How to lose a fan in four months...

[VariousCrap]

30 minutes ago, yk9001 said:

The only way I'd believe the paid attendance numbers less is if Donald Trump tweeted them.

It is paid attendance numbers, but that includes places like 714 Tickets that buys a ton of tickets from the Angels to sell and they end up getting stuck with them because nobody wants to go to the games.  So those count as sold tickets, but they really were never sold to fans.

[Mark PT]

I know baseball purists are going to hate me for this (even though I am one) but I think that baseball would do better by expanding playoffs. The world Series has done very well for several years now and teams lose attendance when their season is over by June. My idea is to eliminate the entire month of Sept and use to to expand the playoffs. I know the history of continuity will be disrupted but interest in baseball will be better served. We will also have more opportunity to see Kershaw get hammered. 

[Jay]

7 minutes ago, VariousCrap said:

It is paid attendance numbers, but that includes places like 714 Tickets that buys a ton of tickets from the Angels to sell and they end up getting stuck with them because nobody wants to go to the games.  So those count as sold tickets, but they really were never sold to fans.

That's really stretching the definition of "attendance."

[Justin]

2 minutes ago, Mark PT said:

I know baseball purists are going to hate me for this

I don't hate you at all. I just hate that idea. (Except for the part about seeing Kershaw lose more games.)  

[floplag]

30 minutes ago, Mark PT said:

I know baseball purists are going to hate me for this (even though I am one) but I think that baseball would do better by expanding playoffs. The world Series has done very well for several years now and teams lose attendance when their season is over by June. My idea is to eliminate the entire month of Sept and use to to expand the playoffs. I know the history of continuity will be disrupted but interest in baseball will be better served. We will also have more opportunity to see Kershaw get hammered. 

The only expansion i would consider personally is making the WC series a best of three.   Nothing else is needed and it automatically makes the path for the WC MUCH harder as it should be. 

[Mark PT]

35 minutes ago, SoPas Angel said:

I don't hate you at all. I just hate that idea. (Except for the part about seeing Kershaw lose more games.)  

But explain why. Not the Kershaw thing

[Mark PT]

13 minutes ago, floplag said:

The only expansion i would consider personally is making the WC series a best of three.   Nothing else is needed and it automatically makes the path for the WC MUCH harder as it should be. 

I dont think making the WS best of three is good at all. Baseball cant determine the best team in three games due to game itself. I said I am a purest and still would prefer a long season with only two leagues but my opinion was based on what most Americans seem to want (not what I prefer)

[floplag]

Just now, Mark PT said:

I dont think making the WS best of three is good at all. Baseball cant determine the best team in three games due to game itself. I said I am a purest and still would prefer a long season with only two leagues but my opinion was based on what most Americans seem to want (not what I prefer)

WC, as in Wild Card, not WC World Series 

[Justin]

8 minutes ago, Mark PT said:

But explain why. Not the Kershaw thing

Because I don't care about teams' losing attendance or half the teams being out of the race. They SHOULD lose attendance. They didn't put together a good team.

I care about the marathon of the regular season. That's the beauty of baseball: it should reward teams who are great over the course of a 162-game season. In my opinion, it should immediately place them in the World Series. Great teams over the course of an entire season (like the Dodgers) should not be upset in the postseason by a team who got hot in June (like the Nationals). Even though it made me happy, I fully admit it should not be done. Like when I let my dog lick peanut butter... actually, never mind.

Would I feel this strongly about the matter if the Angels didn't have the best record in all of baseball twice in the last 11 years only to be upset in the first round? I don't know. Probably not. But the more the playoffs are expanded, the less the regular season matters.

The NBA has become two separate seasons: 1) The regular season, which has become so unimportant that Kawhi Leonard has no problem sitting out 25% of his team's games even though he's healthy. And 2) The playoffs. Which are great, but come at the expense of the regular season. Literally more than half the teams get in. Who gives a shit if the Lakers go on a 10-game losing streak? They're still going to make the playoffs. The regular season means almost nothing. 

Reducing the regular MLB season and increasing the playoffs will make the playoffs more exciting, and Millennials who have the attention span of houseflies might like it more because they don't have to worry when their favorite team loses a random game on a Monday night in May. They can shrug and say "Oh well. We're still going to make the postseason as the #6 seed when the playoffs start Labor Day Weekend."

It will be like the NBA regular season. And I am going to hate any proposal that makes MLB more like the NBA.

[Tank]

3 hours ago, True Grich said:

Great article from Baseball America:

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/sheehan-how-to-lose-a-fan-in-four-months/

Teams that announced they were "tanking" saw attendance drop...

Those that made moves in the off season like Philadelphia, SD, Minnesota, and Cincinnati saw attendance rise...

"Colorado has averaged nearly 3 million fans a game over the last three years. To alienate the local market before the offseason even gets started is self-defeating."

man, i had no idea their ballpark was so big!

[TroutField]

14 minutes ago, SoPas Angel said:

Because I don't care about teams' losing attendance or half the teams being out of the race. They SHOULD lose attendance. They didn't put together a good team.

I care about the marathon of the regular season. That's the beauty of baseball: it should reward teams who are great over the course of a 162-game season. In my opinion, it should immediately place them in the World Series. Great teams over the course of an entire season (like the Dodgers) should not be upset in the postseason by a team who got hot in June (like the Nationals). Even though it made me happy, I fully admit it should not be done. Like when I let my dog lick peanut butter... actually, never mind.

Would I feel this strongly about the matter if the Angels didn't have the best record in all of baseball twice in the last 11 years only to be upset in the first round? I don't know. Probably not. But the more the playoffs are expanded, the less the regular season matters.

The NBA has become two separate seasons: 1) The regular season, which has become so unimportant that Kawhi Leonard has no problem sitting out 25% of his team's games even though he's healthy. And 2) The playoffs. Which are great, but come at the expense of the regular season. Literally more than half the teams get in. Who gives a shit if the Lakers go on a 10-game losing streak? They're still going to make the playoffs. The regular season means almost nothing. 

Reducing the regular MLB season and increasing the playoffs will make the playoffs more exciting, and Millennials who have the attention span of houseflies might like it more because they don't have to worry when their favorite team loses a random game on a Monday night in May. They can shrug and say "Oh well. We're still going to make the postseason as the #6 seed when the playoffs start Labor Day Weekend."

It will be like the NBA regular season. And I am going to hate any proposal that makes MLB more like the NBA.

That’s what makes the postseason so fun... The dodgers couldn’t beat the wild card team. Sucks for them. 
 

yeah it sucked to get knocked out in the first round every year by the Sox in 07 and 08 but hey that’s baseball. You need to execute in a 5 or 7 game series when it counts. 

[yk9001]

Nobody in their right mind thinks the NBA regular season is any good.

Its a 3 month league, April - June. with an October-March pre season

That said, the baseball season is way too frigging long.  By more than one month.

[Justin]

2 minutes ago, TroutField said:

That’s what makes the postseason so fun... The dodgers couldn’t beat the wild card team. Sucks for them. 

yeah it sucked to get knocked out in the first round every year by the Sox in 07 and 08 but hey that’s baseball. You need to execute in a 5 or 7 game series when it counts. 

That's certainly a valid opinion. Some people prefer the excitement of the postseason to the grind of the regular season. I do not. 

[ukyah]

3 hours ago, True Grich said:

BTW... I hate the A's.

hard team to hate.

[T.G.]

Just now, ukyah said:

hard team to hate.

My first post on my  True Grich blog was about how I hated the A's...

It's not that hard.

[yk9001]

If you followed him on his blog.....

[T.G.]

3 hours ago, SoPas Angel said:

I hate their stupid white shoes.

Yeah... those went out of style when Lost in Space went off the air.

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

3 hours ago, floplag said:

Dont get me started please... suffice to say i think moneyball has damage the game more than its helped it.

Matt Chapman and Matt Olson are both eligible for arbitration next year. I wonder if they will be traded next offseason. It seems to be a pattern of the A's...

[Mark PT]

1 hour ago, SoPas Angel said:

Because I don't care about teams' losing attendance or half the teams being out of the race. They SHOULD lose attendance. They didn't put together a good team.

I care about the marathon of the regular season. That's the beauty of baseball: it should reward teams who are great over the course of a 162-game season. In my opinion, it should immediately place them in the World Series. Great teams over the course of an entire season (like the Dodgers) should not be upset in the postseason by a team who got hot in June (like the Nationals). Even though it made me happy, I fully admit it should not be done. Like when I let my dog lick peanut butter... actually, never mind.

Would I feel this strongly about the matter if the Angels didn't have the best record in all of baseball twice in the last 11 years only to be upset in the first round? I don't know. Probably not. But the more the playoffs are expanded, the less the regular season matters.

The NBA has become two separate seasons: 1) The regular season, which has become so unimportant that Kawhi Leonard has no problem sitting out 25% of his team's games even though he's healthy. And 2) The playoffs. Which are great, but come at the expense of the regular season. Literally more than half the teams get in. Who gives a shit if the Lakers go on a 10-game losing streak? They're still going to make the playoffs. The regular season means almost nothing. 

Reducing the regular MLB season and increasing the playoffs will make the playoffs more exciting, and Millennials who have the attention span of houseflies might like it more because they don't have to worry when their favorite team loses a random game on a Monday night in May. They can shrug and say "Oh well. We're still going to make the postseason as the #6 seed when the playoffs start Labor Day Weekend."

It will be like the NBA regular season. And I am going to hate any proposal that makes MLB more like the NBA.

You are preaching to the choir, I agree. We are purists. I was referring to the problem of attendance and how they could increase ratings. My reasons are that the continuity of history will be lost but baseball needs to do something to increase ratings to get younger people interested. This does lead to better, more talented baseball in the future. 

[floplag]

13 minutes ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

Matt Chapman and Matt Olson are both eligible for arbitration next year. I wonder if they will be traded next offseason. It seems to be a pattern of the A's...

Perhaps, likely in fact since thats what they do.

[Mark PT]

1 minute ago, RBM said:

Do you think the Millenials would like this idea? Instead of playing extra innings all games tied up after 9 innings are settled by a one round HR Derby - each team chooses three players.

Its possible but they would probably prefer to just cal it a tie and present trophies to both teams.

[UndertheHalo]

Maybe the principal problem with a lot of these teams is that they don’t actually try to win and they walk their star players all the time.  Being a sports fan is about following your team chase success.  If your team doesn’t give a fu*ck about that, well good luck cultivating a fan base that cares about it.  Good luck getting people to shell out stupid money for a goddamn wiener and a beer. 
 

reducing the number of games or changing extra innings isn’t going to fix the Pirates or the Marlins.  Then you have teams like Tampa Bay and Oakland who are competitive in intermittent windows but who have situations where the stadium experience is absolute dog shit.  Also, see the point about getting rid of the players fans love. 
 

there’s nothing wrong with baseball.  There’s dog shit owners and teams. 

Edited November 7, 2019 by UndertheHalo

[Docwaukee]

11 minutes ago, Mark PT said:

Its possible but they would probably prefer to just cal it a tie and present trophies to both teams.

they'd rather watch a recreation of the trophy ceremony only on tic toc sped up so it's only 20 seconds and set to a Billy Eilish remix.  

[UndertheHalo]

1 minute ago, Dochalo said:

they'd rather watch a recreation of the trophy ceremony only on tic toc sped up so it's only 20 seconds and set to a Billy Eilish remix.  

Billy Eillish isn’t a millennial thing.  

[Docwaukee]

7 minutes ago, UndertheHalo said:

Billy Eillish isn’t a millennial thing.  

millennial, centennial whatever.  the attention span for baseball is toast.