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* This week is just flying by. What’s going on?…
posted by Isabel Miller
Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 7:41 am
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Good morning.
The Texas Rangers won the World Series.
How is this Illinois centric you may ask?
The Rangers ball club lost 90+ games the last two seasons, turning around to not only to get above .500, but won in a fashion where they went 11-0 on the road in the playoffs.
The Cubs and White Sox, it’s about changing the culture, the Rangers changed their GM, brought in a hall of fame manager (without ridiculous baggage or “owed” a chance) with a once in a generation winner/MVP comparable to Mr. October himself, Reggie Jackson.
These fan bases, Cubs and Sox, don’t let the franchise tell you rebuilds take Herculean tasks and glacial time frames.
I will miss baseball, terribly, until February.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 8:04 am
=How is this Illinois centric you may ask?=
They also had two former Sox players on the roster.
Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 8:35 am
Let’s not forget that WS winning manager Bruce Bochy was available in 2020 and the White Sox decided not to hire him.
Bochy had already won 2 WS titles. Instead the Sox hired Sleepy Tony LaRussa and now have Pedro Grifol, who had zero managerial experience.
The Sox hiring process is so bad maybe they’re using CMS…?
Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 8:49 am
TV ratings for the WS were abysmal and now it’s already over. Is it really a World Series if no one is watching?
Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 8:51 am
===TV ratings for the WS were abysmal===
The choices of the 80s in regional media, and unlike the NFL with “protect the shield” (league), MLB is a bunch of owners continually trying to “get theirs”
The Cubs creating a network versus MLB network driving the franchises, it’s obvious why MLB requires big market clubs with/or great ratings teams in their “Fall Classic”
MLB did all this to themselves, even with 162 games versus 17 games (once a week)
Yeah… Bouchy, Sox players on roster(s), failure of culture for both Chicago franchises
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 9:18 am
baseball is over. they keep changing the rules and no one cares. its especially worse when the two teams that make it don’t have strong followings across the country. rangers fans live in texas and diamond backs fans live in AZ. the dodgers, cubs, yankees, redsox, braves, are the only teams that are going to carry a broad audience for a WS.
lastly, in stead of watching game 5 last night I watched the bulls lose to dallas. I think that says more than we need to know. I moderate sports fan would rather watch the 6th game of the season for the terrible bulls than waste my time watching the rangers win a world series. nuff said.
Comment by MaddyMoon Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 9:37 am
Not to be left out, I’d also note that the Rangers were hefty on Former Cardinals that they either traded or let walk in the last few years, including pitcher Chris Stratton, pitcher Jordan Montgomery, pitching coach Mike Maddux, and (the one probably hurts the most) Adolis Garcia. And recent former Cardinals on the Diamondbacks included Tommy Pham (not upset by that one, really), and potential future Cy Young winner Zac Gallen.
Comment by fs Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 9:45 am
The Rangers won by dropping a ton of cash on free agents, pure and simple.
You can’t always buy a World Series (see Mets, New York) but the chances of winning one when Andrew Benintendi is your highest paid player are slim and none.
Comment by Roman Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 9:45 am
==You can’t always buy a World Series (see Mets, New York) but the chances of winning one when Andrew Benintendi is your highest paid player are slim and none.==
Compare his average salary with the highest average salary on the Diamondbacks.
If you excel at scouting and development, it’s doable.
Comment by fs Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 9:49 am
===The Rangers won by dropping a ton of cash on free agents, pure and simple.===
Crafting and building a ball club on the correct free agents (not guessing who are winners) and very good management in the clubhouse and bench, all doable.
A parallel is the Bears can’t (first) find a QB and (second) develop talent, in a QB or others.
Chemistry for 162 games, you’re on it, you can’t buy a roster that wins but you can spend where chemistry to win can build. These Chicago franchises lack (winners mentality) chemistry. Your 16” softball team can have chemistry to be friends and such, but to win, that’s different chemistry… and frankly both clubs want fans to buy into favorite players that win, not winners that can be a favorite player. Marketing dollars instead of baseball dollars?
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 9:54 am
== If you excel at scouting and development, it’s doable. ==
Agreed. Unfortunately, the White Sox actually do scouting and development even worse than they do free agency.
Comment by Roman Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 10:04 am
If I understood your point earlier OW, the baseball season is way too long. So is hockey. There would be more interest if games meant more…gee maybe even more tickets sold.
The Cubs are no marketing geniuses. Hey let’s make everyone pay to watch our games….
After we finally win a World Series after 100 years.
Comment by Jerry Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 10:13 am
===the baseball season is way too long. So is hockey===
The marketing of the NFL to their “once a week each team” spectacular, is a different animal than the other three, (including NBA)
The NBA tries to market globally (like the NHL) with so many foreign players, while MLB is late to this, only in recent years working Asian baseball, Latin baseball, but the NBA knows Americans need each and every night to be entertained, with the example of the NBA rule of arbitrarily sitting stars for games… that are also seen on TNT, TBS, etc.
The MLB model isn’t like the NBA, or even the NHL with long schedules. The NBA does it best by making a random February game “must see” with the league (not the teams) making a point of promotion to make a series like Bucks-Hornets seem important.
It started in the 80s, even the Cubs bought into the “get theirs” by following the Mets (WWOR) and Braves (TBS) back then to make the brand the “thing” no matter how the league could be.
It’s fascinating stuff, it’s just when watching a club like the Rangers, watching a great many of their west coast games, Chicago franchises lack.
Hope that helps, micro and macro, to my thoughts.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 10:24 am
Glad to see Texas win.
As to the rest, I’m ignoring politics today and making a trip to the Chicago suburbs to pick up some classic cars parts … just so I have spares in case something breaks. And we’ll hit a few antique stores in Wilmington on the way.
Comment by RNUG Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 10:38 am
==the baseball season is way too long. So is hockey. There would be more interest if games meant more…gee maybe even more tickets sold.==
Eh, in stadium attendance is only a sporadic problem for MLB.
In general, MLB is still making plenty of money, and most of the things that people say it needs to change don’t actually know where baseball’s bread is buttered.
Comment by Arsenal Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 10:51 am
===don’t actually know where baseball’s bread is buttered.===
TV/Media revenue and rights.
The popularity and growth are a different prong because the TV/Media presentation *as a league* is not the business model, the model is each team maximizing media rights, tickets, local corporate partners and sponsors and fandom.
The NFL makes the case that the Saints playing the Bills is as important as any matchup in the season. It’s a socialism driven league, lol
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 10:56 am
The playoffs were hard to find and hard to watch on the various channels and having the right subscriptions. Luckily, we had them and watched some great playoffs. But some of my family and friends did not and by the time the World Series came around, they had forgotten about baseball.
Also, I big key to the success was the handling of Bochy by the GM. He was completely hands-off and trusting of his manager even when they slumped in September. To make it Illinois-centric, faith/trust and Illinois sports seems dichotomous.
Comment by Lurker Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 11:02 am
=A parallel is the Bears can’t (first) find a QB and (second) develop talent, in a QB or others.=
And let’s not forget that the head coach is also now the defensive coordinator while the HR department is escorting the running backs coach out of Halas Hall.
Comment by Pundent Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 11:21 am
Non baseball related…..
Day 9 of no internet at my home due to my internet providers inability or lack of desire to send a relacement router.
Day 8 of no reliable cell phone/data service due to…..well,the reason/excuse depends on which customer service rep I talk to.
Comment by btowntruthfromforgottonia Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 11:49 am
Baseball down. can’t wait til NFL is over. well, it sorta is, for Chicago.
Comment by Amalia Thursday, Nov 2, 23 @ 12:20 pm