206 replies to this topic

[BSLChrisStoner]

CBS Sports: MLB may be considering expansion and realignment; here's what it should look like

https://www.cbssport...ould-look-like/

[BSLMikeLowe]

Oregon Live: Portland Diamond Project with strong liftoff for Major League Baseball to Portland

 

Lot of chatter about this out here over the past couple days. Sounds as if there is expected to be some sort of official announcement this week introducing the group that will try to bring MLB here. Also sounds like the more immediate focus might be as a relocation spot for the A's rather than an expansion team. And other than the $150 million in bonds that was already approved in 2003 when they tried to get the Expos, there will be no public money requested to build a facility (color me skeptical on that, since these things run close to a billion nowadays).

[BSLChrisStoner]

@BizballMaury 3m3 minutes ago

Group Makes Offers For Property To Build MLB Ballpark In Portland; Now Comes The Tricky Part via @SportsMoneyBlog

https://www.forbes.c...J7#6184e04f1818

[Pedro Cerrano]

Put a team in Portland and Montreal if you want to expand

 

And then realign.  

 

Get us the hell out of the AL East. 

[bnickle]

Put a team in Portland and Montreal if you want to expand

And then realign.

Get us the hell out of the AL East.

Agreed.

[Mike in STL]

Put a team in Portland and Montreal if you want to expand

 

And then realign.  

 

Get us the hell out of the AL East. 

What if they realign and the O's end up with NYY, BOS, WASH, Philly? It would take Bill Gates buying the O's in order to compete.

[BSLChrisStoner]

BSL: http://baltimorespor...t-orioles-fans/

 

Impact on O's:
http://www.baltimore...?hl=realignment

[BSLChrisStoner]

CBS Sports: Mexico and Montreal are possible expansion locations as MLB commissioner 'would like to get to 32' teams
https://www.cbssport...et-to-32-teams/

[BSLChrisStoner]

The Athletic: Stark: It’s time to shorten the MLB schedule. Here’s how it could work
https://theathletic....-it-could-work/

[RShack]

Pay wall.... what's it say.... hope he doesn't want it to get NBA-like and NFL-like with even more undeserving teams in the playoffs...

[Nigel Tufnel]

I just skimmed it, but It basically looks like he's proposing going back to the 154 game schedule, with every Monday off, and ticket/concession prices increasing by 5%.

[BSLChrisStoner]

ESPN: Jim Kaat says 7-inning games would enhance pitching staffs, bring in new fans
http://www.espn.com/...t-improve-sport

[Russ]

I consider myself a traditionalist but the 7 inning game interests me.

[bnickle]

Absolutely not to 7 innings. Im down for shortening the schedule though. 162 games is pretty crazy

[BSLMikeLowe]

Absolutely not to 7 innings. Im down for shortening the schedule though. 162 games is pretty crazy

 

+1

[Mike in STL]

Shorter schedule, and schedule double headers again. Hard pass on 7 innings. 

 

I don't know what the goal is for pace of play. 2.5 hour games? In 2016 they averaged 3 hours for 9 inning games. It rose to 3 hours 5 minutes in 2017. It's currently a 3 hour average so far in 2018. With pitch clocks, some kind of rule on batters in the box, and limited mound visits.

 

Robo ump for balls and strikes first. then we'll see how long games take when everyone knows exactly where the strike zone is. Perhaps then the zone can be expanded to promote more swings at pitches, more balls in play, quicker outs, SPs easily going 7 innings in under 100 pitches. 

 

40 years ago, 1978, Games averaged 2 hours 30 minutes. Pitcher per plate appearance stats only goes back so many years, but based on the trends of the numbers, in 1978 you could guess the average was 268 pitches thrown per game. In 2018 that number is 301 per game. 33 pitches x say 20 seconds per pitch = 11 extra minutes. I'd guarantee MLB probably squeezed in an extra 30 seconds of ad space between innings, 16. 17 times. Another 8 minutes there. 2 minutes for the mid inning pitching changes. Probably another 4 minutes there that were less prominent 40 years ago. 

 

So that's what,  23 minutes that you cant do anything about other than less ad space (yeah right) or promote more efficient pitching with robo umps. 

[RShack]

ESPN: Jim Kaat says 7-inning games would enhance pitching staffs, bring in new fans
http://www.espn.com/...t-improve-sport

 

He just wants SP's to look less pathetic... he's from an era when CG's were normal, so evidently he wants to see some hope of that again...

 

He was a very good P, but he's a lousy baseball planner....

[BSLChrisStoner]

Agree with him or not; that kind of minimizes his overall points I think.

[RShack]

Agree with him or not; that kind of minimizes his overall points I think.

 

I don't think his points have merit....

[SportsGuy]

Every sports regular season should be shorter...except the NFL.