NL wins All-Star game decided by Home Run Derby
Labor War looms for MLB. Red Sox crack top-10 power rankings. Weather for Open stinks
Good morning, all! Here’s hoping your day is going well!
For the first time in MLB history the All-Star game has been decided by a home run derby, after the NL blew a 6-0 lead. The NL won the home run derby competition, 4-3, when Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber homered in each of his allotted three swings.
The AL scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game. The NL failed to score in the bottom of ninth, triggering the new tie-breaking format for the All-Star game.
Under the rules, each team picked three hitters. Each batter got three swings, with the two teams alternating. The team with the most home runs, after the six hitters took their cuts, won the game.
With the NL trailing, 3-1, Schwarber, who was the second NL hitter to bat, slugged three homers in his three swings to give the NL the lead. After Tampa Bay’s Jonathan Aranda failed to connect on his three swings the NL was declared the winner of the game.
Labor war on the horizon for MLB?
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred addressed the Baseball Writers Association of America on Tuesday, before the All-Star game. Along the way he dropped a number of nuggets, including should the Tampa Bay Rays make the post season, their home games will be played at 10,046-seat George M. Steinbrenner Field. Labor issues were at the heart of the news conference, however, with the MLB’s working agreement with the players association ending after the 2026 season.
Manfred will not admit, a salary cap will be at the heart of the dispute, but it will be. The players do not want one, owners do. Both sides are prepared to go to the mats on this one. There is one problem, however, and it is a big one: television revenue. The paradigm baseball has used for decades to help underwrite these mega salaries is outdated.
Fewer people, especially the younger demographic, are consuming content - baseball and otherwise - through cable TV. The cutting-the-cord crowd increases each day. MLB also has to make up $1.5B in revenue over the next three years with ESPN having opted out of its contract. The commissioner insists he is close to a deal but will it be enough to offset the $1.5B?
Baseball is pushing a streaming blueprint for obvious reasons; that’s where the eyeballs. Will it be enough to make up for lost revenue? For years, baseball was able to bankroll its players payroll, even with the high salaries, through television rights fees. Teams were in the black, even before the ballpark gates were unlocked. Those days are gone. Regional Sports Networks are failing, with some having gone out of business. That has left MLB to produce local telecasts, something unheard even five years ago.
Offering baseball for your viewing pleasure ala carte via streaming maybe the future, but the product must be priced right. To avoid a labor war seemingly on the horizon, what MLB should do is invite the MLBPA into the revenue conversation, particularly as it pertains to TV. All we have right now is a lot of posturing. The commissioner keeps sounding the call of possible TV revenue shortfall, while MLBPA head Tony Clark keeps insisting there is plenty of revenue to be made.
Before it’s too late, it might be a good idea for both sides to start talking to each other rather than past each other.
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DAN