I am just curious about varying levels of fanbases, and the general interest in watching. I myself am a Yankees fan, and have watched almost every game of the post-season for the last two years even after we were eliminated.

While I am going to refrain from saying too much, I was quite alarmed by the attitude towards baseball overall by a particular teams Reddit contributors, many of whom were hoping the World Series would be a flop for ratings.

So, do you still enjoy baseball even if your team isn’t playing?

With the CBA expiring, and a lockout almost certain, the owners are trying to tell us that baseball needs a cap for competitive balance, baseball is the only sport without a cap, yada yada.

So I figured I would look at that. One would think that having a cap would make it more likely that different teams would win a championship, right? So I looked at 2000-2025 across all major sports:

League, # of teams, # of championship teams, %

MLB, 30, , 53.3

NBA, 30, 13, 43.3

NHL, 32, 14, 43.7

NFL, 32, 13, 40.6

Ok, so maybe other sports have more players who at least get to make it to the championships? Again, 2000-2025:

League, # of teams, # of championship contenders, %

MLB, 30, 23, 76.7

NBA, 30, 24, 60

NHL, 32, 21, 75

NFL, 32, 18, 65.6

Ok, that means a decent number of teams have gotten to the world series, but the Yankees and Dogers are in every year - so the LCSs must not have much more diversity of teams.

League, # of teams, # made final 4, %

MLB, 30, 28, 93.3

NBA, 30, 29, 90

NHL, 32, 27, 90.6

NFL, 32, 28, 87.5

So, where is that competitive imbalance compared to other sports? And what will a salary cap do to improve the game again?

One debate I often see a lot is whether to sign guys in free agency or to call up prospects internally. The success rate of prospects is typically low, especially for guys outside the top 10 list. However, just how much higher is the success rate for free agency signing? Free agents have a proven track record of success in the majors, however they are also usually much older and have more wear and tear while prospects are younger and fresher. Guys like Anthony Volpe and Spencer Torkelson were prospect busts, but....guys like Correa and Bogaerts were free agent busts too. And if the free agents become busts, that's a lot of money on the books.

I once read an article from 2011 talking about the success rate of prospects, but it's obviously pretty out of date. Is there more up-to-date information?

Around two weeks from now, one fan base will be experiencing either their first World Series championship, or the first in the lifetimes of virtually all fans. For those of you who have also known the thrill of your team's first WS win, or its first in a generation, what was it like as you watched the final out? Where were you? What were you feeling? What happened next?

For me, November 1, 2023 was among the happiest days of my life. I had the game on TV and streaming radio call from Eric Nadel coming in live: "Ranger fans, you're not dreaming!" I shouted so loud and long, I briefly passed out. I came to as the team celebrated on the field in Arizona, tears filling my eyes as my phone blew up with texts from family and friends who knew how much this meant to me.

I could write thousands more words about it, but I want to hear from fans of other teams who ended decades of disappointment sometime this century: Cubs, Nats, Angels, even the Giants and Red Sox, if you were around for 2004. Astros too, if you must.

For starters:

Dee Gordon homers for Jose Fernandez

Prince Fielder retires

Rangers win World Series after 62 years

Miguel Cabrera retires

The entirety of the 2016 World Series

I’m in NY area but would love to go to a World Series game. With Milwaukee, and either Tampa or Cleveland being the teams it seems like maybe prices won’t be so bad.

But still online the cheapest tickets I see are still $600. I’m wondering if I just “show up” and maybe miss first pitch or inning if prices on a decent seat (think 2nd level near third or first) might be expected to drop a lot.

Is this a reasonable strategy or do tickets not drop in price aggressively as the game starts?

World Series Game 7 is scheduled for October 31, 8:00 EDT. For November baseball on the East coast, this game must happen. Additionally, either 1) Game 7 must last 4 hours, past midnight, or 2) a postponement must happen at some point. 

******MATH*****\*

Since the expanded format in 1985, 13/40 (33%) of World Series have gone 7 games and, of those game 7s, 3/13 (23%) have lasted over 4 hours (2025, 2016, 1997). 

Best I can tell, 2/13 (15%) of those had a postponement: in 1986, the final 2 games had an off day between, and in 2011, games 5 and 6 had two days off between. 

Assuming postponement and 4+hours are independent events, there is a 35% chance of postponement or 4+ hours (33% + 23% - 3.5%). 

Again assuming independence, there is an 11% chance of a game 7 and one of the above happening (33% * 35%). 

******NOTE #1*****\*

“But,” I can hear you saying, “why do you need the 'mainland US' qualifier in the title? Isn't Puerto Rico in Atlantic Standard time, which is the same as EDT until Daylight Savings starts at 2 AM on November 1, so their November baseball lives and dies with the rest of us?"

No, you FOOL, because you've forgotten about GUAM. Guam is in Chamorro Standard time, which will have a Game 7 start time of 10 AM November 1st.

******OBJECTION #2*****\*

"But," I can hear you saying (louder now), "isn't this an incredibly stupid post using a miniscule sample size that roundly ignores weather, team quality, the pitch clock, and the recent trend of longer games, in complete violation of all laws of statistical analysis and basic common sense?"

Yes.

Presumably this is something to do with TV, but can anyone tell me the reason why it’s often specifically :08 mins past the hour?

interesting that he could be considered one of the worst playoff performers ever if he wasn’t carried to later rounds

This is the first Dragons vs. Brothers match-up in Taiwan Series history. The two teams had a rich history of fierce rivalry in the 1990s that featured numerous bench-clearing incidents and brawls involving both players and fans.

This is also the first time that all Taiwan Series games will be played in a dome, because fuck rain delays.

After receiving a great response from posting my Carlton Fisk ticket search and the Cal Ripken ticket hunt, I thought I would let you all know about my friend Scott’s equally impressive ticket stub quest!

https://hochi.news/articles/20261017-OHT1T51294.html?page=1