Braves end first preseason game in tie (due to new rule)

[DzynKingRTR]

I went from a 1st pitch to last out viewer of the Braves to a casual fan largely because of MLB's stupidity on this front.

In the Good Old Days, every Braves game was on SuperStation TBS for anyone across the land who had a cable subscription to see. Then, MLB got greedy and decided that TBS and WGN (which did the same for Cubs and White Sox games) counted as "national" networks whose revenues had to be shared with other teams. Naturally, this caused owners to move their games off of free "national" channels and onto various regional sports networks like Turner Sports, Fox Sports South, etc. This made it harder to watch but I was dedicated enough to keep up with it. (This was before the days of Google, so it was harder than it sounds.) To make it even sillier, things like the YES Network counted as "local," despite their massive reach.

When I moved to the DC area in 2002, it was next to impossible to watch Braves games. It would have required a fairly substantial out-of-pocket expense to figure out how to subscribe to out-of-region RSNs if it was even possible in those days. So, I went from watching every pitch to catching the occasional game and my interest gradually fading.

I got married and had kids not long after that, which probably made it a moot point, as it would have been really hard to watch 162 regular season games a year. Still, just a dumb move by MLB from which they still haven't recovered.

just FYI Bally is filing for bankruptcy. they are desperately trying to get a streaming service to partner with

 

[CrimsonNagus]

just FYI Bally is filing for bankruptcy. they are desperately trying to get a streaming service to partner with

In the famous words of Capt. James T. Kirk, "Let them die!"

I watched and/or read somewhere that the goal is to get the game time and pace as it was "during the 70's", which apparently was a time when baseball games moved quicker. MLB Network, when discussing this on air (last year) used several games from the 70's side by side with games from "today" to show what's contributing to the longer games.

When doing that did the keep the shorter commercial breaks for the games in the 70s? Longer commercial breaks and every single game being on TV now has contributed more to the length than players circling the mound or stepping out of the box. Funny how when TV personalities talk about this they never bring up the roll TV, or advertising, has played in lengthening the games, that goes for all sports.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

In the famous words of Capt. James T. Kirk, "Let them die!"


When doing that did the keep the shorter commercial breaks for the games in the 70s? Longer commercial breaks and every single game being on TV now has contributed more to the length than players circling the mound or stepping out of the box. Funny how when TV personalities talk about this they never bring up the roll TV, or advertising, has played in lengthening the games, that goes for all sports.

I think they said the companies asked for more commercial spots because they realized when watching the games they could get a full commercial in between the time the pitcher decided to throw the next pitch and when the batter decided to stop playing with himself and adjusting all the hitting equipment he had strapped on him. Hey, the time was available!

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Game 7 of the 1979 World Series was the last game of that decade. The Pirates beat the Orioles, 4-1, and outhit them, 10-4. In the ninth inning, Earl Weaver had no less than FIVE pitchers on the mound in a desperate attempt to keeep from getting blown out.

Five pitchers in one inning.

The game lasted 2 hours and 54 minutes.

Charge the advertisers so you can do a 45-second commercial, and I won't have to listen to Venus sing that hip hop song about shaving her pubes.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

If the umpires are no longer going to exercise their right to control the pace of the game, then a clock is the only thing left to do. Because as a fan, I have long lost interest in watching full games due to the amount of dead time during a 3 hr to 3 1/2 game. It's not just about the length of a game, but the pace at which it is played.