2023 MLB Playoffs

[CMRivdogs]

2 minutes ago, chasfh said:

OK, so, how is it OK for teams to use technology so someone perhaps not on the field of play can relay instructions to players, but it is not OK to use technology so someone not on the field of play can steal signs from center field and relay instructions to players?

i guess it depends on whether trash cans are involved 🤷

Aren't the pitches relayed from the bench to a coach then to pitcher (via pitchcom?)

[Edman85]

11 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

Wow...I just noticed Game 7 of The World Series is set for November 4th. It's not good baseball in frigid weather.

8 teams left, and Baltimore/Philadelphia/Minnesota are the only ones who would likely deal with cold weather that week. Texas/Arizona/Houston are all indoors. LA and Atlanta not in the cold.

[chasfh]

25 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

i guess it depends on whether trash cans are involved 🤷

Aren't the pitches relayed from the bench to a coach then to pitcher (via pitchcom?)

Is it guaranteed to be limited to that, and not able to be used by a person with no official duty to perform who might be situated outside the field of play? I don't know either way, but it strikes me as possible until I hear why it's not.

[Sports_Freak]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

It’s no worse than starting the season in several cold locales on March 20-whatever.

I agree. That's also too early to be starting the season. Call me old fashioned but I don't think the quality of play in baseball is the same in 30⁰ weather as it is in 80⁰ weather. And playing hockey in June? Ridiculous. 

[RandyMarsh]

Btw that Rangers win was their first playoff series win since beating us back in 2011. Feels like a lifetime ago now.

[Motor City Sonics]

I can't believe that they're going to build another stadium right next to the Trop.    What a joke.    They just don't care about baseball in that area (unless they're NE or MIdwest transplants).      Shame that such a well-run organization has to play for such a lousy fanbase.  

[MIguy]

4 hours ago, chasfh said:

OK, so, how is it OK for teams to use technology so someone perhaps not on the field of play can relay instructions to players, but it is not OK to use technology so someone not on the field of play can steal signs from center field and relay instructions to players?

PitchCom is between the pitcher and catcher with the fielders also having a receiver to listen to the pitch being called.  Nobody off the field or in the dugout can send signals through it.    What would have happened here is the catcher pushed some sequence of buttons to alert the pitcher to go with a pick off.  For example, they might have had a code between then that said if I push the fastball button 3 times, throw to second.

Edited October 5, 2023 by MIguy

[1776]

1 hour ago, Motor City Sonics said:

I can't believe that they're going to build another stadium right next to the Trop.    What a joke.    They just don't care about baseball in that area (unless they're NE or MIdwest transplants).      Shame that such a well-run organization has to play for such a lousy fanbase.  

It makes no sense. The most ludicrous part of this is the expansion part if the conversation. Miami nor St.Pete will support a MLB team at the gate. Yet, MLB is looking to add two new cities. 
Why not relocate the Rays and the Marlins? I realize it is not that easy but why keep two sites that have proven they aren’t supportive of their teams. To build this new park in the same spot in St. Pete doesn’t add up all. The team just drew an average of 20K fans for the two home playoff games. I’m not a relocate proponent generally, but this plan looks doomed to be an extension of the status quo.

[chasfh]

32 minutes ago, MIguy said:

PitchCom is between the pitcher and catcher with the fielders also having a receiver to listen to the pitch being called.  Nobody off the field or in the dugout can send signals through it.    What would have happened here is the catcher pushed some sequence of buttons to alert the pitcher to go with a pick off.  For example, they might have had a code between then that said if I push the fastball button 3 times, throw to second.

I had thought the dugout could call pitches via PitchCom as well. 

[KL2]

26 minutes ago, 1776 said:

It makes no sense. The most ludicrous part of this is the expansion part if the conversation. Miami nor St.Pete will support a MLB team at the gate. Yet, MLB is looking to add two new cities. 
Why not relocate the Rays and the Marlins? I realize it is not that easy but why keep two sites that have proven they aren’t supportive of their teams. To build this new park in the same spot in St. Pete doesn’t add up all. The team just drew an average of 20K fans for the two home playoff games. I’m not a relocate proponent generally, but this plan looks doomed to be an extension of the status quo.

Two separate issues really. Yeah they wil have to figure out what to do Tmapa and Florida, give them a shot or whatever 

 

But the expansion is about a couple of things. A they are cash grabs. With sports teams going for $6billion now. Two new teams will likely net the currnet 30 owners $10 billion in free money. The other thing it does is make the numbers easier. Two teams takes you to 32. Eight playoff teams in 4 divisions gets pretty easy. (not to mention once expansion started in 61, the longest stretch without adding teams was 16 years. It's been over 20 since the last round)

Edited October 5, 2023 by KL2

[MIguy]

10 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I had thought the dugout could call pitches via PitchCom as well. 

I was actually unsure but what I find online is that teams can only have one transmitter in use at at time.   

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, MIguy said:

I was actually unsure but what I find online is that teams can only have one transmitter in use at at time.   

Well, gee, I wasn't even rightish on this one, was I! 😜

[Motor City Sonics]

3 hours ago, KL2 said:

Two separate issues really. Yeah they wil have to figure out what to do Tmapa and Florida, give them a shot or whatever 

 

But the expansion is about a couple of things. A they are cash grabs. With sports teams going for $6billion now. Two new teams will likely net the currnet 30 owners $10 billion in free money. The other thing it does is make the numbers easier. Two teams takes you to 32. Eight playoff teams in 4 divisions gets pretty easy. (not to mention once expansion started in 61, the longest stretch without adding teams was 16 years. It's been over 20 since the last round)

But there is the issue of how can you expand when you have 2 teams that aren't even interesting in their own market.  One of them is in the playoff chase every single year, but in order to do that has to trade any star players before they start getting star money (making it harder for even the few fans who care to form connections with players).  The other team did the big spending thing and won the world series twice only to very quickly sell the team off - another way to alienate a fan base.    Nashville is practically begging for a team, and I have to be honest, though it's not the biggest market, I am guessing a playoff game gets more than 19K to show up.   

After Nashville..........then where?    Vegas is taken. 

Montreal?   Do they have the stadium?  Can they even renovate Olympic?   Kind of doubtful that taxpayers are goin to foot the bill for a new stadium and the infrastructure it takes.   I sympathize with Expos fans.  Closest they came to a World Series, a team full of stars and the strike ends the season and then Jeffrey Loria pulls his crap and does what Oakland's owner is doing to the A's now, you know, Rachel Phelpsing a team.    Not sure Vegas is any better than Miami when it comes to baseball fans. 

Portland?   Sorry, the city is a political nightmare.   

Charlotte?   Maybe.  The money is there, but is the interest?  It fills a little void there.  Gives the Braves a regional rival.

I think there are two places that would be great, but owners of other teams nearby would block it - and that's Indianapolis and New Jersey. 

If you move Tampa to Nashville, I don't see any really good options for expansion and if you expand with Nashville and one other you're still going to have the Rays and Marlins failing. 

We're really into sports in this region, partly because in the cold months watching sports is something to do.  Much of the U.S. doesn't have that problem and just doesn't get into sports (outside of football) like we do.   

 

[Toddwert]

San Jose? money is in the area dont know if the Giants would allow it

https://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View.aspx?article=217

Top Ten Largest Cities without a MLB team

Funny San Antonio never gets mention

 

 

Edited October 5, 2023 by Toddwert

[1776]

Tom Dundon, owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, announced he is interested in bringing MLB to Raleigh. Apparently he is now seeking out interested partners.

Edited October 6, 2023 by 1776

[CMRivdogs]

18 minutes ago, 1776 said:

Tom Dundon, owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, announced he is interested in bringing MLB to Raleigh. Apparently he is now seeking out interested partners.

Would the upgrade the Bulls field or build a facility in Kingsdale?

[MIguy]

2 hours ago, Toddwert said:

San Jose? money is in the area dont know if the Giants would allow it

https://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View.aspx?article=217

Top Ten Largest Cities without a MLB team

Funny San Antonio never gets mention

 

 

San Antonio has a small TV market.   

https://hoop-social.com/nba-team-market-size-rankings/

[1776]

7 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

Would the upgrade the Bulls field or build a facility in Kingsdale?

To start, I hope MLB never comes to NC in my lifetime. 
I’m guessing you’re speaking of Knightdale? I have no idea where they could put a park in Raleigh at this day and time. 
I don’t believe the Bulls park and surroundings would work. That would be in Durham anyway. I’ve got to believe his chance of bringing a team to Raleigh is a long shot at best. 
There have to be other cities ahead of Raleigh in the hunt for a team.

[CMRivdogs]

33 minutes ago, 1776 said:

To start, I hope MLB never comes to NC in my lifetime. 
I’m guessing you’re speaking of Knightdale? I have no idea where they could put a park in Raleigh at this day and time. 
I don’t believe the Bulls park and surroundings would work. That would be in Durham anyway. I’ve got to believe his chance of bringing a team to Raleigh is a long shot at best. 
There have to be other cities ahead of Raleigh in the hunt for a team.

I've spent 40 plus years hearing about schemes to bring a major league team of some sort to Hampton Roads. Nothing has succeeded outside of the short lived stint for the Squires in the ABA.

Carolina is perfect for minor league baseball, at least before Manfred started to meddle. There is no room in Durham for expansion, we've stayed at the Aloft next on my trips to Duke. The explosion around Knightdale the last few years has been something else.

[chasfh]

Expansion to Nashville is a no-brainer. Let’s stipulate that upfront.

I’ve thought about Indianapolis, too, and how that might make a decent big league market. They’re growing pretty decently and they’re a #25 market, larger than six current big league markets, and they have decent median income figures. But they are also only two hours drive from Cincinnati, and I don’t think the Lords would allow that at this time. I think Big League ball would have to expand to 36 or 40 teams to get to Indianapolis.

I don’t think Portland gets one, maybe partially because of the recent political situation, but also, they are by far the largest US market without any affiliated team at all, and they seem to have been happy enough with that state of affairs for a couple of decades now. They don’t miss baseball enough to be on the short list for big league expansion.

I always thought Charlotte’s population was too diffused throughout the area to draw 30,000+ fans every night, but that was some 15 years ago I started hypothesizing that, and things have changed since then in that actual attendance has been really de-prioritized in favor of other, more certain revenue streams. So, maybe.

But Charlotte might also be deemed too close to Atlanta, in that it is only a four hour drive, and if level of proximity were to make expansion there a non-starter, then that also eliminates New Jersey, San Jose, San Antonio, Orlando, and a few other potential markets in the crowded eastern and central parts of the country. It’s not an issue of attendance, it’s an issue of proximity for the purposes of TV.

Montreal, of course, has all kinds of problems because they are practically a cultural and economic island in North America that barely depends on the rest of the continent to thrive on their own terms. Favorable history of the game or not, Baseball wants nothing to do with going to Montreal, or any second Canadian market for that matter. The chances may not be literally zero, but they are practically zero.

Any team in any other country is going to have all those instability problems that a team in Canada would have, plus the other countries nearby have way, way less money that fans and the local business community can put toward the team, its media markets, its merch, etc. So forget Mexico, Puerto Rico, or any other Caribbean Rim nation.

If the A’s weren’t going to Vegas, I think they would be the second slam-dunk expansion market, but if the A’s are going there, I guess I would put my money on Nashville for the one, and East Bay California for the other, which would probably be Oakland, but which might include San Jose or, long shot, even Sacramento. There is already a precedent for Baseball moving a team from a city and then immediately putting a replacement expansion franchise in that same city. East Bay not a virgin market, which is probably sweeter as far as the money goes, but I would think the ramp-up to getting a team in place there would be smoother because the area has experience with it. Sure, the Johnsons would be unhappy, but they will be good and paid in compensation for allowing another team in their backyard again.

[1776]

12 hours ago, CMRivdogs said:

Carolina is perfect for minor league baseball, at least before Manfred started to meddle. 

Orioles manager, Brandon Hyde, managed the Greensboro Grasshoppers 2005-2006 and the Carolina Mudcats in 2007. Both teams were then affiliated with Marlins. 
 

I don’t see MLB coming here anytime soon. NC has 10 minor league teams. If you can’t find a ballgame in your “neck of the woods” you’re not trying.

[1776]

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2023/06/30/mlb-expansion-team-hugh-mccoll-sports-baseball.html
 

Very recent article on possibilities of MLB in NC.

[chasfh]

22 minutes ago, 1776 said:

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2023/06/30/mlb-expansion-team-hugh-mccoll-sports-baseball.html
 

Very recent article on possibilities of MLB in NC.

I don't have $120 to subscribe so I can read it. Can you bottom line what it says?

[lordstanley]

Vancouver has a metro population of 2.6 million, a fair bit of wealth, and negligible pro sports competition apart from the NHL Canucks. But its 40 year old, 55,000 seat stadium is not suitable for baseball. And I don’t know of any one billionaire here that would be interested in spearheading a MLB effort. 
 

https://globalnews.ca/news/7880261/john-horgan-support-possible-major-league-baseball-team-vancouver/

https://biv.com/article/2023/08/pursuing-mlb-franchise-popular-bc-hosting-fifa-world-cup-poll

 

[1776]

14 minutes ago, chasfh said:

I don't have $120 to subscribe so I can read it. Can you bottom line what it says?

Charlotte has been perpetually five years from being Major League Baseball-ready for so long that it’s become a grin-and-swear-at-it ritual whenever the topic arises.

And yet, we — I — can’t resist. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has been openly discussing his interest in adding two franchises soon, pending resolution of ballpark problems in Oakland, California, and Tampa Bay, Florida. Las Vegas looks like a safe bet to land the A’s, while Tampa Bay’s Rays continue discussions in their area at the same time the home team holds the best record in the big leagues.

There are 30 MLB clubs now; the last expansion was in 1998.

 

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Owners in all sports leagues adore expansion because they love to see the game’s excitement shared. Of course, I’m kidding — it means shared expansion fees for everyone.

Charlotte, despite no known campaign for MLB or even an informal investor group, has become prominent in speculative discussions of prospective expansion sites. 

This month, Gambling.com set the odds of the likeliest expansion cities, with Nashville, Tennessee, considered the favorite, followed by Charlotte; San Antonio, Texas; Salt Lake City; and Orlando, Florida. The latter would likely depend on the Rays leaving — either for Orlando or another state because of the proximity of Orlando and Tampa-St. Petersburg.

Gambling.com based its rankings on the following criteria: civic support/funding; regional population and TV market size; proven sports audience; distance from a current MLB city; history of baseball support at other levels; and international expansion. Montreal and Tokyo were in the top 10.

Given his status as Charlotte’s modern-day founding father, retired Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) CEO Hugh McColl Jr., who helped bring the NFL Carolina Panthers and NBA Charlotte Hornets to town, seemed like a reasonable person to ask for perspective on this matter.

“I think that pro baseball requires a big population mass to make it profitable,” McColl told CBJ. "And whether we have that population, that mass at the moment, I don’t know. I guess one would argue that I've always been in favor of a downtown location. But getting to and from the ballpark every night is a challenge.”

McColl, who is 88, added, “Someone else will have to solve that one. I can’t solve that one.” 

The former bank executive offered an opinion on the forecast of Nashville as a heavy favorite: “I think that we would be a better town than Nashville. Just being honest, where I think we grow faster, (with a) bigger corporate market. And, you know, we’ve got more big companies for sponsorship, and we are a town that sits on the border of the Carolinas, and we have 10, 11, 12 million people within 50 miles of us.”

On the latter point, McColl got ahead of himself: the population of Charlotte within a 50-mile radius is 3.1 million. According to the latest Census data, North Carolina’s population is 10.7 million and South Carolina’s is 5.3 million.

Nashville seems to figure into every economic development comparison and recruiting discussion involving Charlotte these days. In case you were wondering, their respective minor-league baseball teams are both among the most popular in the nation.

McColl and EY executive Malcomb Coley spoke to CBJ as part of a new feature called “Two Views,” debuting July 14. The monthly interviews with business and civic leaders will appear in CBJ’s print edition and as a podcast. McColl and Coley discussed economic equity and mobility, commercial real estate and their investment fund, Bright Hope Capital, during the “Two Views” interview.

McColl’s first-blush baseball analysis looks spot on: According to Census data, Charlotte’s metro population is 2.7 millionand Nashville’s is 2 million. San Antonio is slightly smaller (2.6 million), Salt Lake City is half as big (1.3 million) and Orlando is equal (2.7 million). 

Coley, the EY executive, offered a short assessment of Charlotte’s MLB chances during our brief digression.

“If Mr. McColl called the commissioner, he would answer that phone call,” he said.

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