Playoffs are set

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

It would help immensely.    You still have the issue of so many people living down there who have relocated and other factors as well.  
 

Drawing fans is a probably for a lot of people sports teams in Florida.

 

3 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

No, of course not..as I said, it’s a garbage situation all around.  The stadium location is probably the biggest reason though

I can't think of a single situation in which a new stadium was a long term fix for attendance problems.

Aren't the Twins drawing about what they did in the Metrodome?  Aren't the Indians drawing about what they used to at the mistake at the lake?  We know what happened with the Marlins.

The closest I can think of is the Giants, and they would break 2M in a good year at Candlestick so can you even say they had an attendance problem?

[Sports Guy]

4 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

 

I can't think of a single situation in which a new stadium was a long term fix for attendance problems.

Aren't the Twins drawing about what they did in the Metrodome?  Aren't the Indians drawing about what they used to at the mistake at the lake?  We know what happened with the Marlins.

The closest I can think of is the Giants, and they would break 2M in a good year at Candlestick so can you even say they had an attendance problem?

The new stadiums are a tremendous help for revenue because of the suites and things like that.

Not only that, the actual physical location is a problem, so putting it in a better spot helps just because of that.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The new stadiums are a tremendous help for revenue because of the suites and things like that.

Not only that, the actual physical location is a problem, so putting it in a better spot helps just because of that.

Sure suites are great if you can sell them but teams have moved to "better spots" before and as I just said, long term it doesn't seem to make a significant improvement in attendance.

I know I have no interest in driving to Ybor to see a game. 

[Sports Guy]

I don’t know what long term is supposed to mean though.  When Cle moved to Jacobs Field, they had one of the best attendances in the league for several years.

Once that allure has worn off, it is up to the organization to keep it going.

Not to mention, you can’t control outside factors that could cause people not to attend games in person..like where do people spend their entertainment dollars and things like that.

I think Tampa draws 5-8k more fans a year if they were in a better spot.

Personally, I think they should be relocated  and I think MLB did them not favors by putting them where they did.

[SteveA]

6 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

As the article points out, the location is the reason it was going to fail.

It was a poor job by MLB to not research this better than they did.

I remember driving that bridge that separates Tampa and St Pete around 6pm once.  A fairly long bridge.  The sun was low in the sky and right in my face like I was driving directly into it.  But the worst part wasn't the sun itself but it's reflection coming off the water on both sides of the bridge.  Worst driving into the sun experience I ever had.

And back in the 90s, downtown St Pete was totally dead.  Businesses down there during the day but nothing in the evening. Restaurants only served lunch to the businesses.  Even though the Trop Dome was in a "downtown" area, there was absolutely no night life whatsoever.

That's changed, now that main east/west road just a few blocks north of the stadium is full of good restaurants and breweries and such.  But it hasn't seemed to help attendance much.  And the product on the field has been very good.

 

[Just Regular]

Urias in for top of 7th with Nick's spot leading off and he's switched out for Camargo.  O'Day fair shot for a moment as Braves have gone through a lot of guys to get first 18 outs.

[HowAboutThat]

1 hour ago, SteveA said:

I remember driving that bridge that separates Tampa and St Pete around 6pm once.  A fairly long bridge.  The sun was low in the sky and right in my face like I was driving directly into it.  But the worst part wasn't the sun itself but it's reflection coming off the water on both sides of the bridge.  Worst driving into the sun experience I ever had.

And back in the 90s, downtown St Pete was totally dead.  Businesses down there during the day but nothing in the evening. Restaurants only served lunch to the businesses.  Even though the Trop Dome was in a "downtown" area, there was absolutely no night life whatsoever.

That's changed, now that main east/west road just a few blocks north of the stadium is full of good restaurants and breweries and such.  But it hasn't seemed to help attendance much.  And the product on the field has been very good.

 

That bridge is the scariest thing I’ve ever driven. It just goes up and up and up and up and up and up into the sky. I’m not afraid of heights and I don’t suffer from vertigo, but unless you look straight ahead you’re going to suffer from each when driving that bridge.

[DrungoHazewood]

15 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

I don’t know what long term is supposed to mean though.  When Cle moved to Jacobs Field, they had one of the best attendances in the league for several years.

Once that allure has worn off, it is up to the organization to keep it going.

Not to mention, you can’t control outside factors that could cause people not to attend games in person..like where do people spend their entertainment dollars and things like that.

I think Tampa draws 5-8k more fans a year if they were in a better spot.

Personally, I think they should be relocated  and I think MLB did them not favors by putting them where they did.

I think it's pretty obvious that they got the expansion franchise at least in part due to the city's willingness to build a stadium in the 1980s without any guarantee of a team, and that gave MLB huge leverage to get stadiums built elsewhere.  In the late 80s and early 90s every year you heard of a team threatening to move to Tampa in order to get a new stadium.

Unfortunately it's like a 85% scale model of the Metrodome in a bad place in a city with little baseball history and lots of competing activities.

[OFFNY]

On 10/17/2020 at 11:57 PM, OFFNY said:

o

 

2020 AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONS

******************************************

 

TAMPA BAY DEVIL R AYS

 

o

o

 

2020 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS

******************************************

 

LOS ANGELES DODGERS

 

o

[Sports Guy]

First of all, it has to suck to be a fan of Atlanta sports.  The choking they do is incredible.

I wish the Braves had won, especially for Nick but I’m good with either of these teams winning.  I will be rooting for Tampa  though.

[Redskins Rick]

9 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

First of all, it has to suck to be a fan of Atlanta sports.  The choking they do is incredible.

I wish the Braves had won, especially for Nick but I’m good with either of these teams winning.  I will be rooting for Tampa  though.

I have a hard time rooting for any other team besides the Orioles, just not in my make-up. Nothing wrong with others doing it, but not for me.

 

[JR Oriole]

So living in Atlanta, I always support the local teams.  I know the narrative is that the Braves choked, but the reality is the Dodgers are an absolute nightmare.  An endless stream of pitching, a defense that seems to always make the plays, and an offense that has to be the most patient offense I have seen in decades (no offense to the 2015 Royals, who perfected only swinging at good pitches).  You can get to two strikes on Dodger hitters pretty quickly but after that, it is a damn nightmare to put them away.  They swing at nothing off the plate, they foul off a ridiculous amount of pitches, and they crush everything else.  The incredible plate discipline up and down that lineup was incredible, with every inning putting enormous pressure on Braves pitchers.  The Braves hitters are not nearly as patient and it cost them.  So yes, the Braves had a 3-1 lead that they couldn't finish off.  But if the Braves had scored 5 runs last night, the Dodgers would have scored 6.  There was no stopping that team.  

Kershaw is going to finally get his ring because as nice a story as the Rays are, they have overachieved offensively and I think the Dodgers sweep. 

[Sports Guy]

The Rays haven’t overachieved at all.  
 

They were tied for 3rd in run differential and they won 96 games last year.

Going into the season, I felt they would win the division and would be one of the best teams in the AL and most people felt the same way.

I think their pitching is better than LA overall BUT I do question their bats.  I think the Dodgers win in 6 games but if WS Kershaw shows up, the Dodgers could be in trouble.

[OFFNY]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

 

The Rays haven’t overachieved at all.  
 

They were tied for 3rd in run-differential, and they won 96 games last year.

Going into the season, I felt they would win the division and would be one of the best teams in the AL ...... most people felt the same way.

I think that their pitching is better than Los Angeles overall, BUT I do question their bats. I think that the Dodgers will win in 6 games ...... but if WS Kershaw shows up, the Dodgers could be in trouble.

 

o

 

All things considered, I think that the Orioles fared pretty well against the Rays in head-on play (particularly in regard to run-differential.)

Even after the surprising 3-game sweep early in the season, almost every loss to them was a close, hard-fought game. The Orioles won 4 and lost 6 games overall, and 5 out of the 6 losses were by 2 runs or less. 2 of the losses were by 1 run, 3 of the losses were by 2 runs, and 1 loss was by 4 runs.

 

o

[DrungoHazewood]

41 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

I have a hard time rooting for any other team besides the Orioles, just not in my make-up. Nothing wrong with others doing it, but not for me.

 

When you turn on the TV and there's a game on, don't you naturally root for one team over the other?  It's pretty rare that I can watch a game and truly not care, even in the moment, who wins. I'm not going out and buying a shirt and I won't care either way 10 minutes after the last game is over, but I'll be rooting for the Rays over the Dodgers.