The Great Hambino

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

Hopefully that means his penance has been paid. He should sacrifice something as well. Maybe a bunt, maybe the Spartan homer helmet

Snack or famine

PICKLE!!!!!

It definitely hasn't been smooth sailing for the lineup lately

Masterful job of Larnach baiting the runner into trying to advance

Dammit, woke up the wrong bats

You know who to call

Buxton is far from a lock. He might be leading centerfielders in WAR (technically Julio Rodriguez has passed him in bWAR), but they vote on outfielders as a whole. He's only 7th in the AL among outfielders - Bader has even snuck by him for the moment. And assuming he'll pick up right where he left off post-concussion is pretty optimistic. He's had a great stretch, but he definitely has some work to do. I think Ryan has the best chance on the roster of getting picked before the manager-fill-out-the-roster phase, and that stage becomes a crapshoot based on which teams need someone and who their viable candidates are.

This is a fantastic headline

I remember Sano's finest moment - walking off Atlanta with a dead center blast that was such a no doubter that Acuna didn't even turn around - just started jogging in as it entered orbit

He also normally doesn't have his best starter still going with 79 pitches entering the ninth. i think that's relevant to the decision

I'm reading that tonight's game is rescheduled for September's series, and they'll try to finish Monday's game before the regularly scheduled game tomorrow

It also never was going to happen. The bill to fund the stadium barely passed without the roof. There was no way it would've passed with $200MM+ added to the price tag. The choice wasn't roof or no roof. The choice was no roof or no Twins. Also, every stadium with a retractable roof looks dumb. They still haven't really figured that out.