The Out in Left Weekly: March 31, 2024
The Out in Left Weekly: March 31, 2024
Opening Day, ESPN may fire MLB, and more
Opening day - Philadelphia Phillies
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt more alive than when Brandon Marsh hit that homer off Strider,” I texted a friend after the fifth inning of the Phillies’ Opening Day game against the Atlanta Braves. “Pure bliss. Pure emotion.”
Then the supposed best bullpen in baseball imploded and the home side would go on to lose 9-3. Mine is the losingest team in sports history, and on the postgame walk to Chickie’s & Pete’s I wondered why I ever believe the Phillies will defy their DNA. I was back at the ballpark the next day.
Opening day - not Phillies
After reading all the season previews and watching the first couple games of the season, I am ready to offer my lukewarm takes of the 2024 season:
The Seattle Mariners could be World Series contenders - just ignore their Opening Day loss to the Boston Red Sox.
The Arizona Diamondbacks can keep pace with the Dodgers - check the Carfax if you don’t believe me.
The Oakland Athletics might be better than the Rockies - not that it matters.
The Cincinnati Reds’ Elly De La Cruz may inspire a new religion - he’s one of the most electric athletes on Earth, as well as my favorite player since the Phillies’ Rollins-Utley-Howard triumvirate.
ESPN plays hardball with MLB broadcast rights
In what would be a savvy move to kick the league while it's down, ESPN is reportedly considering opting out of its broadcasting deal with MLB next year. The regional sports network model that enriched team owners in recent decades is collapsing, and cord cutting has devalued MLB’s core TV products. It makes no sense for ESPN to pay the league $450 million a year to broadcast games if there isn’t a cable subscriber base to justify that payment.
This means baseball is going to get more expensive for us fans, as all cable subscribers, whether they watched a game or not, supported league revenues. To maintain those revenues in today’s media environment, the league has to charge streaming customers (i.e. actual fans) more. Disney charges companies about $10 per month to carry ESPN, by far the priciest “carriage fee,” but that’s far less than, say, the $19.99 a month MLB is charging fans for the San Diego Padres’ new dedicated stream.
In effect, MLB is being forced to reconcile its thirst for more revenue with the accessibility and affordability of its TV products. We know on which side of the scale the league will put its thumb, and that’s a shame for two reasons. First, people will have to pay more for the same product. It’s a fitting metaphor for the U.S. economy.
Second, sports remain appointment viewing in the streaming era. If my social circle is any indication, then only “Love Is Blind” attracts more people to a TV and creates more chatter than sports. When MLB makes it more difficult to find its games and makes it more expensive to do so, it degrades an element of culture that still brings us together.
California state legislature considers reparations for Dodger Stadium construction
Dodger Stadium is a beloved landmark and is the oldest MLB ballpark not named Wrigley or Fenway, but it was built only after Los Angeles razed several working class neighborhoods and a referendum to stop it failed by just a few points. “The Battle of Chavez Ravine” still reverberates today, evidenced by a proposed state law that would require the city of Los Angeles to offer reparations to the people and descendents of those displaced by Dodger Stadium’s construction. There are many layers to the battle—gentrification, suburbanization, and privatization, to name three—making it a lens through which to consider postwar America. How this bill changes through the legislative process, or if it passes at all, indicates what we value today.
Recommendations
Because Zach Kram is one of the best baseball writers and he correctly put the Phillies in his top three: “The 2024 MLB Preseason Power Rankings” for The Ringer. (link)
Because He is God: Elly arriving to Opening Day. (link)
My next monthly essay is about stadium development and gentrification and will be published on April 7.