Tour 2022

Praying for baseball to start is not how I wanted to kick off the blog in 2022, but here we are.  Today should have been Pitchers & Catchers Report Day, one of the most joyous days on the calendar, but instead we are in the midst of what is now the 2nd longest work stoppage in MLB history, behind only the 1994-95 strike.  I was optimistic that it would not come to this, my thought process being that baseball as a sport could not stomach a 3rd consecutive financially strenuous season following the 2020-21 seasons severely impacted by COVID-19.  A sport that is already waning in popularity with major structural issues to solve couldn't possibly be dumb enough to self-inflict a wound from which it may never recover, right?   It should speak volumes to my indifference and confidence level that I'm actually wearing a hockey jersey as a I write this.  Even moreso than the PED crisis have I ever been this disgusted and ashamed by the greed and incompetence in the sport I love.  Or rather, the people that hold the sport in the balance.  I am exactly the type of fan that baseball can not afford to lose and I am praying that both sides can see the damage they are doing to the sport with this lockout, and for now all I can do right now is what I do every year around this time, particularly the last 2 years - cautiously prepare for the summer.

That being said, it should come as no shock that Erik and I are going to do all that we can to make a 3rd attempt at going to the new Rangers stadium.  If there is a "nice" part of the lockout is that we really even haven't begun to plan a trip other than take note of the dates the Rangers are home - which at this pace is soon to change anyways.  It's kept me from getting my hopes up from the other elephant still always lurking in the room - the pandemic.  If there was no lockout and if you asked us today, I'm sure we would feel comfortable with an April trip.  But who knows if Omicron was even the last variant.  This might just be a trip we throw together last minute and hope it works out.  I do feel more confident this year than last that we will be seeing ball of some kind - for Christ sake, Erik has not been to a ballgame in almost 3 years at this point, the poor guy!  We've discussed the AFL and Cape Cod League as safer backup options both in terms of sparse attendance, and trips that would be unaffected by the lockout.

And speaking of ballgames not affected by the lockout, I also feel pretty confident that I will be notching my 150th ballpark this year.  There is a new team starting up in nearby Oconomowoc that I'll for sure be getting to, and I am going to Michigan with my daughter this July for our 2nd annual Daddy-Daughter ball trip.  As a family we've got two years worth of pandemic-cancelled travel that we're making up for this year, and I can only pray that MLB will be a part of that.

Tour 2021

This is normally the time of year when I am the most excited for the baseball season.  Winter is in its coldest and darkest days and I'm eager to be outside.  Spring training schedules are typically set by now and reporting dates are right around the corner.  And in most years by this time, Erik and I have a framework for our trip for the year.  But we are now 10 months into a pandemic that seems to be plateauing but still with no end in sight.  Commissioner Manfred and the 30 MLB teams might be saying all the right things and planning on playing a full season, but even if by some miracle that ends up being true, a day at the ballpark in 2021 still stands to be far from what we would consider "normal."  I recently heard somebody put this into words perfectly: 2021 will be the same as 2020, only with hope.  Not to diminish the excitement or significance of this in any way, but on top of all that, my wife and I are expecting our second child in May.  So for all of these reasons, I can't say with any certainty what Erik and I will be doing this year, if anything.

We remain committed to attempting some sort of trip as we have not seen each other in person in over a year, but we might have to get creative on what it actually is and it's all going to depend on the vaccination rollouts.  I can't imagine going two entire seasons without baseball, but we both have to be safe about it as well.  The absolute best case scenario and #1 goal is to do our planned trip from last year which was the new Rangers ballpark, and if that happened it would probably be late summer when we are both hopefully immunized.  If the vaccinations for us slide out into fall, our backup plans we have discussed could be going back to Cooperstown, or to the Arizona Fall League to actually watch live baseball!

I've come to terms with the fact that attending a game at what will soon be known as American Family Field is increasingly unlikely for me this year.  It's really sad, both because I love the Brewers, and because we bought a house literally within walking distance of the ballpark in Fall 2019.  It's depressing that we could be potentially spending two full summers in this house without going to the ballpark.  But I do feel confident that I will get to a ballgame in some form somewhere this year.  I would feel comfortable in the open air berms of a Northwoods League or minor league game, or the aforementioned AFL late in the year.  So I do still hope to add some new ballparks to my list in some capacity.  It will be weird being in a crowd again whenever that is, but I also didn't realize how much I missed human interaction until this all started.

Stay tuned, but until then, 69 days to [maybe] Opening Day!

Baseball is Back, but at What Cost?

After nearly 3 months of negotiation between the players' union and owners with almost no progress, the union finally caved and agreed to a 60-game season beginning on July 23rd.  The commissioner gave the two sides a chance to work it out, and it has now gotten to the point in the calendar where he is essentially mandating the terms of the season based on their original March 26th proposal.  To put it simply, unless there is a catastrophic increase of positive COVID-19 cases or a players' strike in the next month - both of which are not out of the question - we will have a 2020 MLB season.

Some of the details:

• Players report to "camp" at their home ballparks on July 1 for a July 23 season start
• 60-game schedule will be divided into each team playing 40 games within their division and 20 games against their corresponding geographic division in the opposite league (i.e. NL Central will play the AL Central)
• Fans at the games will be left to the discretion of local governments
• Same 10-team playoff format
• Universal DH in both leagues and all extra innings will begin with a runner on 2nd base (do not be surprised to see these implemented full time in the 2022 CBA agreement, if there is one)
• 30 players allowed on active roster for first 15 games, then down to 26 for the final 2 months of the season.  Teams are allowed 60-player "taxi squads."
• Trade deadline August 31
  

One could reasonably make an argument siding with the players or with the owners and who is at fault here, and who if anybody has "won."  A lot of players are being viewed as stubborn when they have been offered repeated deals and have accepted nothing.  They have in essence forfeited every item they have negotiated for just for the right to file a grievance with the league's mandated season to demand full pay for the season, which ESPN's Buster Olney accurately described being the same as somebody relying on winning the lottery to pay their bills.  But it is the players taking almost all of the risk here, and there will be many players with little to play for entering free agency, or perhaps having already been advanced the majority of their salary.  They may have agreed to the 67-page safety protocol, but nothing in that protocol is a 100% guarantee that a player will not contract the virus.  There have already been numerous positive tests reported throughout the league as players start returning to their facilities.  It is also not the players fault that their respective billionaire team owners do not have the liquid cash to pay them because of the lack of stadium revenue.  At the end of the day this is their job, they all have contracts, and they expect to be paid.  

It has been the owners who have historically benefited more from labor agreements, and it has been the owners who might be perceived as the most greedy out of all this, but it is the players who dug in their heels at the wrong time and ended up losing at a time when they could have had months of being the only sport on television.  Their logic all along has been to not give an inch entering into the next CBA negotiation in 2021, but during this volatile time in our country, this was the wrong time and the wrong way to stand their ground.  If these two sides do not immediately get back to the negotiating table and start making progress for 2021, I would not be surprised if this costs Tony Clark and Rob Manfred their jobs.  I love baseball, but this has all been disgusting, so much to the point that I am not nearly as excited about this season as I should be.  I should be thrilled to see what Craig Counsell can do in a shortened season and expanded roster, but all I can think about is how we are likely to go through this all again in 18 months.

Baseball Returns to Korea; is the US Next?

(image courtesy of ESPN Press Room)

After baseball returned to Taiwan on April 11th to little fanfare outside of the United States, I was shocked.  I thought for sure that the first major professional sport in the world resuming competitive play would be swallowed up by American networks that were starved for entertainment.  I even watched an entire episode of Sportscenter for the first time in maybe 15 years just to search for highlights.  The lack of coverage was a sign to me at the time that perhaps the appetite for sports was being dwarfed by growing concern and fear over the virus, and rightfully so.  It seemed like a distant fantasy that a region that is just across the sea from the original epicenter of the virus was playing baseball when our country (well, not the entire country - you stupid governors know who you are) was still in a lockdown and confirmed cases were growing more rapidly by the day.  

However, as one of the many things this virus has taught us, a lot can change in just a few weeks.  The Korean Baseball Organization began play last week and ESPN wasn't going to let a second opportunity pass by.  Broadcasts were immediately picked up by the network showing one live game every morning in the 10-team league, with ESPN's familiar faces giving the play-by-play remotely from their strategically manicured baseball-laden home offices.  I think the sudden enthusiasm for Korean baseball instead of Chinese baseball could be for a few reasons.  The KBO is viewed by scouts as comparable to a AA-level of competition, but still worlds ahead of China, so it is a better product to watch with a few familiar names from the states.  The Brewers have plucked former league MVPs Eric Thames and Josh Lindblom from the KBO in recent years, and former Brewers Tyler Saladino and Drew Gagnon now play in the league.  But as I eluded to in the last paragraph, I think the most important reason is the timing.  Think back to where we all were on April 11th.  Weather was still pretty terrible, unemployment was not yet at record levels, and people weren't walking around in masks.  Dr. Fauci was painting a challenging but optimistic picture on a daily basis.  There were a few summer events cancelled or postponed, but nothing alarming.  At that time Wisconsin's "safer-at-home" order was set to expire in a couple of weeks, and initial projections showed much of the country's death totals peaking around the end of April/early May.  The outlook was cautiously optimistic.  Fast forward to now and for a variety of factors I think it is pretty clear we are in this for the long haul.  As states aross the union start opening up their ecomomies, it provides relief but also a strong fear of the unknown reality in the post-covid world, and a major opportunity for the virus to continue spreading or return as idiots like my neighors have parties in the warm summer months.  This is really all a long way of me trying to say...I'm not expecting a return to normal life anytime soon, so if that means I have to watch Korean baseball on tape delay, then so be it.  ESPN conducted a recent survey that found 88% of sports fans will watch as much sports as they can on TV even if there is never one fan allowed in the stadium, and this is our reality now.

That brings us to today.  A third reason that the industry is all watching the KBO is that it is serving as a blueprint and "canary in the coal mine" to what Major League Baseball might look like this year.  MLB released a proposal yesterday that was crafted by the league and team owners and now moves to the MLBPA for approval.  Some of the highlights include an 82-game season starting 4th of July weekend, universal DH, geographical based scheduling with play in empty home ballparks, and an expanded playoff format.  That all sounds great on paper but there are two major things it does not address: player salaries and player safety.  I'm still optimistic that there will be some sort of season this year as it is in everybody's best interest to play, but I would be very surprised if this particular proposal is accepted, at least not without amendments.  Owners are arguing that they have already paid for months of player salaries when they were under no obligation to do so, but if I am a player and have no guarantee of salary and there is no plan in place for rapid testing, then it seems like a high risk/low reward situation for me.  Baseball is a unique sport in that it still makes the majority of its revenue from ticket sales, so with no fans, there is going to have to be a creative way to pay players during this season.  The elephant in the room is what would happen if a player does test positive?  I'm not sure what the Korean policy is, but I know the CPBL league has stated they would shut down immediately for a period of time if even so much as a greenskeeper tested positive.  

We all see baseball players as these unattainable figures that live in the clouds with their millions of dollars and should be able to deal with this situation for our amusement, but at the end of the day they are people too.  I think that this proposal is just step 1 of a long process to getting baseball back in our living rooms.  Until then, as long as I'm working from home I will be watching Korean bat flips every afternoon.

Tour 2020: A Lost Season

Today is a day I should have been writing a review of the new Globe Life Field in Arlington.  Erik and I were slated to have visited Houston, San Antonio, and Arlington from April 22-26 for our Tour 2020 trip, but honestly it didn't even really hit me until Saturday.  With all that is going on in the world right now, including entering Week 7 of Quarantine, I didn't take it as hard as I thought I would.  Baseball seems almost insignificant at this point, which is something I never thought I'd find myself writing in this space.  Sure, I still listen to baseball podcasts and I am still holding out hope for some sort of weird truncated season, but I get less and less hopeful by the day.  Following the final out of the 2019 season, I gritted through another Wisconsin winter and transitioned right into quarantine, which makes it hard for me to even remember what life was like when we could go to the ballpark.  I've amazed myself with how easily I have adjusted to this life and how shockingly normal things like Zoom calls and wearing a mask at the grocery store feel now.  Perhaps "easily" isn't the right word, but my family and I have certainly settled into a routine and are making the best of a situation that includes keeping a 2-year old occupied while worrying about our jobs, families, and friends constantly.

I think it is safe to say that our lives, our country, and the game of baseball will never be the same after this.  MLB's contract with Minor League Baseball is set to expire at the end of 2020, and their CBA with the player's union expires at the end of 2021, and the virus and the potential of a forfeited 2020 season will weigh heavily on negotiations on both of these fronts.  When MLB first floated the idea of restructuring the minor leagues, many in the industry thought this proposal would never see the light of day in its current form.  There are some things in it that make sense for all parties such as geographical realignment and setting a strict facility standards code, but contracting 42 teams while also placing the entire entity of Minor League Baseball under MLB ownership were staunchly opposed by MiLB.  Now with MiLB, which already has very fickle profit margins that rely almost entire on ticket revenue, in the midst of losing an entire season, they are willing to deal at whatever the cost to provide some financial stability.  This will likely mean that a lot of smaller market clubs will vanish, entire Rookie leagues will cease, and it also means that Erik and I were very lucky to visit the Appalachian League last year when we did.  An unintended side effect may also mean that MLB expansion could happen sooner rather than later.  Commissioner Manfred has always stated his intent of securing new stadiums for the A's and Rays as a must before any talk of expanding to 32 teams, but now MLB may find itself in a position where they need the money from the massive expansion franchise fees, as well as a place to put 8-10 displaced minor league clubs.  I also find it intersting that a players strike seemed like an impending reality just a few months ago, but now there is no talk of it.  The players at this point just want to play and to be paid.  I am hoping the silver lining of all of this is that it gives everyone more time to negotiate to prevent any sort of work stoppage.  The league, the players, nor the fans would be able to stomach the loss of two seasons in 3 years.

I am hoping the next time I write here will be to announce plans for the start of the 2020 season.  The Chinese and Korean leagues are in the process of beginning, and the NBA announced that they are opening up training facilities, so perhaps there is a glimmer of hope.  But one thing I do know is I will likely remain at 146 ballparks attended until 2021.

MLB Delays Season in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic

I had so many things I have been tracking during the offseason that I was excited to write about in the coming weeks.  The controversial Minor League Baseball contraction proposal.  The absurd MLB rule changes.  The Brewers 2020 season outlook, in brand new uniforms.  And at the top of the list was our Tour 2020 trip to Texas in 5 weeks.  All of those things are either on hold or gravely insignificant in the wake of what has been happening in our world over the last month.  With the country careening towards a complete shutdown by the hour, Major League Baseball and all other major sports announced last week that they would be suspending and/or cancelling their seasons in the wake of the Coronavirus' rapid spread to the United States.  As I am writing this, the Commissioner has updated his original delay from April 9th to May 16th.  That date falls in line with the CDC's latest recommendation to cancel all gatherings of over 50 people for at least 8 weeks.  Some sports like basketball and college baseball are extending those delays out even further, and if we're being realistic I think MLB will end up doing the same.

Baseball is way down on the list of priorities at a time like this.  I worry about Erik and my older retired parents getting sick, I worry about my 2-year old daughter getting sick and lacking the structure of daycare, and I worry about the disease spreading into our suburban and rural communities that do not have the capacity to handle such an outbreak.  I worry about my job and my wife's job, both of which are very dependent on the economy.  I think a lot about how Milwaukee's local businesses and community are going to survive with months of uncertainty.  But through all sorts of tough times in our lives, the one thing we've always had as a society is each other, and as a part of that, sports and entertainment.  Even that is now taken away, as a large contingent of our country is self-quarantining.  And so, however insignificant it might seem, I worry about the social ramifications of this pandemic.  I'm sure that we will get through this as a country like we do with everything, but with so much uncertainty it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Selfishly I wish that I was reporting on something happy like Opening Day, and I will admit that I am upset every day by the fact that Erik and I may not get to go on a ball trip this year.  The best I can do right now is take time to work on my relationships and to be present for my family and friends, whether that is cooped up in a house or via text thousands of miles away.  With everything in my life I have had to cope with, baseball has always been a constant for me, but now I know I will have to find out a lot about myself and grow stronger as a husband and father.  Frankly I have no choice.  In a few months I hope to be reporting on the 2020 season, and looking back at a dark time during which I made incredible personal strides, and realized there were more important things than a game.