The Jets are on bye this week, but the Giants take on the Chargers at 4:15pm ET. Feel free to go nuts talking about any of today’s games, just keep the conversation in this thread, please.
B-Ref’s user survery
If you’re like me, you use Baseball Reference about a zillion times a day, yet continually find new stuff that you didn’t know was there before (example: I just recently learned they have called and swinging strike data for pitchers). It’s amazing that such a valuable resource like that exists only because of Sean Forman’s passion for the game. Take a second to fill out this survey to give the gang some feedback. It took me five minutes, tops.
Open Thread: AzFL Rising Stars Showcase
Things in Yankeeland are a little slow these days, but for all the right reasons. Everyone is still celebrating the club’s 27th World Title, and the most exciting part of the Hot Stove Season doesn’t start for another two weeks or so. It’s been just three days, but I already miss the hell out of baseball. If, like me, you’re battling the withdrawals, you can check out the Arizona Fall League Rising Stars Showcase tonight on MLB Network.
It’s essentially the AzFL All Star Game, and even though Stephen Strasburg won’t be playing because of a muscle strain in his neck, the game still will feature oodles of talent. In the starting lineups alone, you have eight first round picks, three superhigh profile international signees, and a handful of late-round sleepers. The rosters read like a who’s who list of top prospects (off the top of my head, I see no fewer than 18 first round picks), so it’s almost like a second Futures Game.
The only Yankee farmhand participating in the game is lefty reliever Mike Dunn, who we saw briefly in September. He’s surely get to face a batter or two at some point. If you’re interested in checking out the game, it’ll be on MLBN at 8pm ET.
Feel free to chat about it here, or whatever else you want to talk about. The Rangers, Devils, Islanders, Nets, and Knicks are all in action tonight, plus you’ve got more college football games than I care to list. Anything goes, just be respectful of each other.
Light rumors for late Saturday afternoon
Mike was on duty at MLBTR today, and he found a few Yankee rumors. Nothing big, just some basic stuff on the Yankees’ free agent decisions. Check that out for starters; it has items regarding Matsui, Damon, and Jeter.
Later in the day, Drew Silva linked to a bit by Tim Kurkjian with a few Yankee bits. He thinks that the Yanks will let both Damon and Matsui walk, replacing their production with Jason Bay or Matt Holliday. I’m not sure I agree with this at all. He also mentions that we should “look for the Yankees to re-sign [Andy Pettitte] for at least one year.” That would be ideal.
World Series hangover: Joba, Pedro and feelin’ good
The Hot Stove League will soon heat up, but as a bright November weekend dawns in the City of New York, Yankee fans are still recovering from their collective World Series hangover. To that end, we have a few stories for your Saturday reading pleasure.
A World Series moment with the Chamberlains
It’s sometimes easy to forget that Major League Baseball players are young kids who are struggling to adjust to a world very unfamiliar to them. Subject to more debates over the last 2.5 seasons than any 24-year-old should, Joba Chamberlain has been growing up in the New York spotlight. Starter, reliever, overhyped or not, Joba has heard it all. When the Yankees won the World Series on Wednesday, Joba and his dad shared a moment captured by photographers and Yahoo! Sports’ Big League Stew author Kevin Kaduk.
The story is a great reminder about how baseball is about families. It’s about how baseball is about the people and how the players we analyze, the players we admire and the players some people criticize are, at heart, just people similar to you and me. At ‘Duk writes, baseball is always about a father having a catch with his son, and Joba and Harlan had the joy of sharing a baseball moment this week that doesn’t come around too often.
While Joba and Harlan had their hug, Pedro Martinez was feeling less than happy about the game. After his Game 6 defeat at the hands of the Yankees, Pedro tried to duck out on reporters. The media throng cornered him in the hallway, but he would speak only in Spanish to them. One fan taunted him with a chant of “Who’s your daddy?” but Pedro was clearly upset about losing the game. Beating Pedro made this World Series victory even sweeter.
For Tyler Kepner, 2009 marked his eighth season covering the Yanks and their first World Series under his watch. From World Series losses to 0-3 ALCS comebacks, it has been a tumultuous few years in Yankeeland, but as Kepner wrote on Wednesday night, this World Series restored a “peaceful, easy feeling” to the Bronx. No team has won more games in the 21st Century than the Yankees have and now they have their title to go with it. It has indeed been a peaceful time for Yankee fans.
Thanking those behind the scenes
Winning a World Championship takes more than just 25 guys and a manager. It takes smart player development, hordes of both pro and amateur scouts, countless medical personal, plus many, many more. Bob Elliot spoke to Yanks scouting director Damon Oppenheimer, who noted the way GM Brian Cashman took the time to pop champagne and toast everyone who made this thing happen after the last out was recording Game Six. Buster Olney talks about it even more in his blog post today, and also mentions all the contributions the team got from those behind the scenes during their title run.
They’re both great reads, so make sure you check ’em out.
Yanks-Phils Classic sees 42% ratings jump over ’08
A year ago, those in charge of baseball were panicking a bit. The 2008 World Series ended amidst some weather-inspired controversies, and no one had watched. Ratings were down 20 percent from 2007, and average of just over 13 million fans, the lowest total since FOX started broadcasting the Fall Classic, tuned in per game. Baseball was on the verge of losing its wider national audience.
However, with the onset of the MLB Network’s wall-to-wall coverage of the sport and, more importantly, the return of the Yankees, the villain of October, to the World Series, ratings for the Series were up a record 42 percent over last year. Although this year’s wasn’t the most watched World Series of recent times, it was the fourth-highest viewed of the last decade and has restored baseball’s October dominance and popularity. Over 19 million fans tuned in each night to watch the Yankees battle the Phillies, and the numbers suggest that the Yankees, as I’ve said before, are good for baseball.
Maury Brown at the Biz of Baseball has more on the ratings:
Fueled by outstanding individual and team performances, dramatic come-from-behind wins and the most one-run games in a single postseason, each round of the 2009 MLB Postseason generated double-digit percentage year-to-year increases in average viewership as compared to 2008, capped by the 2009 World Series averaging 19.4 million viewers, a +42% increase over last year and the largest-ever year-to-year gain in viewership (previous high was 36% from 2000-2001, which followed a low viewership showing for the Subway Series).
Complete 2009 MLB Postseason coverage on FOX and TBS averaged 9.0 million viewers, up +30% over last year and the most-watched since 2005. In addition to the +42% viewership gain for the World Series on FOX, viewership for the Division Series on TBS was up +11% over last year and viewership for the League Championship Series on FOX and TBS increased +14% over 2008.
The 2009 MLB Postseason delivered extraordinary results for FOX and TBS, including leading TBS to the most-watched week in its 33-year history, and catapulting FOX to a commanding +22% lead in the key Adult 18-49 demographic against its network competition. The huge Adult 18-49 season-to-date advantage for FOX is the largest in the network’s history in the fourth quarter and the largest fourth-quarter lead for any network since 2003.
In addition to these hearty aggregate numbers, the World Series was the highest-rated network primetime show during the six nights of games, reports Brown. All over the country, people wanted to watch the Yankees.
And so fans may hate the Yanks. They may root against the team and its payroll. They may say the Steinbrenners bought another title. But the reality of it is simple: Baseball fans tune into watch Goliath because they hope David can win. When David happens to be another team with a payroll in excess of $100 million from a major media market, baseball executives can go home happy. This year, the World Series was very, very good for baseball.