The Great Hambino

BYOB - be your own barber I steered into it at 27 and have not regretted it

In honor of Prince night, we have the Artist Formerly Known as Adolis Garcia

If you had asked me a week ago, I'd have thought teres major was a constellation

Hello, PIFFL! I hear Riyadh is lovely in June

I don't know if it would work to play during the season - teams do need their practice squads for practice, after all - but creating an official affiliate system for practice squads or guys on future contracts or something could work and would certainly give more fans a vested interest in the league. Partnering with the NFL is probably the only path to long-term stability. At least there aren't two leagues trying to compete with each other anymore. I would keep it in the spring/summer because of a) the aforementioned practice conflict and b) the tv networks funding this operation I believe are doing so because it's cheap inventory during a relatively slower part of the sports calendar. I don't know if they have the same appetite for that kind of programming in the fall.

I bet Dianna Russini still insists that Rodgers will end up on the Vikings

Clemens and Castro

I guess the fourth blowout in four days is the appropriate time to bust out the elf material for the broadcast team.

Okay, you can throw in the towel now

A's have given up a lot of runs after the 4th inning this series - I wouldn't throw in the towel quite yet

Anyone else do a double-take seeing Max Muncy in the A's lineup?

Looks like our old friend Scott Blewett had a starring role in the Braves turning a 10-4 9th inning lead into an 11-10 loss to the D Backs You could say he ... you know ...

How many games were actually on TV at the time though? A game of the week with local blackouts plus the World Series? Not sure I buy that adding over half an hour to the average game time

Someone in the 80's could've asked the same question - why the game was taking so much longer than it did in the 30s and 40s. The chart above roughly correlates with the number of pitchers used per game - like game length, it has steadily increased (with a more rapid incline up until the recent addition of the 3 batter rule) going back a century plus. My theory: more pitchers used means shorter outings, which means increased velocity, which means more time taken between pitches. Also, more pitching changes add to game length I think you make a good point about the introduction of TV increasing game length. My guess is the jumps in recent decades correlates with the percentage of games being broadcast. As I nerd out on this chart, I'm more interested in things that have caused drops in the length of games. Apparently expansion and world war (and a crackdown on PEDs maybe in the early 2000s? I don't have a good theory for that one) drop game length. Also, what caused it to skyrocket between 1945 and 1960?

You'll get your wish when they finally move the Rays to Halifax

It's like the Twins are playing their April selves

Denver apparently is a destination city for other teams' fans to take in a game, and their last 3 home series have been against teams currently ranked 2 (SD), 3 (PHI), and 4 (NYY) in attendance. The Yankee 3 game set goosed up their per-game average by nearly 2K all by itself. And they haven't even hosted the Dodgers yet As of today, the Rockies are outdrawing 12 other teams, including the entire AL Central (which includes the team with baseball's best record). The Rockies are the outlier here

Because he needed to play consecutive games for St Paul before being called up

This has always bothered me more than it should - don't abbreviate whatever you want to call your list for injuries the same as one of your minor leagues. If I saw a "Lewis to IL" headline tomorrow, my first thought would be "which one?"

Future obligations for which you have not yet received the benefit, such as guaranteed contracts and lease obligations, are not debt from an accounting and business valuation standpoint. They are things that any going concern is going to have. These items are baked into the value of the business. Things like future contracts are never considered debt in this context because in paying those obligations, you are also receiving the benefit of player performance or use of the stadium or whatever, and these benefits generate revenue. Debt in this context is future obligations for which you have already received the benefit - aka loans. Not every business carries debt on their books - it is a choice to fund your operations (or withdraw the proceeds to use to fund other operations) with debt as opposed to equity. That is why the assumption debt (not all liabilities, just debt) has to be considered when selling a business. With loan debt, there's no revenue-generating benefit in the future. It is a straight-up cash outflow. Think of it this way: you have two identical companies - same lease, same future contracts, same revenue - only one is free and clear of debt, but the other is carrying significant debt like the Twins. Their values of their operations are identical, but no way anyone pays the same for the two teams. Either the prior owners assume the debt, or the purchase price is decreased to account for the additional obligation.

To be the man, you gotta beat the man. Good luck Zebby

Jim Thome walking off the White Sox and making Hawk Harrelson speechless for a whole minute and a half Sano walking off the Braves by nuking one to dead center which I'm not sure should technically count since it still might not have landed yet Buxton beating out a routine grounder directly to short as the winning run comes home That list of all the different walk-offers is a fun trip down memory lane. Jamey Carroll! Ryan Doumit! I'm pretty sure Josmil Pinto is a fake to see if we're paying attention.

Sell or sell not. There is no progressing

Funberbalk Looked like a correct call to me

In other news, Steven Kwan pulled from the game with wrist inflammation. Maybe the Cleveland voodoo magic is wearing off