2025 MLB Thread

[oblong]

For awhile Cobb lived at the Detroit Athletic Club, when he was having marital problems.  I think that's neat considering his statue is just a few hundred feet away.

[lordstanley]

sorry wrong thread. 

Edited Wednesday at 03:18 PM by lordstanley

[IdahoBert]

https://abc7news.com/post/what-rays-moving-minor-league-ballparks-means-mlb/15983208/

This is a pretty good article about the Athletics and the Rays playing in minor-league ball parks and the political and financial issues revolving around these two teams and its relation to MLB in general. It’s actually a fairly long article and a good read. 

[chasfh]

Honestly, I don’t understand why all the owners think Rob Manfred is such a genius when it comes to running the Game. He’s about to lead Baseball into a lake of fire of its own making over Pete Rose. He completely undermined the value of their property by selling games to Apple+ and Roku for peanuts, causing ESPN to cut their half-a-billion tie to them. (I expect they will come back at a drastically-reduced price.) And now they’ve got two of their major league teams playing in garbage minor-league parks for the next who knows how many years. And this is on top of a thousand little indignities they subject their fans to over issues of soaring ticket and concession prices to watch games, telecast access to games, general treatment at ballparks, and the like. Why the **** are owners letting him destroy their game?

I never imagined I’d ever say anything like this, but Rob Manfred is no Bud Selig.

[gehringer_2]

36 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Honestly, I don’t understand why all the owners think Rob Manfred is such a genius when it comes to running the Game. He’s about to lead Baseball into a lake of fire of its own making over Pete Rose. He completely undermined the value of their property by selling games to Apple+ and Roku for peanuts, causing ESPN to cut their half-a-billion tie to them. (I expect they will come back at a drastically-reduced price.) And now they’ve got two of their major league teams playing in garbage minor-league parks for the next who knows how many years. And this is on top of a thousand little indignities they subject their fans to over issues of soaring ticket and concession prices to watch games, telecast access to games, general treatment at ballparks, and the like. Why the **** are owners letting him destroy their game?

I never imagined I’d ever say anything like this, but Rob Manfred is no Bud Selig.

It is strange that Manfred and MLB are getting such a pass on having two orphan teams, That is such an unprecedented failure. I guess it just means that it's official that no-one really cares about the fan in the stands. As long as there is a TV contract the owners would be happy to play their games in a shoebox. I look for the next generation of stadia to have even fewer seats then this current generation, which had fewer seats than the ballparks they replaced, and the generation after this is like to be just a couple of rings of luxury boxes with AI crowd noise. As per the story above they are planning the ballpark in Vegas with essentially no parking. And did it say the site was 7 acres? A baseball field is 4 before you even get to the stands.

Edited Friday at 03:51 AM by gehringer_2

[IdahoBert]

https://ktla.com/news/new-renderings-show-how-as-ballpark-would-transform-las-vegas-strip/amp/

“(The) parking garage would be 11 levels — nine above street level and two below — and is expected to provide 2,500 parking spaces.

Access to the site from the Las Vegas Strip is detailed in the proposal, which lists eight driveway entrances into the venue. Two of them would exist along Las Vegas Boulevard, three along Reno Avenue, and three along Tropicana Avenue. It also predicts pedestrian bridges would lead visitors to an entrance area.

Additionally, the paperwork states that event attendees would have “numerous travel options to attend an event, other than driving.” Those options include rideshares like Uber or Lyft, taxis, RTC transit, shuttle busses, limousines, walking paths, and the Las Vegas Loop, which is currently under continuous construction by Elon Musk’s Boring Company.”

[oblong]

7 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

https://ktla.com/news/new-renderings-show-how-as-ballpark-would-transform-las-vegas-strip/amp/

“(The) parking garage would be 11 levels — nine above street level and two below — and is expected to provide 2,500 parking spaces.

Access to the site from the Las Vegas Strip is detailed in the proposal, which lists eight driveway entrances into the venue. Two of them would exist along Las Vegas Boulevard, three along Reno Avenue, and three along Tropicana Avenue. It also predicts pedestrian bridges would lead visitors to an entrance area.

Additionally, the paperwork states that event attendees would have “numerous travel options to attend an event, other than driving.” Those options include rideshares like Uber or Lyft, taxis, RTC transit, shuttle busses, limousines, walking paths, and the Las Vegas Loop, which is currently under continuous construction by Elon Musk’s Boring Company.”

It's on the south end of the Strip, not far from where the Golden Knights play, frankly no need to go down that far if you are just hanging out in Vegas.   I haven't been in 5 years but it seems like they don't care about ****ing things up on the Strip anymore after two F1 races pretty much block everything as you walk.  

[Hongbit]

8 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

https://ktla.com/news/new-renderings-show-how-as-ballpark-would-transform-las-vegas-strip/amp/

“(The) parking garage would be 11 levels — nine above street level and two below — and is expected to provide 2,500 parking spaces.

Access to the site from the Las Vegas Strip is detailed in the proposal, which lists eight driveway entrances into the venue. Two of them would exist along Las Vegas Boulevard, three along Reno Avenue, and three along Tropicana Avenue. It also predicts pedestrian bridges would lead visitors to an entrance area.

Additionally, the paperwork states that event attendees would have “numerous travel options to attend an event, other than driving.” Those options include rideshares like Uber or Lyft, taxis, RTC transit, shuttle busses, limousines, walking paths, and the Las Vegas Loop, which is currently under continuous construction by Elon Musk’s Boring Company.”

30,000 capacity stadium in Las Vegas starting in 2028.  I don’t want to imagine what ticket prices will look like.   Get in price of $75?

[chasfh]

19 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

30,000 capacity stadium in Las Vegas starting in 2028.  I don’t want to imagine what ticket prices will look like.   Get in price of $75?

I can envision them planning for a lot of attendees being comped and transported there by the various casinos. Otherwise, I think you’re right, maybe $75 minimum to get in for standing room, and up from there if you want to rest your ass.

If that’s how it’s going to go, I’m thinking the A’s would become an America’s Team instead of a team for Vegas, and as such, I would expect ownership (backed by Baseball itself?) to compete for top talent and spend to get it, at least initially. Because there is nationwide gambling revenue to be made on a situation like this, and Baseball can’t afford to blow this once in a lifetime opportunity.

[oblong]

I'm not so sure on that though.... Casinos want you in the Casino.  Not away for 4 hours.  And gamblers may not want it.

But if they do a lot of day games it could be a nice break for people in the Vegas summers.  I enjoy going there, I don't gamble, but I'm not sure I would go to a game.  I can do that at home.  I'm weird like that.  I've been to minor league games when on vacation but those are more lowkey and casual.  When we travel I don't want to go to an MLB game.  I'd rather go see something else. 

 

[papalawrence]

There will likely be plenty of slot machines, roulette kiosks and blackjack tables at the stadium, next to the in-stadium brothel and burlesque stage

[HeyAbbott]

26 minutes ago, papalawrence said:

There will likely be plenty of slot machines, roulette kiosks and blackjack tables at the stadium, next to the in-stadium brothel and burlesque stage

How about those pole dancers between innings on the foul poles?

[theroundsquare]

if you guys think you're making this sound bad . . . 

[IdahoBert]

57 minutes ago, papalawrence said:

There will likely be plenty of slot machines, roulette kiosks and blackjack tables at the stadium, next to the in-stadium brothel and burlesque stage

[chasfh]

2 hours ago, oblong said:

I'm not so sure on that though.... Casinos want you in the Casino.  Not away for 4 hours.  And gamblers may not want it.

But if they do a lot of day games it could be a nice break for people in the Vegas summers.  I enjoy going there, I don't gamble, but I'm not sure I would go to a game.  I can do that at home.  I'm weird like that.  I've been to minor league games when on vacation but those are more lowkey and casual.  When we travel I don't want to go to an MLB game.  I'd rather go see something else. 

 

Perhaps casinos get a cut of the proceeds from their referrals to the ballpark, plus annual fees from Baseball. I would assume a ballgame in Vegas is going to be a gambling experience first. 

[oblong]

4 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Perhaps casinos get a cut of the proceeds from their referrals to the ballpark, plus annual fees from Baseball. I would assume a ballgame in Vegas is going to be a gambling experience first. 

believe it or not there's no physical betting infrastructure at T Mobile Arena where the Golden Knights play, even though the NHL has an offical betting partner.  Of course you can use the apps, just like you can at any baseball game today. But no slot machines there like there are at the airport and a random Denny's.

I'm not really arguing or disputing your points here... just thinking out loud as I type.  Back in 2018 we went there in March for something work related and looked into hockey tickets.  Sold out and resale market very expensive. 

[chasfh]

2 minutes ago, oblong said:

believe it or not there's no physical betting infrastructure at T Mobile Arena where the Golden Knights play, even though the NHL has an offical betting partner.  Of course you can use the apps, just like you can at any baseball game today. But no slot machines there like there are at the airport and a random Denny's.

I'm not really arguing or disputing your points here... just thinking out loud as I type.  Back in 2018 we went there in March for something work related and looked into hockey tickets.  Sold out and resale market very expensive. 

Not arguing against you either, but I could see Baseball and/or John Fisher going all in on physical betting structure at their new stadium. The one American sport with the worst betting scandal in history going all the way to the other extreme seems kind of on-brand for me with this leadership.

[chasfh]

Someone’s all in on Vegas.  

 

[1776]

https://www.mlb.com/news/farm-system-rankings-2025-preseason?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage
 

Tigers on top followed by the Rays. 

[IdahoBert]

45 minutes ago, 1776 said:

https://www.mlb.com/news/farm-system-rankings-2025-preseason?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage
 

Tigers on top followed by the Rays. 

I’m looking forward to a string of 6-0 victories the next few years. 

[1776]

New York Yankees starter Gerrit Cole will undergo diagnostic testing on his right elbow, according to a league source. 

[chasfh]

We won’t have a regular season thread for almost three weeks, so I’m posting this here:

 https://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2025/03/09/detroit-tigers-red-wings-to-air-15-games-on-local-tv-in-2025-full-schedule/82065628007/

Ten Tigers games running on channel 2.1, which is full circle for me, since when I first became a fan in 1969, the Tigers aired on channel 2, called by George Kell and Larry Osterman. 

It does make some business sense to move games to, or at least simulcast some games on, broadcast TV as well. If they place the local team behind a paywall such that no one can ever see them unless they pony up the bucks upfront, then how can they spur interest and create new fans for the game? Except through the gambling, of course, which has been Baseball’s growth strategy for a few years now, and the new people that brings in aren’t really fans of the game.

The White Sox will have all their games on broadcast TV here in Big Shoulders, too. Their new Chicago Sports Channel home simulcasts completely on channel 62.2, mainly because they don’t have clearance on Comcast as of yet. Make fun on the White Sox all you like—and we do like—but that won’t hurt their visibility. I wish the Cubs would follow suit with a few games back on GN, too. I would bet most teams will in the next few years.