All series talk goes in here. Non series talk goes somewhere else. No PBP, that can be found from other sources if you need it. All games are broadcast on AT&T Sports SW unless otherwise noted. 4-7 Framber Valdez (L) vs. Shohei Ohtani (R) 9:07 4-8 Jake Odorizzi (R) vs. Patrick Sandoval (L) 8:38 Apple TV+ only 4-9 Justin Verlander (R) vs. Noah Syndergaard (R) 8:07 4-10 Jose Urquidy (R) vs. Jose Suarez (L) 3:07
That's a shame. Baseball needs to try and optimize this time of year. Pre-NBA playoffs. No football. Opening weekend momentum. They've definitely made rapid headway in the streaming venues with Apple TV+, Peacock, Youtube... now they need to showcase the best of the best each/every opportunity they can.
From a revenue perspective, they have to balance new opportunities (streaming, traditional national outlets) without taking away too many games from local broadcasts. I haven't looked at the current contracts to know enough to really have an opinion.
Agreed... which is why baseball has never been more of a locally followed sport than it is now. The NBA went through a similar transition in the 90's when national cable TV games started being shown during the week (to complement the usual national broadcasts on the weekends). They would black out the national feed of the game in the local markets so that viewers would still have to go there to watch.... but the rest of the country got to see those teams. Now they've re-structure local TV deals to allow the national feeds (and occasionally they're simul-casted). Ultimately, baseball should embrace easier access to its games... eliminate blackout restrictions, options to pay on demand, and promotion promotion promotion of the marquee pitching matchups and marquee teams.
3 world series and 5 AL championship games since I started posting this in the first thread of the year. Not gonna stop now. Back when we used to dream of being in title games, either Nick or Langhi had a thread(2013 ish/2014 ish) on what type of team would you want to be, the Braves who won 1 world series in the 90s but were dominant or the Marlins who have 2 but were never heard from again. Not gunna lie, I don't want to lose another one! Can the baseball gods send a team from the NL that doesn't catch lightning in a tea cup?
