The World Series are nearly upon us and you know Bud Selig and his Major League Baseball pals are biting their nails? Why? The Tampa Bay Rays are up 3-1 on the Boston Red Sox and it's the same deal in the National League with the Philadelphia Phillies one win away from putting away the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Baseball, like all major sports, are all about the fiscal gain. They want attendance, viewership, and advertisement to increase. They broaden their exposure. MLB has the World Baseball Classic that they are involved in. The NFL now plays a game in London during the season and basketball is showcasing its stars in China.
How many people around the world do you think want to see a Rays-Phillies World Series? MLB doesn't feel it will be an overwhelming amount. And you know that if they could they would make it so we have a Boston-L.A match up.
Los Angeles is a huge television market. The Red Sox nation extends far past the New England area. Plus, how sweet would it be to see
Manny Ramirez return to his former team after the nasty break up. Wouldn't it be something seeing Joe Torreback at Fenway Park in something other than pinstripes? Yup, baseball would pull a Tim Donaghy and try rigging outcomes if they could get away with it.There is no doubt that the series between Tampa Bay and Philadelphia can be an entertaining one. The Rays are filled with future stars and the Phillies have two MVPs and Chase Utley. The Rays are this year's Cinderella team, also doing the whole worst-to-first thing.
But, how many people even know about the Rays? How many know that they don't actually play in Tampa but in St. Petersburg? They don't have any true household names.
The Phillies are talented, no doubt about that, but they aren't even the city's favorite team. They are also the first team in the league to have 10,000 losses.
Last year's television rating between the Red Sox and the upstart Colorado Rockies averaged a 10.6 rating. The year before the Cardinals and Tigers got a 10.1 rating. The White Sox 2005 championship run scored an 11.1. Baseball can only hope that the Phillies can bring in the same kind of rating they did in 1980 when they faced the Kansas City Royals (32.8 rating). Unfortunately, the times have changed and show has television viewership because you will have a hard time getting a baseball rating past 15. There have only been two in the last decade: 2004 and 2001. The Red Sox won it in 2004 and the New York Yankees lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001.
What will happen with the ratings this year? I don't know, but I'm sure it would be a whole lot better if it were a rematch of the two cities who just played in the NBA Finals. Someone better tell the umps to have a tight strike zone when the Dodgers and Sox take the plate.
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about 1 month ago
GREAT ARTICLE MAN LOVE YOUR STUFF EVEN THE NON WRESTLING RELATED I WROTE A SIMILIAR ARTICLE ABOUT WHY WE WANT TO SEE A BOTSTON LA WORLD SERIES CHECK IT OUT IF YOU HAVE THE TIME KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK
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