Baseball Misses Major Chance To Please Viewers
PLUS: SABR DAY HITS HOME RUN FOR FRIGID JERSEY FANS
Pregame Pepper
The first day of spring training is usually festive — but not in the camps of the contending Mets and Braves, where significant injuries hit New York shortstop Francisco Lindor (stress reaction in left hamate bone) and Atlanta starting pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach (elbow inflammation) . . .
With Schwellenbach out for at least two months, the final starting spot boils down to a competition that includes Bryce Elder, who led last year’s Braves team with eight wins; comeback candidate Reynaldo Lopez; and blue-chip rookie JR Ritchie . . .
Speaking of injuries, Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Santander, entering the second year of his five-year, $92.5 million deal, had left labral surgery this week that will idle him for 5-6 months . . .
Two-time manager Ron Washington, pushing 74, is back in the NL as infield coach for rookie pilot Tony Vitello in San Francisco . . .
Washington’s biggest project might be teaching free agent signee Luis Arraez how to play a respectable second base . . .
Detroit’s Javy Baez is banned from World Baseball Classic play because of a marijuana issue that occurred six years ago . . .
The only thing more surprising than Detroit’s signing of Framber Valdez was the follow-up signing of ancient Justin Verlander, who got $13 million from his first team after a 4-11 record in San Francisco last summer . . .
Tarik Skubal, winner of consecutive Cy Youngs, wasn’t even the biggest winner on the 2025 Tigers (Casey Mize won 14 games, one more than the star lefty).
Leading Off
MLB Already Fumbling Golden Opportunity To Build Fan Goodwill With Botched TV News
By Sean Millerick
It’s been a rough few weeks for the powers that be in MLB.
Twenty-nine other clubs just find themselves living in the Dodgers’ world. Multiple teams are picking up the pieces of the collapse of the RSN system on the fly. The Detroit Tigers made one of the bigger free agent splashes of the off-season — but not before telling the best pitcher in baseball he was worth less than a less successful pitcher a decade ago.
And then came the news, or rather the dramatically inconsistent and rumor-filled news — that prices would be soaring through the roof on MLB’s streaming package at a time when more fans than ever will be depending on it to follow their teams.
Tough look for your brand, Mr. Manfred.
Much of that chatter came out last weekend, dominating social media discussions of coming changes.
Rumors abounded about consumer costs more than doubling as a result of a double- paywall situation with MLB-TV subscribers also needing a monthly ESPN subscription.
In the past few days, MLB and the teams directly impacted have been churning out information to counter those misunderstandings. The dust seems to have settled for the moment. Things might not be as bad as they first looked, but they could also look much better.
All this for a league that had already been struggling with fan discontent over blackouts. That issue should improve under this new model for many — at least as time goes on — but it’s still extremely convoluted.
Now, none of this is to say that it is the fault of MLB that the streaming era arrived. Or that RSNs failed to adapt. Or that the attention spans of the average home viewer have faded faster than Anthony Rendon’s ability to make it through a baseball season.
However, there’s no getting away from the fact that baseball fans were already unhappy about the hoops involved in following their favorite team and that the past week did nothing whatsoever to dispel those feelings.
The problem with this for MLB is two-fold.
For starters, this week’s snag has done nothing to differentiate MLB from their top rival, the NFL. The average professional football fan currently needs as many as five additional streaming channels on top of either NFL Sunday Ticket or a service that provides a way to watch CBS, Fox, and NBC, depending on team schedule and whether the fan is in or out of market. The NFL remains on top of the sports landscape despite that, but it was also in that position to begin with. Animosity for that model is also skyrocketing.
MLB is not that bad yet. Partly due to the number of channels involved to see all available games, partly due to the much lower percentage of games impacted by the occasional alternative broadcast. As you’ve probably heard one or two people say — not that you should listen to them — 162 games is a lot of games.
But nobody likes hearing they need to sign up through one platform to watch on another platform — and that he will be charged for both platforms unless he cancels one of the platforms in a certain time window.
That’s sounding exactly like the NFL mess. Understandably, the whole point of this exercise on the league’s part is to one day be the NFL in terms of cache and profitability. The thing is, MLB is not going to get there just by copying the NFL. It needs to be better.
Freeze or decrease prices for this season during the transition. If prices have to go up, there had better be some MLB-sponsored Steve Kornacki TikToks showing how every penny of those increases is going into revenue-sharing that owners can (theoretically) spend on payroll. Offer subscribers a one-month discount on the package they will use and not just on the thing they need to sign up for to get access.
In short, make this as overtly fan-friendly and painless as possible. Because in order for the hopes and dreams of MLB to come to fruition, it needs the fans on its side more than ever.
Bringing us to that second problem, which goes back to that first MLB issue mentioned at the top: the Dodger problem. More specifically, that endlessly-growing divide between the leagues’ haves and have-nots. Well to the extent anyone rich enough to own a baseball team can be considered a have-not anyway — a topic for another time.
Following that second Dodgers championship, sentiment was already growing that more fans than ever before were going to be behind the idea of a salary cap. Not just more fans, but more deep-pocketed owners as well. Then came the 2026 World Series odds favoring a three-peat — favoring one before the Edwin Diaz and Kyle Tucker signings were announced.
Suddenly, the only thing looking more certain than there being baseball in 2026 is that there will be a lockout prior to 2027.
If the league wants to get those salary controls it wants, it will need overwhelming support from all corners. Undoubtedly, many will still curse the greedy owners for not just paying all players whatever they want. Many, that is, but less than all the times before. Owners might be able to get away with claiming they are trying to save the game, not just their money.
But if they nickel and dime their fans in 2026 with a bunch of new streaming hoops? Public sympathy will fade significantly and cries of “same old owners” will rise.
If MLB wants to get better, it needs to do better. This past week, they bungled a golden opportunity to do just that.
Sean Millerick is a diehard Miami Marlins fan but still finds cause for hope every Spring Training. He currently writes for @MarlinManiac. You can find him on Twitter @miasportsminute.
Cleaning Up
By Dan Schlossberg
Although frigid weather thinned the crowd, a hardy group of baseball purists enjoyed SABR Day last Saturday at Muth Museum, in the corner of ancient Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, NJ.
They found the museum filled with photos and mementos of the Negro Leagues greats — including local hero Larry Doby — who once played there.
The ballpark, named for a former Paterson mayor, is not only one of six surviving Negro Leagues stadia but also the home of the Jersey Jackals, who moved there from nearby Little Falls.
The snow-covered field, laid out in a football configuration, was not the star attraction.
Instead, the day featured speakers, vendors, food, and giveaways — all related to America’s national pastime on the eve of Super Bowl Sunday.
The best part of the whole day was not hearing one word about football.
Attendees instead were spellbound by Ellen Lindner, a writer, editor, and illustrator whose work has graced the pages of the MOMA.org, Medium.com, and The Washington Post, which had an award-winning sports section before Jeff Bezos killed it.
The author of two graphic novels, Lindner is at work on Lost Diamonds, an award-winning study of gender rebellion in baseball. She revealed that an all-female professional baseball league will start play this summer and said there’s no reason women can’t play in the majors — especially after netting high marks as umpires, writers, broadcasters, and even owners (former Newark Eagles owner Effa Manley is actually enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame).
Afternoon speaker Todd Radom, designer of familiar logos for teams, leagues, events, and players, has influenced baseball art for four decades. In addition to logos for All-Star Games and anniversaries for Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron, he’s created several books, including Winning Ugly and a new one due this May.
Also on hand at the SABR Day fest was former Marvel Comics illustrator Brian Kong, whose work includes a 1924 Negro Leagues World Series centennial card set. His clients include MLB, DC Comics, and Star Wars.
The event was open not only to members of the Elysian Fields chapter of SABR but to all baseball fans, according to chapter president Donna Muscarella.
Muth Museum director Jessica Cameron Bush hosted the event, which included sandwiches, cookies, and soft drinks. Attendees made voluntary $10 donations.
For further information, see ToddRadom.com, BrianKong.com, LittleWhiteBird.com, or muth-museum@montclair.edu. The compact but comprehensive museum, dedicated to both black baseball and the adjacent ballpark, is officially called the Charles J. Muth Museum of Hinchliffe Stadium.
HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers baseball for forbes.com, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, and many other outlets. His e.mail is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Extra Innings: ACTA Seeks New Publisher
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Greg is offering a turn-key operation that includes acquisition, editing, production, printing, marketing, fulfillment, and storage services as needed, as well as the sale of the existing backlist of ACTA Sports titles—all at very reasonable cost. You can work full-time or part-time, with low overhead and no permanent staff … and publish as many books as you want, including your own.
Too good to be true? Contact Greg Pierce at 800-397-2282 to find out. This is a unique opportunity to become a publisher without having to start from scratch.
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Know Your Editors
Here’s the Pitch is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.
Sean Millerick is SPOT ON. How can MLB gouge its customers like that. A Double Paywall.
Manfred should be ashamed of himself. What is he trying to do, have less viewership?
Sean Millerick article needs to be required reading for every MLB Team and the MLB office.