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I would just like to brag for a second and say that my work softball team is 2-0 this season, so that’s pretty cool.
Today’s Headlines
Rolling Blackouts
It’s been a little while since we’ve heard about the ongoing Bally sports RSN brouhaha, with owner Diamond Sports Group trying to navigate their way through bankruptcy. And apparently no news is good news, because Wednesday it came out that Comcast has dropped 18 DSG/Bally channels over a carriage fee dispute, reports The Athletic’s Evan Drellich (sub req’d):
Subscribers to Comcast and its Xfinity television service can no longer watch any of Diamond’s 18 channels because of a carriage dispute. Diamond has 38 teams across MLB, the NBA and NHL, including 12 teams in baseball: the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers.
MLB had no specific comments about this latest dispute, and the Twins and Cardinals just noted that this is all above their heads, and the teams have no say in their TV carriage deals. MLB had previously taken over the broadcast duties from Diamond Sports when they failed to make payments to the Padres last year, but given that this is a dispute between the channel and the cable carrier, it seems like the league may not, or may not be able to do anything for fans in the affected areas. After all, Dodgers games were effectively blacked out for half of southern California for six years due to a dispute between Spectrum and SportsNet LA.
It does seem like it would behoove the league to not let a dozen teams, including the defending World Series champ Rangers and (depending on who you’re asking) 2024 World Series favorite Braves. The league has made it pretty clear they have very little faith in Diamond’s ability to actually navigate this bankruptcy process successfully, but as previously noted, this situation is materially different from when they were able to swoop in and broadcast San Diego games even if they were inclined to do so. I’ll have to let the lawyers and smarter minds figure this one out.
Also special condolence to Padres fans, twice in as many years is pretty dang unlucky.
At Least You Can Watch Live?
Despite that honestly disastrous-sounding news above, it looks like baseball is seeing a rise in fans attending in person!
The 2024 average attendance of 26,927 marks the best through the end of April for @MLB since the 2017 season, and it represents a +0.9% increase over 2023. pic.twitter.com/LbyuTh5FkI
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) May 1, 2024
I uh, am not sure if I would have put that percentage in there, since 0.9% is…not super inspiring. But the jumps in the younger viewers for the nationally televised games are pretty cool to see.
1K Marte Parte
In today’s nice, round number alert, we have Arizona’s Ketel Marte celebrating his 1,000th career game:
1000 games in the books for El Niño de Nizao. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/O9UWj8oy41
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) May 2, 2024
Over his decade-long big league career, Marte’s authored a .280/.345/.456 slash line, with 23.1 fWAR/26.5 bWAR overall. I’ve always been a big fan of his for whatever reason, and he’s off to a very hot start in 2024, so hip hip, Marte!
Best Moments From Yesterday
Man Oh Manny
For a guy who calls Petco Park home, Manny Machado can’t seem to catch a break when he sends the ball way out into right-center field:
Still can't believe Stuart Fairchild made this play 😲 pic.twitter.com/JqeVdXjMzn
— MLB (@MLB) May 1, 2024
Bring back any memories? It’s been seven years (hey, that’s the last time we saw April viewership this good!), but:
(Aside, that freeze frame of Jones at full extension making the catch is truly Art.)
Sure, Cincinnati’s Stuart Fairchild wasn’t dealing with quite the same stakes as Adam Jones was, and he had to get the ball back into the infield in a hurry and couldn’t bask in the moment, but the similarity is pretty uncanny:
Stop hitting it there, Manny 🤯 pic.twitter.com/dCqluFWTTz
— MLB (@MLB) May 1, 2024
Brewers Pitching Drama Continues
It’s been an…eventful week for the Brew Crew’s pitching staff. Freddy Peralta and Abner Uribe were tossed from Tuesday’s game and given suspensions, one of them for a much more obvious reason than the other. The Brewers also optioned Uribe to Triple-A on Wednesday, even though he’s appealing.
And then yesterday it was the umpires confiscating Thyago Vieira’s mitt:
Umpires confiscated Brewers reliever Thyago Vieira's glove. He used that same one last night pic.twitter.com/QUQmerQMwi
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) May 1, 2024
I uh, have a feeling both of those teams will be happy their series is over.
Fair Pole? Foul Pole? HR Pole More Like
Hitting the ball over the fence is so cliche, and Oswaldo Cabrera is here to show us the new hotness: hitting it into the fence!
Oswaldo Cabrera pops this one just inside the foul pole.
And we mean INSIDE the foul pole! pic.twitter.com/GUSnHyhoRk
— MLB (@MLB) May 1, 2024
I’m not entirely sure of the physics involved here, but the home run call stood, and the two-run shot would be the only runs scored in Baltimore last night as the Yankees went on to win their 20th game of the season, becoming the first AL team to hit that number.
1010 Twins
There’s probably a penalty for making a hyper-specific New York AM radio reference in a blurb about the Twins, but I’ll worry about that later. Anyway, you’ve given me 22 minutes, now I’ll give you the world of news about their 10-game winning streak:
Putting the "win" in @Twins. 10 straight for Minnesota! pic.twitter.com/SkEp6ulc1G
— MLB (@MLB) May 1, 2024
Well, actually, I guess that’s really all there is to say, but for slightly more context, the AL Central seems to have Monstar’d the AL East this year, as four of the teams are above .500 and even with that 10-gamer, Minnesota still finds themselves in fourth, three games behind the division-leading Guardians. Still a pretty cool streak, though.
They Don’t Allow You To Have Bees In Here
The rocket ship that is Bee Specialist Matt Hilton, official apiarist of the Arizona Diamondbacks is still pointed up, as Topps announced an autograph card featuring his victorious pre-opening pitch pose:
🐝 𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗡: We’ve signed a deal with Matt Hilton (the Bee Specialist from last night’s game) and we’re making autograph cards from his all-time great performance. pic.twitter.com/uftVYAbjkw
— Topps (@Topps) May 1, 2024
I think the whole saga is pretty fun and is also almost assuredly rapidly approaching shark-jumping territory. But in this specific case, I’m just imagining somebody finding this card in a pile 50 years from now and being utterly baffled as to why it exists.
Injuries and Other Moves
⚾ Grayson Rodriguez has been placed on the IL with right shoulder inflammation. Brandon Hyde downplayed the whole situation, and characterizing it as a chance to “let everything calm down”. John Means will be activated to take his place on the roster, as his rehab assignment was over anyway.
⚾ Byron Buxton was removed from Wednesday’s game due to “right knee soreness” that seemed to crop up after a steal attempt.
⚾ Francisco Lindor was removed from last night’s game due to “flu-like symptoms,” which has to be a big exhale moment for a lot of people.
⚾ In one of the more on-the-nose moves possible for the team, the Angels have signed Kevin Pillar, who is probably their Mike Trout replacement for the time being.
⚾ Boston announced they’ve put Masataka Yoshida on the IL with a thumb sprain. His spot on the team will be taken by Dominic Smith, who was signed to a one-year deal yesterday.
⚾ D-Backs catcher Gabriel Moreno was a late scratch last night because of a dental procedure he had earlier in the day. He was available off the bench and it’s likely not even a DTD situation.
⚾ The Jays placed Yariel Rodríguez on the IL with “Thoracic Spine Inflammation” which just sounds bad immediately.
⚾ San Diego righty Luis Patiño underwent Tommy John on Tuesday, he’ll be on the shelf until the middle of 2025 at the earliest.
⚾ In today’s Good News About A Pitcher You Know: Walker Buehler sill be making his return to the mound on Monday, as confirmed by Dave Roberts.
Articles You Should Read
Is Josh Hader Cursed, Broken, or Both? – Mike Baumann, FanGraphs
A 19-year-old Stanford Phenom is Blazing a New Trail From Japan to the Majors – Andrew Baggarly, The Athletic (sub req’d)
Fantasy Baseball Coverage