MLB 2016 Season

Jayhawker wrote:

True. Baseball has been dying for longer than PC gaming.

I read a bit more about it yesterday, and it's interesting from a lot of angles. There are so many societal trends influencing sports attendance and viewing. TV viewership for youth is down in general, with kids opting to do other things than sit down and watch TV for several hours.

MLB has done a great job of realizing this and uses both YouTube and their successful MLB app to spread baseball in bite-size chunks. Kids who aren't watching an all star game for three hours will watch the 5-minute highlight version on YouTube.

And then there are the bigger societal trends influencing baseball. Things like significantly declining participation in Little League baseball. (But youth sports participation is dropping for all sports because of specialization, so maybe the kids who stick with baseball will more likely develop into lifelong fans?)

The aging fanbase does seem to present a problem for baseball, though. The median age is increasing steadily, which seems to indicate that when a fan dies off, they aren't getting replaced with young fans. The 50+ demographic has time and money, so that can create a false sense of security, but it'll be interesting to see what it looks like in 20 years.

Are you new to baseball? This really isn't all that new. Your next research project can be the decline of black baseball players and its effect on the game.

After that you can research the decline of baseball video games.

Or, you know, you could just enjoy the game regardless of who's watching and it trajectory of popularity.

Jayhawker wrote:

Are you new to baseball? This really isn't all that new. Your next research project can be the decline of black baseball players and its effect on the game.

After that you can research the decline of baseball video games.

Or, you know, you could just enjoy the game regardless of who's watching and it trajectory of popularity.

Friendly thread. See ya.

Thanks for being a jerk, Jayhawker.

So apparently White Sox pitcher Chris Sale was sent home on the day he was going to start due to a club house incident that allegedly involved him hating the throw back uniforms and cutting them up so no one could wear them.

What a weird night in MLB: Cubs/Pirates game ends in a tie and then the wild finish in St. Louis on Yadi's double.

Hey Rat Boy. How ya been?

Highlander wrote:

What a weird night in MLB: Cubs/Pirates game ends in a tie and then the wild finish in St. Louis on Yadi's double.

Hey Rat Boy. How ya been?

Oh, the usual. Waiting for the Giants to get in and get cracking.

Rat Boy wrote:

Oh, the usual. Waiting for the Giants to get in and get cracking.

I would say good luck, but your Giants are in my and Jayhawker's Cardinals way.

That really couldn't have been a better game (outside of Jose being able to pitch it, and maybe some other team taking the loss).

Congrats, Rat Boy. The Cards forced the Giants sweep, and they freaking did it. And I'm sure the Dodgers would have loved to keep you out of the playoffs. Nice sweep.

The Blue Jays nearly gave me a heart attack but they managed to take 2/3 from the Red Sox and guarantee a Wild Card game.

Yeah, I may have to check myself into a hospital for severe anxiety if the progression of stress levels from playoff run to playoff run continues for the Giants.

Good luck Rat Boy, I'm hoping somehow our Triple A team can make it past you.

Well that was a game. I'm glad the Orioles didn't have a dominant reliever left in the pen to face the heart of the Blue Jays order.

Roke wrote:

Well that was a game. I'm glad the Orioles didn't have a dominant reliever left in the pen to face the heart of the Blue Jays order.

As soon as I saw it was Jimenez coming out and instead of Britton, I got the biggest grin on my face.

Now we get the Jose Bautista-Rougned Odor rematch the world deserves.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/RbeB5Cc.gif)

Accurate.

It's a good thing Boston gets a day off tomorrow because 8 innings out of their starters ain't great.

That said... F 'em.

And my pity for Price's playoff woes does not extend to beating Cleveland.

I missed playoff baseball so much. I even caught both Toronto/Texas games. Even the laugher last night.

I was a Blue Jays fan as a kid but stopped watching as a teenager when it started to feel like there was little chance of any team but the Yankees ever winning. Started watching again around 2012. This last two years have been A LOT of fun.

I keep seeing all these odd camera angles FS1 keeps choosing as the game goes on and I can't help but think it'd be impossible to play a baseball video game if that kept happening.

I'm amazed at how bad FS1 and TBS are at these games.

I would have preferred a Bautista walk-off but I guess an Odor error walk-off is the 2nd-best way to win.

Rangers bullpen was great tonight but maybe they should have used their closer at some point.

Roke wrote:

I would have preferred a Bautista walk-off but I guess an Odor error walk-off is the 2nd-best way to win.

Rangers bullpen was great tonight but maybe they should have used their closer at some point.

This becoming a hilarious theme.

GD, Texas. Just take 1.

Bah.

Vector wrote:
Roke wrote:

I would have preferred a Bautista walk-off but I guess an Odor error walk-off is the 2nd-best way to win.

Rangers bullpen was great tonight but maybe they should have used their closer at some point.

This becoming a hilarious theme.

It's a glorious sequence of events.

If you watch each individual catch/throw they just get progressively worst.

Defense matters.

ALCS!!!!!!!!

Panik time!