A Boy Named Seo

=duan post_id=140280 time=1698770361 user_id=99] yes - my one got a 0.2%

Mets first round pick is a choice today. Should have quite a spread of names with this crew.

No surprise z record low ratings ( game 1) Despite a dramatic finish, Game 1 of the 2023 World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers was the least-watched World Series Game 1 on record. Here's what you need to know: The game — which the Rangers won 6-5 after Adolis García's walk-off homer in the 11th inning — averaged 9.172 million viewers on Fox and an additional 182,000 on Fox Deportes. It also averaged a 4.6 rating, another low, according to Sports Media Watch, which lists the prior lows as a 5.1 rating and 9.35 million viewers for Game 1 of the 2020 World Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers during the pandemic-impacted season. The series is tied 1-1 as the Diamondbacks host the Rangers in Game 3 on Monday. Why so low? This series was always going to be viewership challenged — as anyone who studies or writes about sports viewership would have told you prior to first pitch. The question was how low would the numbers be. These numbers are low. You can't spin them. Because fans too often personalize this stuff, it's important to note this isn't an attack on either team. It's actually a fascinating baseball matchup. But the Diamondbacks and Rangers are not national draws based on historic television data outside of when they are playing a team with broad appeal or a series going long (which is what Fox has to really hope for with this series). One thing that definitely impacted this viewership: Game 1 was played on a Friday, which is one of the least-watched days of the week on linear television. Fox is going to point to Game 1 winning primetime among all programs but this is always true and they pay a lot for it to be true. For context, as Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal pointed out, the viewership was slightly below Colorado-Colorado State football on ESPN (9.3 million viewers) and on par with the Los Angeles Rams-Cincinnati Bengals “Monday Night Football” game last month (9 million). Where this stuff really becomes eye-opening is when you compare the 2023 Game 1 viewership to recent Game 1 history not involving big viewership teams such as the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, etc. Take Game 1 of the 2011 World Series between the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals. That game drew 16.5 million viewers. If you go back nine years earlier, Game 1 between the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Angels drew 19.26 million viewers. Again, if you are Fox and MLB, you are really hoping for series length here. — Richard Deitsch, sports media senior writer https://theathletic.com/5014822/2023/10/30/world-series-game-1-viewership?source=user-shared-articlehttps://theathletic.com/5014822/2023/10/30/world-series-game-1-viewership?source=user-shared-article I'm sure part of expanded playoff plan was to lure more viewers into the playoff drama, regardless of who was playing. Cleary we're all just Metheads (with Frank Zappa avatars), but it seems like no one outside of Dallas or Phoenix gives too many shits about this one.

Pham got picked off at second at some point in one of the games and Rangers coach Mike Maddux clearly mouthed “dumb fuck” referring to Pham. TV cameras picked it up, then soon after it was all over the internet. Pham responded to one of the posts with only the emoji depicting a hand writing something on a piece of paper as if to say, “You're on my list.” HIGH DRAMA

Ex-Factoring: Pham hits a jack to give AZ the lead, 4-3 in the 4th. Verducci: "What was your strategy in the at bat?" Pham: "Don't strike out." lol

Crazy to think the Cardinals could have an outfield with both Adolis García and Randy Arozarena.

The more I think about, I guess it's probably the right move that it isn't just a small part of the main HOF at Citi, and I'm glad it stands on its own and is its own thing. That's important. If not at Citi, where's the best place for this thing? Beats me. I guess why not the Mets Academy in the DR? It's kind of the heart's center of the club's Latino growth and seems a pretty good place to document and inspire greatness. Maybe the Latino HOF will one day be a place people go specifically to visit. In the meantime, maybe the Mets can put one of those touch screens at Citi where people can browse the HOF in the DR. Most importantly, yay Mets, you did a good. Anyway, these vids got me all emo on the Academy: [media=youtube]rTWDrTphIrc[/media] [media=youtube]vPWJu9cj0G4[/media] [media=youtube]D-CaVtP3ils[/media]

Weird my feelings were more tied up in who wins the Scherzer trade and what a chip for Rangers would mean. I'd be happy for deGrom if he got a ring.

I'm being full-on Tom Petty but I don't want Scherzer to get a ring with the Rangers. I don't want to process that.

Starts tonight, I'm told. Who will win? Do you care? Rangers ex-factor: Max Scherzer DBags ex-factor: Miguel Castro, Paul Sewald, Tommy Pham

By God, we've done it. We've fixed baseball. https://media.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExbmphNHE5eTE4YzVxZjY5d3FqcTl5aDRqeGt3NTIzMmcxbWdycWgxMyZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/WmpO7jZg7suIjwVz4S/giphy-downsized-large.gif>

A Boy Named Seo wrote: I have two more baseball fixes, both inspired by soccer because everyone loves soccer. Which is why if you suggest it that way it might be a tougher sell to MLB executives than if you didn't mention soccer. It would be running head first into the NIH (not invented here) syndrome. But I'm not sure how baseball fans would react to that pitch (double entendre intended) of "Hey, soccer has this great idea. Why don't we try it?". Later No, it's a fact that everyone loves soccer, especially Fman99, so the more I mention soccer to all the MLB execs, the better.

I'm sure there's way more to it, but there's one obvious thing in Statcast --> https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/cody-bellinger-641355?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlbhttps://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/cody-bellinger-641355?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb From '17 to '20, his launch angles were in the 16s and 17s and he was winning ROY and MVP and doing stud things. In '21 and '22, his launch angles shot up over 22 and 20 respectively. His K's spiked and his xBA cratered, just above Mendoza in both years. In 2023, his launch angle was back to 17.2 and he could hit again. He's maybe not 47-homer guy any more, but his OPS this year beat Pete's. I love Pete and want Pete back, but I would get it if the Mets were thinking about this anyway. I'll show myself out again, yall, bye.

I have two more baseball fixes, both inspired by soccer because everyone loves soccer. #1) Supporters Shield This is the award given to the MLS team who finishes with the best record in the regular season. The USL also has the same type of award, and MLB has definitely arrived at a place where they need to reward the best teams with something before they get their asses kicked out in the playoffs. The team that finishes with the best record in the AL wins what I'll call the Larry Doby Shield and the NL is the Lizzie Arlington Shield (Lizzie, the first woman to play on a men's team in 1898, doncha know). In MLS, players split a pot of money, and in MLB, if you win the Doby or Arlington Shield, I declare that every player gets a cool $250K bonus, sponsored by Doritos or Charmin or hims, the maker of fine erectile disfunction pills. This year's winners would have been the Orioles and Braves. [FIMG=500]https://assets.goal.com/v3/assets/bltcc7a7ffd2fbf71f5/blteccd4c5ca214b4be/633b039291f12a1148460d8a/supportersshield.jpg[/FIMG] #2) In-Season Tournament The NBA season has kicked off and this year features the inaugural "In Season Tournament" that borrows heavily (steals) from European football and drops a concurrent competition right in the middle of the regular season. The tournament adds drama that is lacking in the regular season, brings new silverware for fans to clamor after, and offers cash money prizes for the players, so the Grizzlies now have plenty of motivation to beat the Jazz on a cold Tuesday night in Salt Lake in November. And the wins and losses in the tournament all count towards regular season records, so if the tourney idea doesn't move your needle, it's still a game on the way to the playoffs. With double the regular season games of the NBA season, MLB needs to do the same. I'm going to call ours the Castro Cup after Colombian Lou Castro, who signed for Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's in 1902 and became the first Latino player in MLB. Our tournament now has a name so it's already better than the NBA's. MLB could hype it up by having a televised draw, complete with ping pong balls and corresponding numbered envelopes revealed by team legends. And City Connect jerseys would only be worn during the Castro Cup games, giving it a different feel aesthetically. And the Cup Final would be held at Field of Dreams or wherever that game is being held. One game in the cornfield for the cup and the cash. And like the NBA, players on the winning team get $500K each, losing team $250K, semifinal teams $100K and quarterfinals $50K. In conclusion, this does not fix the playoffs in any way, but it makes the regular infinitely more interesting and meaningful, and gives new motivations to players, teams and fans. THE END

I wish more eyes would see it than just those at the Mets Academy in the Dominican, but a cool thing anyway. Maybe they can add a Cliff's (Floyd) Notes version on an unused wall somewhere at Citi Field. Link: https://metsinsider.mlblogs.com/new-york-mets-name-ozzie-virgil-and-juan-alicea-to-newly-created-latin-american-hall-of-fame-d3685e046029https://metsinsider.mlblogs.com/new-york-mets-name-ozzie-virgil-and-juan-alicea-to-newly-created-latin-american-hall-of-fame-d3685e046029

I'm surprised he just turned 27 this past July. I don't know about the fit necessarily, but maybe the Mets would be scheming to get younger, save a couple hundred mil with Belly and trade Pete away for more elite prospects. I'll show myself out.

Edgy MD wrote: It's like having two singers in a band, I guess. Over here, we may think of them as two key members of a team, but perhaps in the Japanese media, the Angels are Ohtani's team, the Cubs are Suzuki's team, the Mets are Senga's team, and the story of that one team is an extension of the player's brand for Japanese consumption. I imagine if you're walking around Kyoto with a Boston hat, it's not because you're part of Red Sox nation, but because you're on Team Yoshida. The branding part absolutely makes sense. We've had big name Japanese players but none were really that guy in blue and orange. This would be two actual stars performing (hopefully) like actual stars on the same team at the same time. I'm still way into it.

This is from earlier in the week in The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/4987867/2023/10/23/mets-yoshinobu-yamamoto-offseason/Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Mets and the factors that could impact a potential pursuit This part had me twisted a little: Regarding Senga, some Japanese players are uncomfortable being major-league teammates with other Japanese players, The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal wrote earlier this year, because of the importance of seniority in Japan's hierarchical culture. Not Yamamoto. He is believed to have an open mind about the possibility of playing alongside another Japanese player. League sources said that Yamamoto's experience playing in the World Baseball Classic with other stars from Japan helped influence his thinking in that regard. What do yall make of that? Would this hierarchy be harder because there are less Japanese teammates and the dynamic would be more pronounced with only 2 dudes? I couldn't quite figure that one out. Seems like having a fellow countryman to help with a new city, new teammates, new culture, new languages would be more helpful than difficulties navigating seniority.

I'm way into this dude.

=MFS62 post_id=139943 time=1698270254 user_id=60] =roger_that post_id=139942 time=1698269463 user_id=128] Another way of putting this is: do you suppose the Mets would have reaped the benefits of their later improvements, had they been more patient, or did they have to go through what they went through elsewhere in order to bring such results around?

Per SNY/Martino, the Mets got permission to interview Counsell. Apparently MIL said no first, but changed their minds on it.

Edgy MD wrote: So it's not really "Dubai's baseball league" as reported above, but an international league with two teams in Dubai. Although I'm guessing a big chunk of controlling interest and governance will indeed be based in The United Arab Emirates, even if the president is American. I hope I'm wrong about that. Yeah, my bad. I guess the first showcase is in Dubai, but in the video, the prez stated that he wanted it to be the first "truly international, multi-nation, cross-country league" so it definitely sounds like they want it to grow to the other areas and countries he mentioned in the region. I bet you're not wrong that the whole biz is Dubai-based.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: MLB is excited about the SS Toronto drafted in the first round this year, a 1st generation American with Indian-born parents including a cricket-playing dad. I forget his name but has star potential and a grandmother in India Oh yeah, I remember reading about that guy. Big hype, cool story.

I'm a little curious about all this. The teams are named after cities in different countries (four so far - India, Pakistan, two in UAE) and I read the mission is to spread baseball in the Middle East and South Asia using existing cricket grounds modified for baseball. I just watched a vid with the president (yes, why I don't know either) and he talked about trying to export baseball to GCC countries (I think these: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) and the Indian subcontinent (which includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives). The president sounds kinda sleazy (sorry, bro). His introduction by his new wife (the league VP) was awkward and he talked about the demographics of baseball fans being ideal because they're better educated, have better jobs and make more money than cricket fans and they have great habits around content consumption. He's a rich dude (American of Pakistani and Indian descent) with rich partners definitely trying to make themselves richer, but it feels to me like they're trying to capitalize on a giant whole in a perceived market and if it was going to be strictly a sports washing operation, IMO they'd probably never leave Dubai or Saudi. They wouldn't need to. I think they really believe baseball can take off in these places. We named a few MLB guys, but the #1 pick overall was Karan Patel, apparently the first player of Indian descent to drafted in MLB. This will be wayyyyy more impactful for kids in India than a guy like Robinson Canó. I don't know if any of this works, but it'd be pretty cool if India became the next Japan or South Korea from a baseballing standpoint.

Bartolo has un-retired, yall. He was apparently the 16th overall pick in the draft in Dubai's new league (Baseball United), and he'll pitch at age 50 for a team called the Monarchs. I saw this on instragram (@baseballunited and @karachimonarchs) but hilariously find nothing else on it when googling Bartolo's name along with Dubai. They did a vid where's he's tossing a ball up and down in slow motion and he looks regal in the Monarchs tight-fitting, baby blue uni. Edit: Bartolo hype vid here —> Baseball United (@baseballunited) • Instagram reel WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM baseballunited on October 23, 2023: "BIG SEXY in Karachi @bcolon40 😤👑".