late as yesterday, that tickets were still available. MLB will no doubt claim that attendance was impacted by the UK going through its worst cost-of-living crisis in 300 years - we're all having to think hard about discretionary spending. Fair comment - but the London NFL games still sell-out within minutes of tickets going on sale, under the same condtions. It is a reminder (sadly) of just how far the game has to go, over here.

FWIW, I think MLB faces a particular challenge in that baseball is the most American of all the major US sports. I'll draw an analogy based on my experience of the NFL. When attending a London game, we are grateful that we get to see a genuine, meaningful regular season game, with a sell-out crowd at great venues. All good. But (in my case) watching the Chiefs at Arrowhead, in the US with the home crowd atmosphere, is completely different - it truly is the 'real thing'. With MLB that difference becomes a gaping chasm - those who've been describe the London games as an experience, but nothing like watching at a proper US ballpark. It might be better, for developing the game over here, for MLB to use the money to subsidize cut-price TV coverage (the NFL used to give Channel Four MNF virtually for free, just to give the game a raised FTA TV profile). They could even support competitively priced visitor packages to watch games in the US. The choice of teams doesn't help - the sad fact is that if it isn't the Yankees, Dodgers or Red Sox, then interest will be lower. Even with the attraction (?) of a visit to London, how many WNFF'ers would come over to watch the Nats? I'd be there, but I wouldn't expect it to be anything like watching a game at Nationals Park...

Just some reflections - at least we're not getting 27 - 14 scorelines, this time...

Thanks. I was wondering what the games would feel like. The high-priced tickets sure seem like a blunder. I remember that a customer and friend, someone who took me to a Spurs game in '96, had been following NFL games since the late '80s. I used to give his kids tee-shirts and jerseys from the great Redskin teams.

I have guessed that baseball would be the least understandable to an English fan. The rules would seem too complicated, too full of odd exceptions, unless you grew up with it. Stolen based? Pickoff? Balk? Baseball is a remote cousin of cricket in that both derive from medieval English bat-and-ball games, but those were games in which entire villages lined up across a pasture and tried to bat a ball through an opposing village. By now, cricket and baseball are just similar enough to confuse fans of each. And soccer-football fans look like baseball fans, while cricket fans look like no fans from an American professional sport.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Interesting points, EN. MLB has to decide why it is playing in London. If it is to expose the game and possibly build, then the more giveaways the better. The seats could be lower price if you have an English passport, for example. There definitely should be tour packages next year, if not later this year, for Cubs / St Louis games in Wrigley and Busch. As for the field, it's not going to be right. It's was a problem when the Dodgers played in the LA Coliseum (an American football stadium that was the olympic  venue for 1932 and 1984) and when the Rockies splayed at the old Broncos stadium. Any sort of soccer pitch with stands close to the action is going to have a short outfield side and seats misaligned for baseball.  Same thing happens when football games are played in places like Fenway - the good seats aren't in the right spots. If MLB is just trying to find an interesting venue to promote tours and to draw on ex-pats, then I imagine they would do what they are doing.

[Natsinpwc]

I would assume they are trying to build fan interest to sell more merchandise and tv packages and such.  Phillies and Mets next year. Cohen should buy a baseball stadium for them!

[English Natsie]

ICohen should buy a baseball stadium for them!

That's really the crux of it - the NFL has developed well enough, over here, that Spurs were willing to spend over a billion pounds to ensure that their stadium was NFL ready. But no-one would seriously consider building a regulation ballpark. MLB going for the money, and putting the sport behind BT Sport's paywall, was one of the worst moves - most only have BTS for the Champion's League; baseball only gets anything like prime-time during the off-season for soccer. When Channel Five had FTA coverage (which is how I discovered the game) everything was developing nicely. Things have clearly gone backward - last time, the BBC covered the games live on TV. This time, they were only available online, and even then only as embedded video on the BBC Sport website, not the main BBC iPlayer.

[English Natsie]

I have guessed that baseball would be the least understandable to an English fan. The rules would seem too complicated, too full of odd exceptions, unless you grew up with it

Yes - I came to the game in '97, when TV coverage began. It took a while to grasp the nuances of the game, but the interested will always make the effort. Or perhaps I'm just unusual - if you think baseball has complex and nuanced rules, then try Aussie Rules... That's another sport which has never really caught-on, over here, despite having had TV coverage since the mid '80's. But to us few hardy diehards....

How's this for 'you couldn't make it up'?...An American ex-pat (here through work) has moved into our area, for a few months. I happened to bump into him, at the supermarket, and looked forward to a few pleasant words, about baseball. He's a Mets fan....

[Natsinpwc]

Tomorrow would be a good day to talk about the game. Mets blow a three run lead to the Phillies in a 4-run 8th. One hit. Three walks.  Two HBP. And an error. 

[Dave in Fairfax]

If anyone remembers, in 2019 during the 24th World Scout Jamboree, some 4000 UK scouts attended an Orioles game in Camden Yards. OF Anthony Santander's interactions with the boys and girls made for a popular narrative and they called them the Anthony Santander Fan Club.

If MLB were smart, they would have scheduled the much improved Baltimore club, for which Santander still plays, for the London series and made a tie-in with the scouts, giving them and their families an opportunity for free or discounted tickets. That would be better for building grass-roots support for the game in Albion.

[imref]

That would have been awesome.

[English Natsie]

MLB has to decide why it is playing in London.

You can read my mind, JCA - I was thinking just that. You could tell, during interviews, that even some of the players didn't seem to know why they were there. Unlike 2019, this was just a quick 'in-and-out' for the teams, with none of the advance build-up (meet and greets, etc) ) of the Yankees and Red Sox. As I think I've previously commented, the problem is MLB looking at what the NFL has achieved and thinking 'we'll have some of that', but seeming to forget that it took over 40 years of development, by the NFL, to reach where they are - and with a game with greater amenity for the UK market, unlike the (sadly) virtually unknown baseball. MLB has a much higher mountain to climb - even with a long established UK league, the NBA has always struggled to make inroads; same for NHL. Even after decades of trying, and under those circumstances, they remain niche sports, over here. You see plenty of people wearing LA and NY logo caps, but they're thought of as fashion brands - most have no idea of their baseball origins. I've learned to ask 'baseball fan or fashion?' - very rarely is the answer 'baseball'...

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I sort of think they'd be better off playing in Amsterdam. The Netherlands has the best baseball in Europe, and it's not just from the Caribbean islands. They would have small but proper fields, too. I think Spain and Italy have viable leagues and proper fields. Nothing wrong with showcases in Madrid and Rome (or Barcelona and Milan).  Rotate the European locations perhaps every 4 years would help hype the WBC. Not saying shun England, but vary it up.

[imref]

I sort of think they'd be better off playing in Amsterdam. The Netherlands has the best baseball in Europe, and it's not just from the Caribbean islands. They would have small but proper fields, too. I think Spain and Italy have viable leagues and proper fields. Nothing wrong with showcases in Madrid and Rome (or Barcelona and Milan).  Rotate the European locations perhaps every 4 years would help hype the WBC. Not saying shun England, but vary it up.

the teams would have a challenge deciding what to do at night after the game. (ted lasso reference if you don't get it).

[imref]

Moneyball 2023:

[imref]

Via danclarksports:

Tension in the Padres clubhouse is rumored to be at breaking point, with finger-pointing, strategy disagreement, and accusations of laziness and poor preparation from certain high-profile players all common. A real lack of team cohesion. Many fear the once hyped season is doomed.

[imref]

Perfect game for Domingo German against the A’s!

[English Natsie]

Perfect game for Domingo German against the A’s!

https://www.mlb.com/news/domingo-german-perfect-game-facts-and-figures

[Slateman]

Holy crap he threw a Maddux for a perfect game

[imref]

Nats are now the team with the longest current stretch of not being no-hit

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Perfect game for Domingo German against the A’s!

wow, that's an accomplishment at any level. When was the last perfect game thrown against a major league line up?

In my mind, I think the NYY have a disproportionate share of perfect games. there's been 24, and off the top of my head, there's Larsen in the World Series, and I think both Boomer Wells and David Cone in the 1990s. So this would be 4 of 24, and I probably am missing some others.

IIRC, Buerhle (Buerlhe?) might have had the last one for the ChiSox. For a while, that dude was terrific, the epitome of a pitch to contact, groundball guy who was super effective at soft contact.

[English Natsie]

wow, that's an accomplishment at any level. When was the last perfect game thrown against a major league line up?

In my mind, I think the NYY have a disproportionate share of perfect games. there's been 24, and off the top of my head, there's Larsen in the World Series, and I think both Boomer Wells and David Cone in the 1990s. So this would be 4 of 24, and I probably am missing some others.

https://www.mlb.com/news/all-time-perfect-games

[Natsinpwc]

I was watching the beginning of that and heard them say he has retired the first 9. But paid it no mind and went to bed. Guess he has perfected the sticky stuff.

[English Natsie]

MLB claiming, as a triumph, that there were 55,000 in attendance at the London Saturday game. Let's just forget that capacity, for baseball, is 66,000, and that 2019 was a sell-out. They may have sold 55,000 tickets, but it looked like more than 11,000 empty seats, to me. Perhaps the one positive is that the accounts I'm hearing say that there were fewer corporate / social calendar attendees, this time. Sadly, as suspected, not as many neutrals - a London based friend, who attended, said he spotted (jerseys) one Blue Jays, one Phillies, two White Sox (?), one Red Sox, one Reds and two Brewers. Contrast that with the crowd at the NFL games, where virtually all are wearing their team colors...

FTA TV coverage really is the key, MLB...

[imref]

MLB claiming, as a triumph, that there were 55,000 in attendance at the London Saturday game. Let's just forget that capacity, for baseball, is 66,000, and that 2019 was a sell-out. They may have sold 55,000 tickets, but it looked like more than 11,000 empty seats, to me. Perhaps the one positive is that the accounts I'm hearing say that there were fewer corporate / social calendar attendees, this time. Sadly, as suspected, not as many neutrals - a London based friend, who attended, said he spotted (jerseys) one Blue Jays, one Phillies, two White Sox (?), one Red Sox, one Reds and two Brewers. Contrast that with the crowd at the NFL games, where virtually all are wearing their team colors...

FTA TV coverage really is the key, MLB...

FWIW, All Elite Wrestling is making their European debut at Wembley on August 27. Without much in the way of in-country TV and with no card announced, they've already sold more than 66,000 tickets.

[Elvir Ovcina]

Via danclarksports:

Tension in the Padres clubhouse is rumored to be at breaking point, with finger-pointing, strategy disagreement, and accusations of laziness and poor preparation from certain high-profile players all common. A real lack of team cohesion. Many fear the once hyped season is doomed.

Preller, that insatiable lover of buying shiny things at the top of their value, will now trade 7 players for Domingo German and sign him to a 10-year contract.

Who'd ever have thought that putting Manny Machado, Rougned Odor, Fernando Tatis, and Josh Hader in a room together might lead to some interpersonal issues?

[English Natsie]

FWIW, All Elite Wrestling is making their European debut at Wembley on August 27. Without much in the way of in-country TV and with no card announced, they've already sold more than 66,000 tickets.

And, guess what - it's on FTA TV (ITV)...