2023 Official MLB Season Thread

With all due respect to Matsui, he was like '98 Godzilla and Shohei is the one now that sonned King Kong.
 
getback said:
Shoehei should be way more popular than he is. Should be like a household name at this point. Speaks to the current status of baseball unfortunately.
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Definitely does because the same can be said for Mike Trout too.

Luckily for the league they've got an exciting crop of charismatic young stars coming through all at the same time
 
getback said:
Also true. If he was on a team like the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, etc he would be a bigger deal to casual fans.
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Shohei hasn't appeared like the type of guy that cares about much outside of baseball, but he's having CAA represent him for a reason. He may be a loyal guy, but no way CAA allows him to sign another extension and it would be surprising to see Arte, with his reputation, give him an all-time bag with Trout and Rendon already on the books for $70M+ annually. Angels have the ultimate trade chip if they don't think he'll re-sign after 2023 so I expect things to get spicy next summer, especially if the Angels are around .500 again. Any title-contending team could sell the farm for the last year and half of Ohtani's services, especially if universal DH is implemented moving forward.
 
Yea if they aren’t much improved and in playoff contention, he’s not signing an extension.
 
getback said:
Also true. If he was on a team like the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, etc he would be a bigger deal to casual fans.
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Nah.

Tatis Jr. is playing in San Diego the 8th biggest city in the US which is nowhere near the media market size of NYC or LA is still popular like crazy with jerseys being bought by casuals and him getting the votes to start at SS in the allstar game.

Baseball's biggest problem is they aren't attracting younger fans mainly because the games are dragging on and take 3 our 4 hours to complete. Compared to the NBA, NFL, and NHL games.
 
^^ Agreed,

Beyond that, and on the Ohtani point, it was hard before but it's even harder now to make inroads in the media unless you are a diva on social media and/or jetting around the world with IG models.

Most these baseball stars today whether it's Trout, Ohtani, etc are more reserved in regards to today's world and that's kinda how their sport is overall. That doesn't work for ESPN, and they are simply looking for the Trevor Bauer effect (pre-scandal) which is attention-seeking short tweets that they can post on their "Headline News".....which they've done for Bauer for several years now.

I do agree MLB is at a better place at this very moment than they have been in years or even decades. Part of me thinks what MLB also needs though beyond possible internet celebrity is the Nike marketing machine to really make these guys more well-known. Back in the 80s and 90s Nike and other shoe companies helped make household names of Griffey, Puckett, Bo Jackson, Frank Thomas, etc and MLB players were nearly as big of stars as other sports. It didn't matter what market you played in...no one cared. The Oakland A's of the late 80s were as popular a team as any in sports. In the 90s the kids ALL followed the Mariner's because of Griffey and Arod. That has literally zero chance of happening any longer. It's Yankees/Mets/Sox/Dodgers or bust and that's all the media has time for.

Teams like the Padres can obviously slip in there once in awhile, and so can other franchises that bust their asses. But in general for these players we've evolved to you better play in NY and you better be "look at me" on SM if you want to become anything close to a star. We keep wishing for it to be different but it's pointless.
 
mr j 858 said:
Nah.

Tatis Jr. is playing in San Diego the 8th biggest city in the US which is nowhere near the media market size of NYC or LA is still popular like crazy with jerseys being bought by casuals and him getting the votes to start at SS in the allstar game.

Baseball's biggest problem is they aren't attracting younger fans mainly because the games are dragging on and take 3 our 4 hours to complete. Compared to the NBA, NFL, and NHL games.
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he’s also on a good team who is in playoff contention for the 2nd year in a row. The quality of club the player is playing for will also help dictate the popularity. They also get nationally more exposure than stars on bad teams.
 
Isn’t this what Ohtani wanted? He wanted a west coast team with no pressure. No one cares about the Angels, they’re an awful team. Now when Trout gets better, I’m sure they’ll be on National TV a lot more next year.

Anyone know why he preferred a west coast team? Does he have family around?

Impressive season BUT **** him. Stole that ROY award from a more deserving player.
 
g-time said:
he’s also on a good team who is in playoff contention for the 2nd year in a row. The quality of club the player is playing for will also help dictate the popularity. They also get nationally more exposure than stars on bad teams.
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Padres were in the running for Ohtani. Would have been dope if him and Nando were on the same team o_O
 
MLB TV app has the last 20 ASGs and HR Derby. Just put on the 93 Derby, Boncs, Juan and Griffey. ****, MLB package is the best package out of all sports.

David Justice up first. Man this is crazy to watch.

They didn’t even show Albert Belle, they ran commercials during his AB.

Piazza putting up a donut.

Man I’m loving this, gonna watch a few of them today.

Juan Gonzalez is going off. I gotta ball signed BG Juan and Ivan from their Rangers days.
 
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Hahahaha said:
MLB TV app has the last 20 ASGs and HR Derby. Just put on the 93 Derby, Boncs, Juan and Griffey. ****, MLB package is the best package out of all sports.

David Justice up first. Man this is crazy to watch.
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Nope NBA League Pass signing up through India's website using a VPN for $15 is the best deal :lol:

Also if u got T-Mobile or Sprint MLB.TV is free because they are the official cell phone provider and have a deal with MLB.
 
Tatis is not popular to casuals like that :lol: maybe casuals in San Diego.

if I asked 10 coworkers who Tatis is, I would guess 1 might know him. Same with Aaron Judge or JD Martinez/Bogearts/Devers. I would guess the most popular current names in baseball are Harper, Pujols, Kershaw. And even then, it would probably be less than 50/50. Baseball just sucks at marketing. There’s no Tom Brady or LeBron type player that you can ask anyone on the street and have that person know who he is.
 
erupt said:
Tatis is not popular to casuals like that :lol: maybe casuals in San Diego.

if I asked 10 coworkers who Tatis is, I would guess 1 might know him. Same with Aaron Judge or JD Martinez/Bogearts/Devers. I would guess the most popular current names in baseball are Harper, Pujols, Kershaw. And even then, it would probably be less than 50/50. Baseball just sucks at marketing. There’s no Tom Brady or LeBron type player that you can ask anyone on the street and have that person know who he is.
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*if they were sports fans. Random person would prob ask you if David Jeter still plays.
 
  • Haha
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MLB does suck at marketing. There are so many awesome young stars right now, and even casual fans might not even know who they are. They really need to step up and market the hell out of Tatis Jr/Vlad Jr/Acuna/Judge/Mookie etc...
 
Watching Sosa crush all these 500+ bombs in these HR Derby’s is fun as hell. What a show. Brings me back.

Curt Schilling complaining about HRs and the offense.
 
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