Professional sports teams relocate all the time — just ask the NFL’s Oakland Raiders, who moved moved to L.A. and then back home again in a little more than a decade (and who are among the lead prospects to fill the pro football void in L.A.). So it would seem no big deal for the Oakland A’s to only move about 50 miles away to San Jose, right? Not quite. [More]
baseball
Yankees, Rockies Fans Can Now Be Fingerprinted For Faster Entry Into Stadium
By 8.5.15
Last year, the San Francisco Giants became the first Major League Baseball team to integrate a TSA-like express security lane for pre-checked visitors (who also paid $179 for the privilege). Starting this week, Yankee Stadium will also get this sort of access, though it won’t cost anything for people who just want speedy access to a baseball game. [More]
Lawsuit Asks Major League Baseball To Put Up Safety Nets All The Way To Foul Poles
By 7.13.15
I’ve been going to baseball games since I was old enough to walk, and I’ve even had regular seats in prime foul ball territory. Yet I’ve never managed to snag an errant ball (and luckily, I’ve never had to duck out of the way from a flying bat). If a new lawsuit has its way, my dream of someday catching a foul ball will become even more of a fantasy. [More]
Did The St. Louis Cardinals Hack Houston Astros’ Front Office? FBI Investigating
By 6.16.15
Major League Baseball is a huge business and much of a team’s financial success depends on its ability to win on the field. So the idea of one team possibly breaching another team’s network to get information on player personnel isn’t very different from two rival manufacturers trying to steal trade secrets. That’s why the FBI is investigating claims that the St. Louis Cardinals might have hacked into the computer network for the Houston Astros’ front office. [More]
Baseball-Loving Charter Subscribers in L.A. Can Finally Watch The Dodgers Next Week
By 6.4.15
The official paperwork for Charter’s bid to buy Time Warner Cable isn’t even in yet, let alone approved, but the two companies are already making good on one promise to play nice: as of Tuesday, Charter subscribers in Los Angeles who are also baseball fans will finally be able to watch their own home team on TV. [More]
A Few More Dodgers Fans Will Finally Get To Watch Them On TV Thanks To Charter/TWC Merger
By 5.26.15
The Los Angeles Dodgers currently hold a narrow lead in the National League West over the San Francisco Giants, but many Dodgers fans can’t watch their favorite team play because Time Warner Cable hates everyone who doesn’t have Time Warner Cable and has been unwilling to share the SportsNet LA network it co-owns with the team. That is until today, when Charter and its well-heeled backers lobbed $55 billion their way. [More]
Today Is The First Time In MLB History That A Game Will Be Played Without A Single Paying Customer
By 4.29.15
Upon the news yesterday that the Baltimore Orioles would face the Chicago White Sox in a postponed game at an empty Camden Yards today, we tried to recall if there’s ever been another instance when two teams faced off without anyone paying to watch. [More]
The Baltimore Orioles Will Play The Chicago White Sox In An Empty Stadium Tomorrow
By 4.28.15
After twice postponing Monday night’s game citing security reasons, the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox have agreed to meet for the first of their planned three-game series Wednesday afternoon, playing for an empty stadium at Camden Yards. [More]
The Average Ticket Price Of A Baseball Game Sees Steepest Increase In Six Years
By 4.6.15
Taking yourself out to the ball game is getting pricer this season, with the average ticket price to attend a Major League Baseball game rising by 3.3% to $28.94, the sharpest increase the league has seen in six years. [More]
Chicago Cubs Apologize After Long Bathroom Lines On Opening Day Led Fans To Pee In Plastic Cups
By 4.6.15
Opening Day crowds proved too much for Wrigley Field’s bathrooms, only two of which were open on the main concourse yesterday. The Chicago Cubs are now apologizing to fans, after the long lines prompted some people to seek other means of relieving themselves. [More]
New MLB Commissioner Hopes For In-Market Streaming Of Games This Season
By 4.2.15
As demonstrated by the ongoing SportsNet L.A. debacle in Los Angeles, the shift of most in-market Major League Baseball games from broadcast TV to basic cable has resulted in lots of local fans being unable to watch their favorite teams. And this divide is likely going to expand as younger consumers cut the cable cord or choose to never get cable TV to begin with. New MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred says that reaching these fans is a high priority of his. [More]
Time Warner Cable Hates Dodgers Fans, Tells Them To Switch To Cable Companies They Can’t Get
By 3.31.15
Baseball season is only days away, and the L.A. Dodgers are fresh off a 94-win division title season. Yet a large number of Dodgers fans can’t watch the games on TV because the cable sports channel owned by the team and Time Warner Cable has yet to reach deals that would let other pay-TV operators in the region carry the station. And TWC’s answer to these fans is mind-bogglingly idiotic. [More]
How Baseball Became America’s Favorite Monopoly
By 3.30.15 — Updated: 5.2.17
In theory, spring has finally sprung. But forget crocuses and breathably warm air; the real sign of seasonal change is baseball, America’s favorite monopoly. Major League Baseball has the dubious distinction not only of being entirely exempt from antitrust law, but also being the only major league sport with such a privilege. With the start of the 2015 season still some days away, we have time to take a look at the history, and the possible future, of this quirk. [More]
Home Of Minnesota Twins Enters The Outrageous Bloody Mary Game With Pepperoni Pizza Garnish
By 3.27.15
Perhaps inspired by its neighboring state of Wisconsin’s formidable, pioneering efforts in the category of outrageously over-the-top Bloody Marys, the Minnesota Twins will be offering their own attempt at ridiculous beverage garnishes with a new drink that comes with a slice of pepperoni pizza stuck on a skewer. [More]
Texas Rangers Upping Calorie Ante With Bacon-Flavored Cotton Candy, Chicken-Fried Corn On The Cob
By 3.19.15
Peanuts and Cracker Jack? Please, that is so 20th century. The new cool thing to do at baseball stadiums is apparently to concoct menu items so calorie-laden that people can’t help but notice them, if not eat them: The Texas Rangers are joining the artery-clogging pool with new creations like bacon-flavored cotton candy and chicken-fried corn on the cob. [More]
This Year’s Special Arizona Diamondbacks Hot Dog Is A Churro Wrapped In A Doughnut
By 3.6.15
Last year, the Arizona Diamondbacks introduced the world to the D-Bat Dog, a $25, 18-inch corn dog stuffed with cheese and bacon. This year the baseball team has decided to go a more sugary route, introducing the Churro Dog, which is essentially, a churro wrapped in a doughnut. [More]
Illinois Car Museum Giving Away ‘Back To The Future’ DeLorean — If The Cubs Win The Next World Series
By 3.4.15
If Marty McFly saw it happen, maybe it’ll happen: In the movie Back to the Future Part II, Michael J. Fox’s character travels forward in time to the year 2015, where lo and behold, miracle of miracles, he finds that the Chicago Cubs have finally won the World Series, after more than a century without a championship title. If that happens in real life, an Illinois car museum says it will give one lucky winner the exhibit model of a 1981 DeLorean — complete with flux capacitor. [More]
New MLB Commissioner Won’t Do Anything To Get Dodgers Back On L.A. TV
By 2.13.15
With pitchers and catchers set to report to spring training in the coming week, and the start of the 2015 Major League Baseball season fewer than eight weeks away, the overwhelming majority of Dodgers fans in Los Angeles are still unable to watch their hometown team on TV. And even though now-former MLB Commissioner Bud Selig had said during his final months that the league would do “everything we can to break the impasse,” those words now ring hollow as Selig’s replacement has confirmed he wants nothing to do with getting baseball back on TV in L.A. [More]
