The MLB Thread

K8teebug wrote:
Seattle is a great stadium!

it really is. the first word that comes to my mind is fancy. nice restaurants, great beer, fire pits and couches, wine bars, etc.. i'll probably catch a lot of games there since i'm living a short bikeride away now, and i hope they continue to kind of suck so i can keep getting $10 tickets.

Carlos wrote:
i got this picture sent to me last night at safeco…

Gorgeous view!  Is that Oakland across the water there?

vansmack wrote:

Carlos wrote:
i got this picture sent to me last night at safeco…

Gorgeous view!  Is that Oakland across the water there?

didn't even notice the view, i was fixated on all that sexy laundry.

Carlos wrote:
didn't even notice the view, i was fixated on all that sexy laundry.

I, too, thought was a nice, artistic addition.

Tigers gave up an unearned run. Ugh.  ;)

vansmack wrote:

Carlos wrote:
didn't even notice the view, i was fixated on all that sexy laundry.

I, too, thought was a nice, artistic addition.

You forgot to log into the Walkie account.

love pedro joining mlb network…

last night though was pretty ridiculous…. harold reynolds and billy ripken pretending to play baseball just went on and on and on…i have no interest in seeing guys in suits playing wiffleball….

i guess i make an exception for pedro

Hutch wrote:
last night though was pretty ridiculous….

MLB.TV is not the same as the MLB Network.

vansmack wrote:

Hutch wrote:
last night though was pretty ridiculous….

MLB.TV is not the same as the MLB Network.

yup

what are the chances of mlb.tv doing away with its blackout restrictions eventually?

id love to subscribe, and id easily get my moneys worth, but if i cant watch nats game its ultimately pointless for me. shame, cuz i played around with it on the last day of the season last year and loved it. id watch more than just the nats but im not gonna throw down $130 just to have to get my nats fix elsewhere

i know this gets into rights issues that are way over my head, just curious if theres ever been talk of easing blackout restrictions

on a related note, id been using this tunein radio app on my phone to stream day games at work the last few seasons with no problems, but every game ive tried to listen to this year, save for opening day, hasnt been available. most of them i cant hear at all (im mainly trying dc's espn station, but ive tried opposing teams radio networks too, with no success), but one of them cut off after a few innings and never came back. any idea what the deal is there?

gaaaaaaaaah wrote:
what are the chances of mlb.tv doing away with its blackout restrictions eventually?

Virtually nil. MLB's bread is buttered by its massive TV deals with local broadcast partners, not what it gets from those of us who buy MLB.tv. Removing blackout restrictions quite literally lowers ratings and therefore what its TV deals are worth.

That said, you should be able to run mlb.tv through a proxy server to spoof being in another part of the country.

Julian, wrote:

gaaaaaaaaah wrote:
what are the chances of mlb.tv doing away with its blackout restrictions eventually?

Virtually nil. MLB's bread is buttered by its massive TV deals with local broadcast partners, not what it gets from those of us who buy MLB.tv. Removing blackout restrictions quite literally lowers ratings and therefore what its TV deals are worth.

That said, you should be able to run mlb.tv through a proxy server to spoof being in another part of the country.

mlb.tv was 9% revenue last year (according to vansmacks fancy economist article) and most definitely growing as everyone who lives in the 21st century continues to convert over to streaming services. 

i wouldn't say virtually nil, i could see a situation where you pay extra to avoid blackout dates.

it's a big problem for me when it comes to playoffs.  had to resort to other streams to get the games.

and workarounds (running through proxys) are pretty simple.  i'll probably wait until midseason discount to buy mlb.tv this year, unless a friend decides they want to split it with me.

Carlos wrote:mlb.tv was 9% revenue last year

i wouldn't say virtually nil, i could see a situation where you pay extra to avoid blackout dates.

Just a quick clarification - MLBAM, not MLB.TV was 9% of MLB's central office revenue.  That includes all the money they make from streaming ESPN, HBO, PlayStation, WWE, etc. among a handful of others that they handle streaming for.  This means it's becoming a larger chunk of revenue MLB negotiates, but it's not even close to eclipsing the national broadcast revenue (Fox Saturday, ESPN Mon/Wed night baseball, and the playoffs.

The local TV revenue is negotiated and kept by the team (save for MLB's revenue sharing plan, which I don't need to explain here).  That combined is far larger than the MLB National Broadcast dollars.  There is no way local broadcasters are going to give up those rights for streaming.  You may see the National Broadcasts come to MLB.TV someday and maybe those blackouts removed as MLB controls that (though Fox will want to have a say), but the local blackout of of your home team is here to stay for the duration of at least your local TV deal, so don't hold your breath.

vansmack wrote:

Carlos wrote:mlb.tv was 9% revenue last year

i wouldn't say virtually nil, i could see a situation where you pay extra to avoid blackout dates.

Just a quick clarification - MLBAM, not MLB.TV was 9% of MLB's central office revenue.  That includes all the money they make from streaming ESPN, HBO, PlayStation, WWE, etc. among a handful of others that they handle streaming for.  This means it's becoming a larger chunk of revenue MLB negotiates, but it's not even close to eclipsing the national broadcast revenue (Fox Saturday, ESPN Mon/Wed night baseball, and the playoffs.

The local TV revenue is negotiated and kept by the team (save for MLB's revenue sharing plan, which I don't need to explain here).  That combined is far larger than the MLB National Broadcast dollars.  There is no way local broadcasters are going to give up those rights for streaming.  You may see the National Broadcasts come to MLB.TV someday and maybe those blackouts removed as MLB controls that (though Fox will want to have a say), but the local blackout of of your home team is here to stay for the duration of at least your local TV deal, so don't hold your breath.

ah, that makes more sense.

My thoughts that the Tigers were going to be extremely mediocre may have been misguided. If Greene continues to look this good and Simon this competent to shore up the rotation, and you add that lineup (that can actually run and play defense for once) . . . look out.

You can't earn a playoff spot in April, you can only lose one.

Julian, wrote:
My thoughts that the Tigers were going to be extremely mediocre may have been misguided. If Greene continues to look this good and Simon this competent to shore up the rotation, and you add that lineup (that can actually run and play defense for once) . . . look out.

do i want to pick up greene in my fantasy league or is he gonna give up 12 runs next start?

Carlos wrote:
do i want to pick up greene in my fantasy league or is he gonna give up 12 runs next start?

I have no idea about any of that fantasy junk. I don't think he's going to throw shutouts every start, obviously. He has impressed so far this season.