Interleague play has been cited as a key driver of attendance in its eight years. The data indicate that its effect is much smaller than MLB would have you believe.
Part One Part Two Part Three Most spring training games are in the afternoon, but every so often there is an evening game, and with a lot of the parks being relatively close together, it’s possible to catch a day/night doubleheader, which is what I did on Friday. The first game was the Twins and…
Part One Part Two The five teams who train on the Gulf Coast of Florida south of Tampa Bay are, from north to south, the Pirates in Bradenton, the Reds in Sarasota, the Rangers in Port Charlotte, and the Red Sox and Twins, both in Fort Myers (with different stadiums). Wednesday, I headed all the…
(Ed. note: On the heels of Derek Zumsteg’s jaunt through Arizona, Jeff Hildebrand is making his way around Florida. He’ll be filing periodic reports during his trip.) Part One One of the reasons teams have trained in Florida for years is because there isn’t much in the way of consistent, heavy rain to disrupt the…
(Ed. note: On the heels of Derek Zumsteg’s jaunt through Arizona, Jeff Hildebrand is making his way around Florida. He’ll be filing periodic reports during his trip.) The Tampa/St. Petersburg area is home to four Grapefruit League sites. The Yankees play in Tampa proper. On the other side of the bay, the Rays play their…
Over the past week we’ve seen many stories about greedy players. Jayson Stark’s "Rumblings and Grumblings" column on ESPN.com listed the principal complainers as Gary Sheffield, Barry Bonds, and Frank Thomas. A feature on ESPN’s "SportsCenter" about the complaints featured clips of the same three players. Even our staff has recently castigated Sheffield and Thomas…
Over the past few years, Major League Baseball’s schedule-makers have been subjected to considerable criticism for oddities in the schedule, most having to do with an increase in nonsensical travel. To a certain degree, though, they’ve been put in an impossible situation. The increasing number of opponents that each team has to fit into their…
By now we’ve all heard the predictions of doom for Major League Baseball. Many sportswriters have solemnly declared that the player compensation structure of the game is fundamentally broken and that only a few teams can compete these days. The 1998 season was declared to be a model of what we would see in the…
Much of the discussion about the Curt Schilling trade has focused on what it will do for Arizona’s chances down the stretch and into October. However the trade also has very interesting implications for the Phillies. It’s a trade with considerable risks, but the potential payoff is extremely high. Travis Lee is generally regarded as…
Friday night in Philadelphia, we were treated to another sampling of managerial genius by the imcomparable Terry Francona. Through seven innings, Randy Wolf had been overpowering, giving up only three hits, with no walks and seven strikeouts, and holding a 3-1 lead over the Pirates. His pitch count was up to 94, so I was…
One of the criticisms occasionally leveled at the Baseball Prospectus staff is that we are rabid prospect hounds, to the point of being a bit excessive about it. We’ll cheerfully admit to the first part and live with the second, because sometimes the long minor-league watch pays off and provides some wonderful moments for us…
As we approach the quarter mark of the season, many people are starting to assemble "surprises and disappointments" lists. Some of these lists reflect a lack of careful analysis–such as any comments about Dante Bichette‘s inept performance–but another widely-ignored problem is whether the quarter of the season just played will be representative of the season…
A Bad Trend in Philadelphia In late May, there were several stories in the national media about Curt Schilling‘s desire to pitch complete games, and how he was only the third pitcher in the 1990s to throw five straight complete games. Notably absent from those stories was any discussion of the wisdom of Schilling’s workload….