Originally Posted by Marcellus:
Can someone explain to me how MLB got itself into a scenario where its a total pain in the ass for most people to access their product without spending a fortune?
The Cardinals' popularity came from a massive radio audience across the Midwest and center western US.
The Cubs gained popularity even when terrible being on WGN all over the country.
The Braves had TBS.
Now its a ****ing pain in the ass to figure out how to get access unless you want to devote yourself to Direct TV or buy a streaming service just to watch the games. Its insane.
I've had the MLB streaming package for 10 years or so. I've always streamed it through an app on my TV or the app on my phone. No issues. Its $99 a year for only the Cardinals games. You can pay $129 and get every game played by all teams. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BigRedChief:
I've had the MLB streaming package for 10 years or so. I've always streamed it through an app on my TV or the app on my phone. No issues. Its $99 a year for only the Cardinals games. You can pay $129 and get every game played by all teams.
That doesn't work for people in market, only out of market. See how ridiculous this is? Its easier for out of market fans to watch the games than in market fans. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Marcellus:
That doesn't work for people in market, only out of market. See how ridiculous this is? Its easier for out of market fans to watch the games than in market fans.
There’s six teams I get blacked out of in Des Moines. If those teams aren’t playing each other that’s almost half the league I could be blacked out of at any given day. Closest stadium to me is 3 hours away. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Marcellus:
That doesn't work for people in market, only out of market. See how ridiculous this is? Its easier for out of market fans to watch the games than in market fans.
The Cardinals franchise was in a bad spot when DeWitt bought it. He did a great job of putting together a successful operation for one of the greatest eras of Cardinals baseball. But franchise leadership let the system/product go stale. And now it’s rotting. Sad.
Originally Posted by Marcellus:
Should have done that after last season, instead we gave an extension to the manager and ownership claimed the FO is doing good work.
This team is 3 years away from being relevant if they got someone with half a brain in charge tomorrow.
I said last May that this just isn't a single-season process. They had 3 years of trying to rebuild this thing ahead of them. And all they're doing is delaying that clock.
They could've started last deadline and into the offseason and been a few steps down the road; probably about where the Reds were in 2019. The Reds have slowly built their foundation back (with no meaningful fan support) and have managed .500 records or better in 3 of the last 4 seasons, with a team that's gotten younger every season.
Now they're in the tough spot of finishing off the rebuild and making themselves relevant. But they have a foundation in place that would allow for good decisions that could bring them back to 90 win territory.
Now the Reds draw less than 2 million fans/season so they'll struggle there. But this team shouldn't. You give the Cardinals a young foundation that can get them to .500 and a smart front office and they absolutely should be able to get to 90-92 wins again. And with a little luck and development, they can push that to 96+.
This team just lacks any sort of vision to even be seen in the same light as a fairly mediocre franchise like Cincy. Those guys aren't full of wiz kids over there - it's a pretty average front office. They're just better than the arrogant and rudderless ship this mess of a squad has. [Reply]
