Porky

I'm a cord-cutter, live in Baltimore City, and have used MLB.tv for about 8 years now to watch the O's. Overall, I really like it. But, I think the decision depends more on how you watch TV and personal preferences. Like others have mentioned, there are ways to get around the blackouts. 99% of the time those workarounds have no issues. But, at least once a year, those workarounds temporarily get blocked and you're completely out of luck. There's been more than one occasion where I had a long day at work, couldn't wait to get home to watch the O's and relax, grabbed some beer from the store on the way home, sat down on the couch - and then ..... nope. Out of luck. That being said, I like having MLB.tv because I don't really watch enough TV to justify cable and I travel quite frequently for work, so having O's access anywhere is nice. The biggest perk to me though is it's pretty cool to be able to put on a West Coast game in the background after the O's game while I catch up on emails and whatnot, if you're a night owl like me. I've really enjoyed being able to watch full games of Trout, Ohtani, Kershaw, etc as a night cap. All in all, I think it comes down to personal preference. If you're somebody who only watches the Os and also watches cable or can get a cable bundle that includes Netflix or whatever - I think that probably still makes the most sense. But, if you wanna ditch cable, are okay with some disruptions, or value being able to watch other teams - you'll love MLB.tv.

Very important point, Frobby. The new ownership group certainly has much more wealth than the Angelos family - but in a world where Shohei Ohtani just secured a $700 million contract, even they aren't wealthy enough to start writing personal checks to turn the O's into the Dodgers. Baltimore is still going to be a small market team. I think what we can look forward to is that this is an ownership group with lots of business success and experience. While the baseball operations have turned a corner under Elias, the business side of the Orioles has continued to be run quite poorly, from Kevin Brown's suspension, to the MASN legal battles, to the issues with concessions and the PA system last year. I think the biggest boost we will see is that the organization will be run at a much higher level top-to-bottom - which should be good for fan experience at the Yard, and hopefully that will result in a more robust player payroll too.

He's connected to the area - he went to Hopkins and continues to donate lots of money there. Maybe he's secretly been an O's fan this entire time.

Agreed - and given that the O's were 30-16 in 1-run games, they're already at a disadvantage in 2024 because they're going to be missing Felix Bautista. I see the team taking a step back unless additions are made via free agency or trade - particularly on the pitching front.

Sure, there's plenty of luck involved in who gets hot at the right time and what ball drops in the gap and which one doesn't. But, in the last five/six years, the Astros have made four World Series. The Dodgers have made three. Shortly before that, the Giants won 3 in five years. If the playoffs were a complete crapshoot, there would be different teams in the World Series every year. There hasn't been.

I think your guess is a good one. Bradish started Sunday, so he's lined up well for a Saturday start. And they kept him to two innings, so obviously wanted him rested too. They had Grayson throw today, so maybe they're thinking him for Game 2 at home? Then Means Game 3, I'd guess.

Agreed. 162 games have been played since 1961/1962. Teams have been playing in the current system for a long time now. It's up to playoff-bound teams to ensure that their roster is constructed to thrive in that system.

The biggest year-over-year attendance increase this year is the Phillies. Approximately 720k more fans total and 9,700 per game. I have no data to back this up, but I'd imagine that a lot of that is from season ticket plans sold thanks to their World Series run last year.

Glad to see DD get some love. Part of the reason the "liftoff" happened earlier than anyone expected was that the farm system upon DD's exit was better than advertised. Granted Elias gets the credit for developing these guys, but DD brought in the following to the organization: - Means (Drafted 2014) - Mountcastle (Drafted 2015) - Mullins (Drafted 2015) - McKenna (Drafted 2015) - Santander (Rule 5 in 2016) - Hays (Drafted 2016) - Bautista (Free Agent 2016) - DL Hall (Drafted 2017) - Baumann (Drafted 2017) - Rodriguez (Drafted 2018) - Kremer (Trade 2018) Four all-stars and some very good players in that list.

The State of Maryland is under no obligation to give the O's the $600 million they've already set aside in the absence of a long term lease. And with Governor Moore speaking about budget shortfalls, there's no guarantee that amount of money is going to be there later. John Angelos has very little leverage. Sign a short-term lease and he risks losing $600 million. Threaten to move, and you're going to get litigation from the State of Maryland and a lot of pressure from Congress on anti-trust grounds after a state offered up a bunch of public money, which would in turn become lots of pressure from Manfred and MLB. By comparison, Vegas just offered $380 million in taxpayer money to get the Athletics to move. The State of Maryland is offering almost TWICE that to UPGRADE an existing stadium. If Angelos tries to move with that offer on the table, it would definitely get the attention of politicians in ways MLB wants to avoid at all costs.

Since they last won the World Series in 1983, the O's have went 2,856-3,287. That's a .465 winning percentage, or roughly 75-87 on average. But, that World Series Championship was 40 years ago now. A 10 year old kid in 1983 is 50 years old now. When looking at filling a stadium, you're going to have to be appealing to the 18-35 market. One, because they're a large market with expendable income. Two, they're having kids and they're an important link to the next generation of fans. For the sake of argument, let's just assume that kids generally start actively following professional sports where they identify with a team around seven years old. A 30 year old today would have been seven years old in 2000. Since 2000, the O's are 1,613 - 2,009. That's a .445 winning percentage for a 72-90 record. You mentioned 2007. A 30 year old in 2007 was born in 1977. Just old enough to experience the glory days of old and the 1983 Championship. Today in 2023, that's not the case. I think the answer for the reduced attendance is pretty simple. The O's have stunk for a long time. Camden Yards still drew crowds in 2007 because generations of diehard, permanent fans had been cultivated from its historic success in the 60s, 70s, and early 80s. Now, in 2023, we're seeing the effects that continued losing had on a generation of potential fans who are now 18-35 years old. They might just simply not care that much about baseball because they didn't grow up with it. The O's didn't do anything to warrant their attention during their formative years. Also, the Nationals cannot be ignored either. Plenty of DC folks are O's fans because that was the only team in the area when they grew up. They kept their O's allegiance even after the Nats moved to town. But now, that's not the case for anyone who came of age after the Nats arrived in 2005. Hopefully with the top farm system in baseball we'll be looking at a new O's Golden Age, which will in turn attract a new generation of fans. But, I don't think we can expect attendance to rebound to past numbers just because they start winning. The damage has already been done.

I think everyone is in agreement that outside pitching is needed in some way. The free agent market for starters is fairly barren next year, so if there's a good fit for a trade for a starter who will be here for a while, I think it makes as much sense to do it at the deadline versus the offseason. I'm not really sure there is a good fit out there though.

I have never understood the hate on interleague play. Even more so now with the universal DH. They're all baseball teams. Baseball teams playing baseball teams. Baseball will be played. The games count. Every other sports league does it. The pitchers will throw the ball and the batters will try to hit it. Baseball.

Agreed. And also a reason you don't automatically write off a Mancini extension just because there is a younger player on the roster who plays 1B. Mancini is proven, and if a deal can be struck that makes sense, they should do it.

It's interesting that Elias stated before the season began that he felt the stadium would still lean towards being a hitters' park. That definitely hasn't been the case. It's officially summertime now, so I guess we'll see how it plays. Humidors also likely playing a factor too. While I know some people like the quirkiness of the new look, I personally felt that the new design was so ridiculous looking that it was a temporary change to see how things went before going with a more permanent decision. But it wasn't cheap to do, the price tag also suggests that maybe this is it.

By movement and spin rate, he still has two kinda plus-ish pitches in his sinker and changeup. Definitely on the decline though. He's always relied on the sinker, and he's lost some spin on it. He's been getting hit hard and walking lots of guys. That being said, I think he's been a bit unlucky this year. He is by no means who he used to be, but I think he's better than that ugly 7.88 ERA suggests. I think this team is going to need someone to eat innings this summer, and I could see the value in giving him some starts. Even if he sucks, just eating innings to protect the young arms would provide value.

It would be interesting to see this broken down by position. I feel like there's a lot of older backup catchers who hang around a while and might pull these numbers down in the 31-35 and 36+ group - Kurt Suzuki, Stephen Vogt, Martin Maldonado, Jason Castro, Robinson Chirinos come to mind.

I agree, I think he's figuring it out and it'll take some time for him to come into his own. Thorne is a pretty tough act to follow.

Completely agree. Bobby Valentine's 2012 with the Red Sox is one extreme example of how much a manager can have an impact.

I'll see if I can find it, but Glasnow did an interview about how when he first got to the Rays - they just told him to throw his best pitch in the middle of the plate. It's their big strategy at the moment, find guys with a plus pitch and just tell them to throw it.

Seems like the same idea behind Matt Harvey's return.

I agree. Offense always starts slow league-wide the first week or two generally as well.

I don't know, Mullins was the next guy up. Even if they are exclusively thinking about the future, it probably is far more important for a building-block like Mullins to have another big opportunity in the game than putting all your chips on Ryan McKenna, a guy who in all-likelihood will not be a long term piece here or anywhere. There's also the idea that it's important for the bullpen guys to develop and learn how to protect the lead. So, all in all, I think no matter how you look at it - it was a bad move for Hyde to make.

Not sure if that's really true. The wall change definitely now puts it behind many of the parks it inspired, like Pittsburgh and San Francisco. Add in the classics of Dodger Stadium, Fenway, Wrigley - it might not even be in the top ten anymore.

I don't know, I think even casual O's fans have been through enough rebuilds that they understand it takes time. I'd imagine the arrival of Rutschman and G-Rod provides a boost. As far as fan engagement, I think the O's biggest problem is this team has no character. The personalities are all kind of basic. And on top of it, they're a really really bad baseball team. At the end of the day, baseball fandom is about entertainment, and this team really doesn't have anything going for it in that department. In previous years when the O's were bad, there were at least some veteran players like Bordick or Conine to give fans some kind of emotional connection to care about them. Adam Jones was a big personality that at least gave those 09-11 teams some swagger. Buck came in and changed everything. Right now, Hyde is pretty bad behind the mic and is really hard to connect to. The roster has been pretty transient and no one is here long enough to get connected to as a fan. There aren't really any fun personalities on the team. Mancini's extension is such a big thing for everyone because he's basically the only guy in the entire organization most fans even feel strongly about. And on top of it, Elias and the organization have made decisions like robots instead of people. They're cancelling Fan Fest, they've alienated former players, the new Camden Yards wall is a really weird move whether you like it or not, they're not giving Tony press credentials after he's run one of the biggest O's sites for years.... Just all really weird stuff.