J.R.

The facts say otherwise. http://www.nab.org/documents/newsroom/pressRelease.asp?id=2761 Better picture quality, no costs beyond startup and the increasing viability of a streaming/OTA viewing mix are just a few reasons OTA remains popular in places where excellent reception is possible with minimal effort. Places like MLB cities. Places like the biggest markets, in which teams keep an OTA presence despite profits produced by their (sometimes capitve) RSNs - New York, L.A., Chicago. I believe the former Turner channels are doing an excellent job. OTA simulcasts in the local markets would do nothing to hinder them. I argue that the key to a thriving sport is getting your game in front of as many households as possible. There is a reason the NFL insists that all of its cable games be available OTA to the home markets - restricting viewership to the subscription services is a short-sighted cash grab.

20 possible games/20 will be played. So awesome.

I think MLB is screwing up by shutting out the OTA viewer. They were able to leverage bigger fees from TBS and are driving eyeballs to MLB Network by doing so, but they are limiting the reach of the postseason games and are ultimately limiting the reach of the game itself. Yes, the hardcore fan will find a way to see these games. However, big postseason ratings are driven by the casual viewers (the kind of people who don't tune in unless it's an elimination game.) The games should be on broadcast television in the home markets, both to benefit the OTA viewer and those with the bare bones cable subs. http://www.jacksonsun.com/usatoday/article/1622587 It's kind of like closing your park's upper deck for a playoff series.

Two late, epic at-bats in today's NL games. Werth cashed in and Bruce could not.

I like Detroit, but the A's are Major League in real life.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/10/11/the-reds-are-dead-and-dusty-bakers-fingerprints-are-all-over-the-murder-weapon/

[expletive]

I think it is fan-driven. Teams have recognized that people like their older designs - the retro hats and jerseys showed up in the stands before they showed up on the field.

Astros new logo, uniforms accidentally revealed?

You have to cash that in.

A couple games a year? The lights were built to MLB and color television broadcast standards for the time, and the city ordinance specified 18 regular season night games a year beginning in 1989. That doesn't include the hoped-for playoff games which were the basis for Kuhn's sabre rattling and Dallas Green's original Schaumberg threats. Great pains were taken to build a modern lighting system that mated well to the park's design. It could be argued that the lights and the protracted fight to get them in place are the ultimate legacy of Tribune's stewardship of the park. That, and the dozen postseason games that have been played under their glow to date.

The rain in Baltimore is messing with one of the best days of the year, the wonderful confluence of four playoff games that run from Noon to Midnight. We may get a couple more - Wednesday and Thursday if no one is eliminated before then.

Not surprising at all that the Cubs lost a fifth of their CSN audience within the Chicago DMA. http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2012/10/01/Media/~/media/C38E8277A88C4B1B89A55ACFD8D2ACA4.ashx http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2012/10/01/Media/MLB-RSNs.aspx

This is my biggest beef. I don't think it should have been implemented this year because they didn't have time to do it the right way. I think at the very least it should be treated like a double-elimination tournament where the Braves would have had to win only one game and the Cardinals would have had to win two both in Atlanta. If you get a true tie like you did in the AL then it just reverts back to a one-and-done like it's always been. Yep, I still think it's selig trying to fix something that isn't broken. Just leave it alone, it was working well. Now Atlanta totally got hosed, beaten by a team it's had a far better year than in one game. Atlanta had all year to beat Washington. They would have a gripe had the rules been changed at the ASB or something.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/A-s-refuse-to-remove-tarp-cite-intimate-fan-3923932.php Oakland fans and pols are accusing ownership of purposefully sabotaging the fanbase to better facilitate a move. It is a ridiculous notion, but it's no more insane than the ownership group's belief that they should purposefully keep fans away from playoff games.

http://www.mercurynews.com/athletics/ci_21576849/oakland-athletics-pummeled-12-2-by-detroit-tigers This was ridiculous throughout the season, and is more ridiculous now. They will sell you a Mt. Davis club seat a million miles away, but refuse to open the vastly superior upper deck sections behind the plate and along the baselines. Take the tarps off, cut prices, pack the house. What's so hard about this? Because they wouldn't pack the house if they took the tarp off. In 2000, the A's hadn't made the playoffs since 1992 and in a deciding Game 5 against the Yankees on a Sunday, they drew 41170 out of roughly 56K. They drew 47K that year in Games 1 and 2. In 2001, they sold out one of the two playoff games against the Yankees (the other one they drew 43K). In 2002, the best attendance in three games against the Twins was 34853. In 2003, they drew 49K twice but only 36K in Game 2 after winning Game 1. And I'm pretty sure the upper deck in Mt. Davis is closed off also. The top level of the football stands is closed, but the field and club levels are open. ~42,000 is very close to capacity for what remains of the original stands. That's 6,000 more than they can serve with the current setup. The upper deck seats are not optimal, but they are better than every seat in Mt. Davis for baseball. It is asinine to force fans into the outfield when you have better seats available. It reeks of a marketing department that has given up and has no understanding of what a good baseball seat is. At least open up the sections behind home plate - those present the best value proposition and are leagues ahead of the outfield seats. Other than the fact that this is a completely made up equation you've created with no chance of adding up? Nothing hard at all. MLB has placed ridiculous premiums on the A's playoff tickets in the past, and many went unsold. I believe they would get better results by pricing the A's tickets for the realities of Oakland and its park instead of blindly throwing Yankee prices at everything.

I suppose they could jack up the candelas and brighten things up somewhat, but the main factor in the "darkness" relative to other parks is the fact that Wrigley does not and will never have outfield light towers. Turner Field lacks outfield towers and has a similar look.

http://www.mercurynews.com/athletics/ci_21576849/oakland-athletics-pummeled-12-2-by-detroit-tigers This was ridiculous throughout the season, and is more ridiculous now. They will sell you a Mt. Davis club seat a million miles away, but refuse to open the vastly superior upper deck sections behind the plate and along the baselines. Take the tarps off, cut prices, pack the house. What's so hard about this?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-cubs-get-ok-to-move-wall-behind-home-plate-20121004,0,1696438.story Interesting that the wall will be movable. I still don't think they will be able to accommodate an acceptable football grid without major changes to the third base dugout.

Stone is doing the PBP on tonight's Sox telecast. He is marginally better than he was in 1994, when he was forced into the role after Harry Caray suffered a stroke pre-game. That outing was astoundingly bad.

Granted it's been years since I looked into it, but wasn't there a time when the sports pack would basically give you everything on the RSN's BUT the good games? LIke CSN would give you the Sports Reporters and stuff but not the Bulls games? The sports pack does give you everything but the games on the individual RSNs that are outside your viewing area. Yes, that's the package I mentioned looking into. I didn't realize anyone actually got that, but I suppose if you're in the 'territory' of a bunch of MLB teams like Bob is, there is some value to that package. Even if you aren't in one of those loaded territories, it makes for an excellent companion to EI as it allows you to see the pre/post shows.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120923/SPT04/309230092/Reds-clubhouse-still-smells-like-celebration?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Reds

They replaced the upper deck risers over the course of one offseason in the early 1970s. If they are not doing a wholesale teardown, then the work could be completed in phases while leaving the place playable.

Yeah it's gonna take time. I don't think they are going to [expletive] around with just making sure concrete doesn't fall anymore and add some skyboxes. I think the plan is to virtually tear down the entire shell and re-build it. I doubt most of the original structure stays outside of the field/OF Walls/Bleachers/Possibly Scoreboard. Every rendering that has been leaked thus far indicates that the existing steel skeleton will be augmented, not demolished. Complete removal/replacement of the concrete risers, addition of new exterior concession decks down the lines to match the one behind home plate, addition of fan services/amenities to spaces currently dedicated to offices/storage. Of course, they could change their minds. A new lower bowl and upper deck could be built in the style of that used in Pittsburgh on the existing footprint and would give us a similar look, scale and seating quality as Wrigley offers now but with no poles and a modern physical plant. I personally think you need the huge roof given the number of day games we have, but the night ball rules could be up for change as well.

Samardzija's ascension comes as a very pleasant surprise to me. Shocking, actually - I had completely written him off.