Travel time? No problem! All it takes is a market and demand.
“The Amtrak Downeaster has added later departure times on evenings of Red Sox home games and concerts at Fenway Park and TD Garden! Train 689/ 699 will depart Boston at 11:25pm to make your night even better.”
it arrives at the other end at 2:15am.
I've been telling my kids how spoiled they are as NE sports fans... Hard to believe when I grew up the only really successful team was the Celtics, but the Bruins popularity was off the charts (is Boston really a blue collar town ).
IMO, the Sox failures this year are mostly pitching related, but there's a bit of lack of timely hitting. Way too many games lost because they don't have a consistent/good closer. As for Porch-Rocker - look at his W/L stats - he was destined for a down year after a good year. I'm not too surprised actually.
w/r/t: the Rays drive and population discussion:
St.Pete may the 'actual' home and accessible by two bridges with traffic woes; however, that makes me wonder if you've ever tried to drive to Fenway *and* find parking... The Trop is really easy in and easy out comparatively. I won't even try thinking about driving to Yankee stadium let alone find parking - public transportation is the best way there. It's probably a good thing that a new home in Ybor City was supported - travel to/from and parking would have been a challenge there. I believe using population numbers, drive times, etc. is a poor excuse for why fans don't show up for a team that's doing well. Even without a good team people go to Fenway for the experience. BTW having lived in Charlotte for a bit ... they have a MiLB team that gets OK support. Their NFL team gets support now because of Cam, but when we first moved there it was a different story - parking for $5. They're trying really hard to get a s*r team, but cannot get the necessary community $$ support even for that. Doubtful they'd get enough support for a MLB team.
JohnF posted:
St.Pete may the 'actual' home and accessible by two bridges with traffic woes; however, that makes me wonder if you've ever tried to drive to Fenway *and* find parking... The Trop is really easy in and easy out comparatively. I won't even try thinking about driving to Yankee stadium let alone find parking - public transportation is the best way there. It's probably a good thing that a new home in Ybor City was supported - travel to/from and parking would have been a challenge there. I believe using population numbers, drive times, etc. is a poor excuse for why fans don't show up for a team that's doing well. Even without a good team people go to Fenway for the experience. BTW having lived in Charlotte for a bit ... they have a MiLB team that gets OK support. Their NFL team gets support now because of Cam, but when we first moved there it was a different story - parking for $5. They're trying really hard to get a s*r team, but cannot get the necessary community $$ support even for that. Doubtful they'd get enough support for a MLB team.
All fair points re: the Rays. I do think the Red Sox and Yankees are unique cases to a great extent, given their long, storied histories. The presence of good mass transit networks helps, too.
So what factors drive attendance. Florida does not draw well for MLB. But spring training tickets seem to be harder to get every year. The Marlins arguably have crushed their fans' spirits (repeatedly) and aren't winning now. But the Rays are good and a lot of fun to watch. The Trop is not a great stadium (or even a good one), but it's air conditioned and can't rain out--I still like going to games there. The area around the Trop is seeing a wealth of new restaurants and bars, but that isn't helping. Many Floridians come from other places and maybe keep their hometown team allegiances--but Arizona manages middle of the pack home attendance despite also being a magnet for retirement and relocation.
The 2019 attendance figures show one obvious trend: winning teams tend to draw well, losing teams do not: http://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance
The Rays are the obvious outlier when it comes to W/L records and attendance. Cleveland comes in 23rd in attendance--pretty low, but still ~50% more fans per game than TB.
The Cubs sold out home games even when they were terrible. Classic urban stadium, easy access on mass transit, long tradition. Getting your fan base to think of your team as "lovable losers" means you don't have to win to sell tickets--a neat trick if you can pull it off.
Sorting the data by attendance at away games yields a few surprises: The Red Sox rank much lower in road game attendance vs. home games, while the Padres, Reds and Pirates rank a good deal higher (maybe because the latter three play a lot of in-division games at popular parks like Dodger Stadium and Wrigley?). The Rays are attendance bottom feeders at home or on the road. The Twins, for some reason, are MLB's worst road draw even though they are very good this year (because the AL Central is otherwise so weak except for the Indians?).
As for a new home for the Rays: Charlotte has been #1 or #2 in MiLB attendance since they built a new downtown ballpark a few years ago. A lot of those are corporate season tickets though, and on weeknights you usually see quite a few empty seats despite an announced sellout. An MLB team would require tearing up said new stadium--I assumed that getting a new MiLB park meant Charlotte was opting out on MLB. I don't know if any city will be willing to pay for a new ballpark to get a team--that madness seems to have died down. (Although I think Charlotte likely will build a domed stadium for the Panthers new billionaire owner, so who knows...?)
Chico Escuela posted:RJM posted:The Indians and A’s are leading the Rays for the two AL wildcard spots. But does anyone in Tampa care? If so, they might draw 15,000.
Rays fan here. The truth hurts, but can you let me just enjoy a playoff run? (And the Rays are #1 in the wild card standings as of today!) I'll be at the Trop this weekend for the Jays game.
And how about a team contending while posting THE lowest total payroll in MLB? Just over 25% of Boston's, and the Rays will finish ahead of the Red Sox.
You have to see the positive, you can take 3 seats and use them like a sofa
CTbballDad posted:Big 4 games series between the Nats and Braves. I expect a packed house, hopefully the Braves will put the division out of reach.
Apparently you were unaware that the Nationals are (were) the "winningest team in baseball" since (insert random arbitrary date)" or so they and the nat'l media keep telling us. lol. Meanwhile, they were losing ground in the NL East even before head-to-head and last night's loss. Braves up 8 games with 20 to play. Good luck with that!!
Braves getting no respect despite being the hottest team in MLB taking 2 of 3 in series against both Dodgers and Nationals in August.
Dominik85 posted:Chico Escuela posted:RJM posted:The Indians and A’s are leading the Rays for the two AL wildcard spots. But does anyone in Tampa care? If so, they might draw 15,000.
Rays fan here. The truth hurts, but can you let me just enjoy a playoff run? (And the Rays are #1 in the wild card standings as of today!) I'll be at the Trop this weekend for the Jays game.
And how about a team contending while posting THE lowest total payroll in MLB? Just over 25% of Boston's, and the Rays will finish ahead of the Red Sox.
You have to see the positive, you can take 3 seats and use them like a sofa
Padres games when I first moved there. And you could bring your own beer in a plastic container. So we would fill a team size cooler.
Its a deep drive to left. Winfield races back. He hits his head on the wall. It’s rolling back towards the infield.
- Jerry “Malaprop” Coleman
Clinched the wild card!
Lowest. Payroll. In. MLB.
(Yeah, RJM, they also have the second lowest attendance. And will have tough time beating the A's. But the Rays have been a fun to watch this season.)
I am pleased TB was able to make the playoffs. The As too. I am glad that small payroll teams can thrive in this whacky baseball economy, but I am curious how teams will do it if the MLB service time changes in the next contract. The injury bug is still persisting with my beloved Yanks, if they should win it all this year, it would be an amazing feat. Houston fans are probably foaming at the mouth with their chances...a really really scary team
Twins fan here. If they and the Yanks go at it, it should be interesting. Both teams can hit the hell out of the baseball. Pitching?....eh
Houston is clearly the best team. The starters are crazy good.
Brewers are in it...
Anything can happen in one series. But it’s hard to maintain playing over your head through an entire post season. Unless a handful of teams can out slug their pitching woes it should be the Astros versus the Dodgers in the World Series.
Astros just have no weakness. Monster line-up, good pen but the biggest thing they have over anyone else is 3 aces who all can go 7 on a good day. A lot of talk over bullpenning but while that might work a game or a series always starting the pen in be 4th or 5th will make those great relievers tired. You can do that sometimes but no every game.
That's the problem the brewers and twins have, they have good line ups and bullpens but just not the good starters who can consistently go 6+.
Dominik85 posted:Astros just have no weakness. Monster line-up, good pen but the biggest thing they have over anyone else is 3 aces who all can go 7 on a good day. A lot of talk over bullpenning but while that might work a game or a series always starting the pen in be 4th or 5th will make those great relievers tired. You can do that sometimes but no every game.
That's the problem the brewers and twins have, they have good line ups and bullpens but just not the good starters who can consistently go 6+.
Brewers don't even have that good of a bullpen this year. Knebel is hurt, Jeffress is gone, Hader has given up 15 HR's in 75 innings.
Wild Card games Nats over Brewers and A's over Rays
LDS Dodgers over Nats, Braves over Cards Yanks over Twins and Astros over A's. A couple of these could be great series but I think Yanks overpower Twins with bullpen. Nats and A's have to get Pitching and closest matchup is Braves/Cards that will turn on who gets a great game or two out of starters.
LCS Dodgers over Braves in 6 and Astros over Yanks in 6. Both of these might have a couple of twists & turns but better deeper teams win. Yanks have better shot than Braves if they can get 5 of the games to the bullpens tied or in the lead after 5 or 6.
Series Astros over Dodgers in 7. Verlander is the difference but Dodger lefty bats present problem for RHP heavy Astros. This could be another classic like the one a couple of seasons ago.
Not nearly as exciting as the NL wild card, but great win for the Rays last night (and I admit, I was not expecting it). A's actually had one more hit than the Rays, and both team's pitchers had 12 Ks. The whole story was HRs. Not my favorite brand of baseball, but I'll take it.
Fun fact: If you combined the team payrolls of the Rays and As, they would rank 13th in the majors (slightly above league average). And Oakland's payroll is $29M (forty-seven percent) higher than Tampa Bay's.
Epic comeback win for the Bravos! Down 1-0 with 2 outs in the 9th, Donaldson, Swanson, and then Adam Duvall comes through. Second huge pinch hit, two RBI hit for Duvall in three games. Sweet!
If you want to cheer for someone in these races, you couldn't find a better guy or story than Duvall. Former All-Star who spent almost the entire season in the minors. No complaints, no "me," nothing but great attitude and team every time he talks to the press. And battling Type 1 diabetes through it all.
#Braves' Duvall: "There's a lot of work that's been put in this year. And I just try to go up there and have a quality at-bat, play quality defense, be a good teammate and hopefully everything else takes care of itself."
Excellent story about Duvall and what he has to overcome everyday here: Braves’ Duvall plays with a secret weapon: his insulin pump
Los Doyers no buenos
So happy the dodgers lost....
Rays need to get it done tonight!! This has been a good set of series, but as a part-time Tampa Bay area resident, this team has played like a top tier team with very little (VERY little) fan support in a dome that feels like you're at the circus! Let's see them bring down a behemoth! (I do normally like the Astros) And lastly, as a lifelong Phillies fan, I quite enjoyed the Braves demise. Nats deserve a chance to go further, but I won't cry when they get eliminated next round! Only a few weeks left to savor!
I would like to see a yanks/cards world series.
