MLB 2024 Season

[WhiteTrash]

From Yahoo Sports:

The Athletics are averaging 6,410 fans per home game this season, which is on pace to be the lowest average home attendance for an MLB team since… the Athletics in 1979.

‌Mind-blowing stat: 553 professional and college teams in the U.S. are averaging more fans than the 2024 A's, per Sportico.

‌Included in that list: 18 minor league hockey teams, 13 minor league baseball teams, 12 NWSL teams, 12 NCAA baseball teams, eight NLL teams (indoor lacrosse), seven WNBA teams, seven USL Championship teams (one tier below MLS), six D-II football teams, three Indoor Football League teams, two D-III football teams, and one women's volleyball team (shoutout to the Omaha Supernovas!).

White Sox fans should take note and learn.

[dgies9156]

Somebody, please shoot Cardinal Manager Ollie Marmol!

Don't fire him! Shoot him!

OK, I'm only kidding but I am so disgusted at the St. Louis Cardinals that I'm on the verge of softening my hatred for the Chicago Cubs.

Case in point: Cardinal Catcher Wilson Contreras was told to crowd the plate as he was catching so the Cardinals could get more breaks on breaking balls from umpires. Contreras does as he is told and lo and behold, the hitter for the New York Mets clobbers his arm . Contreras is out for six weeks and had surgery to repair a broken arm. To add insult to injury, Contreras was charged with catcher's interference and the batter awarded first base.

That, coupled with the Cardinals hitting about .036 as a team and losing two of the three to the White Sox and on the verge of being swept by the ever loving New York Mets and its time to do something drastic. This season is probably lost but if the Cardinals don't do something soon, attendance at Busch Stadium will look like such baseball mad places as Oakland, Miami or Kansas City.

Bye Ollie -- go back to the A leagues where you might learn some baseball. Take Molizak with you! PLEASE!!!!!!
   

[Pakuni]

Somebody, please shoot Cardinal Manager Ollie Marmol!

Don't fire him! Shoot him!

OK, I'm only kidding but I am so disgusted at the St. Louis Cardinals that I'm on the verge of softening my hatred for the Chicago Cubs.

Case in point: Cardinal Catcher Wilson Contreras was told to crowd the plate as he was catching so the Cardinals could get more breaks on breaking balls from umpires. Contreras does as he is told and lo and behold, the hitter for the New York Mets clobbers his arm . Contreras is out for six weeks and had surgery to repair a broken arm. To add insult to injury, Contreras was charged with catcher's interference and the batter awarded first base.

That, coupled with the Cardinals hitting about .036 as a team and losing two of the three to the White Sox and on the verge of being swept by the ever loving New York Mets and its time to do something drastic. This season is probably lost but if the Cardinals don't do something soon, attendance at Busch Stadium will look like such baseball mad places as Oakland, Miami or Kansas City.

Bye Ollie -- go back to the A leagues where you might learn some baseball. Take Molizak with you! PLEASE!!!!!!
 

It's not just an Ollie thing. All catchers are doing this.

https://apnews.com/article/mlb-catcher-interference-c3a9d32dab7ea8503dd0f95b935ba109

[cheebs09]

Somebody, please shoot Cardinal Manager Ollie Marmol!

Don't fire him! Shoot him!

OK, I'm only kidding but I am so disgusted at the St. Louis Cardinals that I'm on the verge of softening my hatred for the Chicago Cubs.

Case in point: Cardinal Catcher Wilson Contreras was told to crowd the plate as he was catching so the Cardinals could get more breaks on breaking balls from umpires. Contreras does as he is told and lo and behold, the hitter for the New York Mets clobbers his arm . Contreras is out for six weeks and had surgery to repair a broken arm. To add insult to injury, Contreras was charged with catcher's interference and the batter awarded first base.

That, coupled with the Cardinals hitting about .036 as a team and losing two of the three to the White Sox and on the verge of being swept by the ever loving New York Mets and its time to do something drastic. This season is probably lost but if the Cardinals don't do something soon, attendance at Busch Stadium will look like such baseball mad places as Oakland, Miami or Kansas City.

Bye Ollie -- go back to the A leagues where you might learn some baseball. Take Molizak with you! PLEASE!!!!!!
 

Best Fans in Baseball

[TSmith34, Inc.]

This season is probably lost but if the Cardinals don't do something soon, attendance at Busch Stadium will look like such baseball mad places as Oakland, Miami or Kansas City.
 

So St. Louis has mostly fair-weather fans then?

[dgies9156]

So St. Louis has mostly fair-weather fans then?

Hardly!

Cardinal fans have expectations. We definitely support mediocre teams and teams that aren't very good -- as long as they try!

Going into this year, we all rather thought that ownership wasn't trying. The lack of either developing or acquiring a number one starter was a huge problem. As was the age of our starting pitching staff. By July, we expect our pitchers to be the crapola standard for baseball because older pitchers not named Nolan Ryan wear out as the season wears on.

Then there is Oli. If there's a bigger bonehead baseball manager than Oli, I don't know who it is. This guy has his head so far up his backside, it's coming out his mouth. If there's a wrong way to do things, Oli pioneered it.

So what we have is a team past its prime whose best developed talent is playing in Miami, Tampa and Texas. Our third baseman is supposed to be hitting 40 to 50 home runs a year. If he hits 15, we will be lucky. Our first basemen is the baseball equivalent of a 40-year-old Payton Manning, who consistently came up short on the out route! Or a Joe Theismann after he broke his leg!

We will still draw 2 million fans to St. Louis, but we expect an ownership and management that is committed to winning. Period.

[Uncle Rico]

Hardly!

Cardinal fans have expectations. We definitely support mediocre teams and teams that aren't very good -- as long as they try!

Going into this year, we all rather thought that ownership wasn't trying. The lack of either developing or acquiring a number one starter was a huge problem. As was the age of our starting pitching staff. By July, we expect our pitchers to be the crapola standard for baseball because older pitchers not named Nolan Ryan wear out as the season wears on.

Then there is Oli. If there's a bigger bonehead baseball manager than Oli, I don't know who it is. This guy has his head so far up his backside, it's coming out his mouth. If there's a wrong way to do things, Oli pioneered it.

So what we have is a team past its prime whose best developed talent is playing in Miami, Tampa and Texas. Our third baseman is supposed to be hitting 40 to 50 home runs a year. If he hits 15, we will be lucky. Our first basemen is the baseball equivalent of a 40-year-old Payton Manning, who consistently came up short on the out route! Or a Joe Theismann after he broke his leg!

We will still draw 2 million fans to St. Louis, but we expect an ownership and management that is committed to winning. Period.

“Draw” 2 million fans 🙄

[Spotcheck Billy]

Hardly!

Cardinal fans have expectations. We definitely support mediocre teams and teams that aren't very good -- as long as they try!

Going into this year, we all rather thought that ownership wasn't trying. The lack of either developing or acquiring a number one starter was a huge problem. As was the age of our starting pitching staff. By July, we expect our pitchers to be the crapola standard for baseball because older pitchers not named Nolan Ryan wear out as the season wears on.

Then there is Oli. If there's a bigger bonehead baseball manager than Oli, I don't know who it is. This guy has his head so far up his backside, it's coming out his mouth. If there's a wrong way to do things, Oli pioneered it.

So what we have is a team past its prime whose best developed talent is playing in Miami, Tampa and Texas. Our third baseman is supposed to be hitting 40 to 50 home runs a year. If he hits 15, we will be lucky. Our first basemen is the baseball equivalent of a 40-year-old Payton Manning, who consistently came up short on the out route! Or a Joe Theismann after he broke his leg!

We will still draw 2 million fans to St. Louis, but we expect an ownership and management that is committed to winning. Period.

So I shouldn't expect a good game when I watch them play the Brewers on Sunday?

[dgies9156]

So I shouldn't expect a good game when I watch them play the Brewers on Sunday?

Probably not.

If you are a Brewers fan, you probably will leave happy!

[BrewCity83]

Contraction isn’t the answer for baseball or any other sport. There is plenty of talent around.

My hope is that with the failure of Bally Sports and others, as the big national/global networks like Amazon get the MLB TV/streaming contracts, there will be an opportunity for more revenue sharing like the NFL does with their TV money.  Then we can talk about salary caps and floors, and this should lead to more spending parity across baseball.  There will still be inept front offices, but at least there won't be such enormous built-in advantages for the large market teams.

[PGsHeroes32]

Ryan Jeffers so far this year

.306/.389/.631

That includes his 2/22 to start the year.

Absolute machine right now.

[wadesworld]

Bases chucked and no outs and the Cards don’t even try to bunt a run in. Serves them right to not put one run across the plate there.

[wadesworld]

Imagine being a Cardinals fan watching the Brewers beat the snot out of you while playing the game the right way.

https://twitter.com/TylerKoerth/status/1789106361852199040?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

[cheebs09]

Imagine being a Cardinals fan watching the Brewers beat the snot out of you while playing the game the right way.

https://twitter.com/TylerKoerth/status/1789106361852199040?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

The St Louis Classies would give a standing ovation for playing the game the right way. Or say the Brewers cheated by sloping the foul line.

[MU82]

Yahoo Sports dishes on Paul Skenes ...

Paul Skenes, the top pitching prospect in baseball and one of the most-hyped young arms in years, made his MLB debut for the Pirates on Saturday, working into the fifth and striking out seven in a 10-9 win over the Cubs.

Final line: 4.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K | He threw 17 pitches of 100+ mph.

‌What makes Skenes special? The California native is built like a moose (6-foot-6, 235 pounds) and immediately assumes the mantle as MLB's hardest-throwing starter. "The fact that he's throwing 100 on its own is not wild," says Yahoo Sports’ Jordan Shusterman. "But he's sitting 100 mph for full outings." Did I mention he also has a nasty "splinker"?

Path to the pros: Skenes was a two-way star at Air Force for two years before transferring to LSU, where he focused on pitching and authored one of the best seasons ever, going 13-2 (1.69 ERA) with an SEC-record 209 strikeouts in 19 starts for the national champs. His dominance continued in the minor leagues, where he mowed down hitters with ease.

‌Fun fact… Skenes is the first pitcher taken No. 1 overall to make his MLB debut the following season since Stephen Strasburg in 2010. The leadoff hitter in Strasburg's debut? Andrew McCutchen. The leadoff hitter in Skenes' debut? Andrew McCutchen.

MLB's Taylor Swift? Skenes' girlfriend is LSU gymnast and social media star Livvy Dunne, who's earned millions in NIL money. She was interviewed on Saturday and figures to get lots of camera time during future starts.

So ...  what's the over/under on month/year Skenes gets his first Tommy John surgery?

[lawdog77]

Yahoo Sports dishes on Paul Skenes ...

Paul Skenes, the top pitching prospect in baseball and one of the most-hyped young arms in years, made his MLB debut for the Pirates on Saturday, working into the fifth and striking out seven in a 10-9 win over the Cubs.

Final line: 4.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K | He threw 17 pitches of 100+ mph.

‌What makes Skenes special? The California native is built like a moose (6-foot-6, 235 pounds) and immediately assumes the mantle as MLB's hardest-throwing starter. "The fact that he's throwing 100 on its own is not wild," says Yahoo Sports’ Jordan Shusterman. "But he's sitting 100 mph for full outings." Did I mention he also has a nasty "splinker"?

Path to the pros: Skenes was a two-way star at Air Force for two years before transferring to LSU, where he focused on pitching and authored one of the best seasons ever, going 13-2 (1.69 ERA) with an SEC-record 209 strikeouts in 19 starts for the national champs. His dominance continued in the minor leagues, where he mowed down hitters with ease.

‌Fun fact… Skenes is the first pitcher taken No. 1 overall to make his MLB debut the following season since Stephen Strasburg in 2010. The leadoff hitter in Strasburg's debut? Andrew McCutchen. The leadoff hitter in Skenes' debut? Andrew McCutchen.

MLB's Taylor Swift? Skenes' girlfriend is LSU gymnast and social media star Livvy Dunne, who's earned millions in NIL money. She was interviewed on Saturday and figures to get lots of camera time during future starts.

So ...  what's the over/under on month/year Skenes gets his first Tommy John surgery?

There is hope for all of you goofy looking oafs. Just throw a baseball 800 miles an hour and this might be you

[MUBurrow]

‌What makes Skenes special? The California native is built like a moose (6-foot-6, 235 pounds) and immediately assumes the mantle as MLB's hardest-throwing starter. "The fact that he's throwing 100 on its own is not wild," says Yahoo Sports’ Jordan Shusterman. "But he's sitting 100 mph for full outings." Did I mention he also has a nasty "splinker"?
...
So ...  what's the over/under on month/year Skenes gets his first Tommy John surgery?

Odds are that you're certainly right.  There is an ouuuuutside chance Skenes is a freak in the Nolan Ryan mold.  LSU did their best Dusty Baker-on-Mark Prior impression while Skenes was there, but he just keeps trucking.  It helps that the most impressive thing about him is the gas on his fastball rather than his relying on filthy breaking stuff.  But yeah odds are that his arm just falls off.

[KCWarrior]

Brother Hippie:

I agree there is plenty of "talent" around, but not enough MAJOR LEAGUE talent. That's where I think the problem is. The pitching is just atrocious

Part of the problem is money, I agree. To retain talent, whether out of high school or college, takes huge bonuses and lots of development costs. Then, once they become arbitration eligible, you're screwed financially because arbitrators have been conditioned to look at home runs and batting average. And, to the romantic notion that somehow baseball will get a salary cap -- not going to happen in my or your lifetime!

Basically, you have to sell about 2.5 million tickets to be competitive and 3.5 million to consistently contend. Even then, the Cardinals are proving this year that with bad management and poor player development, a team can S-U-C-K, suck!

My nominees for contraction are Oakland, Kansas City (also having a stadium battle), Tampa Bay (stadium). At this point, it gets tough. I'd argue for Pittsburgh on grounds that even with the best stadium in the majors, it can't support a winner. From there, it's a crap shoot, but I'd surely keep Miami, Denver, Phoenix, all of which should be able with good ownership to be winnders.

Maybe we need to fire and replace owners!

If we're talking contraction, perhaps we should start with the teams that have never won a World Series. Saying KC should be contracted is laughable. Yes, they've had some horrible seasons, but I'd much rather endure some bad seasons after appearing in back-to-back Series and winning a championship (in the past decade, no less) than making the playoffs occasionally but never winning anything. As some have said, the issue is not too many teams. The NFL figured it out.