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2019-20 MLB Hot Stove Thread...

Live playoff baseball >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> infinity >>>>>>>>>> every other form of baseball

Great atmosphere at the Trop today. Could have been the last ever playoff baseball game in Tampa. Could go back next week. Who knows?
 
Ph, do you think Tampa area fans would support the Rays better with a new stadium? I imagine that ship has sailed, thus the Montreal talk, but I'm curious Tampa folks' take. I thought a new stadium in Miami would help, but they still don't draw anyone. Maybe it's the Florida transplant/still pulling for the home team up north thing.
 
Tommy Pham with a classic post-game interview. Thanks himself for his success (he throws batting practice to himself):

 
Ph, do you think Tampa area fans would support the Rays better with a new stadium? I imagine that ship has sailed, thus the Montreal talk, but I'm curious Tampa folks' take. I thought a new stadium in Miami would help, but they still don't draw anyone. Maybe it's the Florida transplant/still pulling for the home team up north thing.

I think that's a big part of it and frankly see it a lot in big cities in the south full of northern transplants. Maybe not to the extent it is in Florida but still.
 
Nats pitching Strasburg against Dodgers tonight. Strasburg has lost some speed on his fastball (now 93-96 mph) but has much better location command on his curve and change. Batters can't sit on his fastball because it is no longer a near 50% likelihood of him throwing it. He throws a much more mixed bag of fastballs, curves, splitters and changeups. And he can put any of the oitches in the strike zone or out of it.

But for the Nats to win, they need to get hits off Buehler. Not an easy task.
 
Nats pitching Strasburg against Dodgers tonight. Strasburg has lost some speed on his fastball (now 93-96 mph) but has much better location command on his curve and change. Batters can't sit on his fastball because it is no longer a near 50% likelihood of him throwing it. He throws a much more mixed bag of fastballs, curves, splitters and changeups. And he can put any of the oitches in the strike zone or out of it.

But for the Nats to win, they need to get hits off Buehler. Not an easy task.

Really looking forward to this game. Been a great series.
 
Ph, do you think Tampa area fans would support the Rays better with a new stadium? I imagine that ship has sailed, thus the Montreal talk, but I'm curious Tampa folks' take. I thought a new stadium in Miami would help, but they still don't draw anyone. Maybe it's the Florida transplant/still pulling for the home team up north thing.

My folks have lived in St. Pete for about the a decade now and I go to a couple Ray's games a year when visiting, so I have some thoughts on this and some stuff I've picked up from them. They're big baseball people and season ticket holders, so they have some strong opinions.

A new stadium probably won't fix anything in isolation, regardless as to where they put it. The bigger problem is the lack of public transportation. Yes, there are more people in Tampa than St. Pete, but there are already about a million people just in Pinellas county. If the team can't draw from that plus the other 2 million+ in the metro area, I don't think moving in the area is going to help. The geography just doesn't work without solid public transportation. Even if they moved across the Bay, then you're in a similar situation where it's still going to be a pain in the ass for half of the metro area to get to a game. If there was something like a light rail that could get you from downtown Tampa to the Trop, I think you'd see an increase in attendance.

The Trop is a weird place, but is a really fun stadium to see a game. Building a newer, shinier stadium won't change anything in terms of attendance (see Miami).

The transplant culture makes things difficult and I think this is a phenomenon that's compounded with baseball. I think baseball fandom, more than any other major US pro sport, is more likely to be inherited depending on how you grew up. A lot of folks are bandwagoning the Rays down there now, but a lot of them will always be Yankees/Red Sox/Jays/Braves/Cubs/etc. fans first. The same thing would happen in pretty much any other southern city with an expansion baseball team. If Charlotte got an expansion team, I think they would have the same problem. The Bolts are another good example of this. They're playing at a really high level now, but if they start stinking it'll be back to home games being dominated by Rangers/Wings/Leafs/Bruins fans when they're in town. They sell seats, but even when theyre good this is still kind of the case.
 
FWIW, I've heard the Rays actually have solid local TV numbers, which backs up the point that at least part of the problem is that its a hassle to get to the stadium. Think that a lot of (older) people generally like to follow their local baseball team during the season, but lack the interest to follow the sport nationally.

In baseball the general trend has been solid local following numbers, but weakening interest in following the sport outside of the team that particularly interests you.
 
My folks have lived in St. Pete for about the a decade now and I go to a couple Ray's games a year when visiting, so I have some thoughts on this and some stuff I've picked up from them. They're big baseball people and season ticket holders, so they have some strong opinions.

A new stadium probably won't fix anything in isolation, regardless as to where they put it. The bigger problem is the lack of public transportation. Yes, there are more people in Tampa than St. Pete, but there are already about a million people just in Pinellas county. If the team can't draw from that plus the other 2 million+ in the metro area, I don't think moving in the area is going to help. The geography just doesn't work without solid public transportation. Even if they moved across the Bay, then you're in a similar situation where it's still going to be a pain in the ass for half of the metro area to get to a game. If there was something like a light rail that could get you from downtown Tampa to the Trop, I think you'd see an increase in attendance.

The Trop is a weird place, but is a really fun stadium to see a game. Building a newer, shinier stadium won't change anything in terms of attendance (see Miami).

The transplant culture makes things difficult and I think this is a phenomenon that's compounded with baseball. I think baseball fandom, more than any other major US pro sport, is more likely to be inherited depending on how you grew up. A lot of folks are bandwagoning the Rays down there now, but a lot of them will always be Yankees/Red Sox/Jays/Braves/Cubs/etc. fans first. The same thing would happen in pretty much any other southern city with an expansion baseball team. If Charlotte got an expansion team, I think they would have the same problem. The Bolts are another good example of this. They're playing at a really high level now, but if they start stinking it'll be back to home games being dominated by Rangers/Wings/Leafs/Bruins fans when they're in town. They sell seats, but even when theyre good this is still kind of the case.

This is a good take. I'll add that pro sports are still pretty new to the Tampa Bay area. The Bucs started in 1976. The Lightning started in 1992. The Rays started in 1998. This is an area with a relatively old population. There are people in their 60s who didn't grow up with the Bucs. People in their late 40s who didn't grow up with the Lightning and Rays. Then add that the Bucs and Rays have mostly sucked. At least the Bucs and Lightning have championships.

Geography is a huge issue. The Tampa Bay area is a collection of villages and people don't really like to leave their village. People in Tampa complain about having to cross the bridge to St. Pete even though it's only about 20-45 minutes depending on where you live. Wherever they put a stadium, people will complain about going there. A light rail system would help but I'm not sure it would help that much.

I think the ideal location would be the Florida State Fairgrounds. It's right off the junction of I-4 which runs from Tampa to Daytona Beach and I-75. It's with 30-45 minutes of St. Pete, Clearwater, and Tarpon Springs to the West, 45-60 minutes and right off I-75 from Bradenton and Sarasota to the South, 20-30 minutes from New Tampa and the growing Wesley Chapel area to the North, and to the East is Lakeland within 30 minutes and it's 50-60 minutes from Disney World and the suburbs west of Orlando.

The Fairgrounds are also a 10 minute walk from the Seminole Hard Rock Casino who would probably be the biggest beneficiary. The FL State Fair is in February so the stadium could be used for the fair. The Fairgrounds hosts major events most weekends that could utilize the stadium so it wouldn't go to waste in the offseason or even weekend series on the road.

There's already plenty of parking at the Fairgrounds and they could build a parking deck. The Casino has plenty of parking as well. I don't think traffic would be a major issue.
 
Exhausted today at work but last night was fun. Not a Nats fan but will try to go Monday or Tuesday.
 
Rooting for the Ray's tonight because I think Rays/Yanks tickets will be cheaper than Stros/Yanks.
 
Gerrit Cole has given up more than 2 runs in a start once in the last 3 months (since July 12). 4 runs in 6 IP against the Rays on August 28. Can the Rays get to Cole again?

Tyler Glasnow is a beast. 6-8 230. Gave up more than 2 runs in a start only twice all year (including in Game 1 against the Astros). Astros will feel the pressure like the Dodgers last night.
 
Strasburg with another masterful game. 7 innings, 12 strikeouts, NO walks, 7 hits, 1 unearned run (throwing error)117 pitches. Nationals get 8 runs on 11 hits. Efficiency. Particularly with only one HR. Nats pitchers got 16 strikeouts as part of the 27 outs.

ETA:

Nats first four runs scored with two out in the third inning. That proved to be helpful, as runners went on contact on fly to center that dropped for a double and runner on first scored as well as the one on second.
 
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