The Bally Sports Experience (or lack thereof)

At this point, the news of Fox Sports rebranding as Bally Sports and subsequently dropping all streaming services is pretty old news, so I don't think I need to hash out all the details here.  I myself have YouTube TV, so I have been following a lot of games on the radio and the MLB App this year.  But honestly, that is how I have followed most Brewers games since I've become a dad, so it hasn't been a major tragedy for me yet.  I might get more bang for the buck from the $20 MLB Radio subscription than any non-media member in America.  For a standard 7:10 start time, I'll have the game on the radio as we're getting my daughter ready for bed, and then continue following on the app as the wife and I watch TV, and as soon as I notice her drift off to sleep on the couch, I switch back to the radio.  So in reality, not having the games on TV really just deprives me out of a couple innings a night.  The bigger void for me still remains the lack of physically attending games, and I'm hoping to get to some once the baby is a few months old and virus immunity rates are higher later in the summer.

The dropping of the RSN's from streaming services has brought to the forefront an overarching pricing and structural issue with these providers, and it will be interesting to see how Bally's either re-introduces itself to that platform in 2022, or just in general what the TV and live sports experience looks like in the future.  It was only a matter of time before the streaming service model started to become unsustainable, and this is only the first drop in the bucket.  The draw for Bally's to get into this space was to create an all-inclusive experience that includes in-game betting and being able to stream sports anywhere through their own proprietary app, and it sounds like that is the direction they are still moving.  Anyone who subscribes to a streaming service has already noticed the glut of networks introducing their own apps and services - NBC Peacock, Paramount, HBO, etc. - and Bally's will just be one more player in this.  The pandemic has certainly accelerated a lot of technological and customer experiences changes in this past year, including this move to "a la carte" viewing.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 4/26/21:

Brewers 13-8; 3 v. Marlins, 4 v. Dodgers, 4 @ Phillies, 3 @ Marlins

Twins 7-13; 3 @ Indians, 3 v. Royals, 4 v. Rangers, 3 @ Tigers

2021 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 0

Peter - 0

Way-Too-Soon Reactions to Brewers Start to Season

Now is generally the time of year where I post something outlandish about how the Brewers season will go based on only a couple weeks worth of games, not unlike just about other member of the baseball media.  There is always a year where a guy like Jason Kendall hits over .400 in the first month and you wonder if he could be an all-star or MVP, and there are years like this year where arguably our most promising hitter, Keston Hiura, is hitting barely over .100 and people are ready to write him off for dead.  With that spirit of early-season excitement and hyperbole in mind, here are my immediate reactions to how the season is going to play out for the Brewers based on the first 10% of their schedule:

1.  Brandon Woodruff and Corbin Burnes will both be Top-10 in Cy Young voting.

This might not seem too radical or a stretch based on what these two have done not only this year, but going back all the way back to 2018 (save for a blip for Burnes in 2019 that we won't talk about).  They've just continued to improve and now headline a rotation the likes of which I have not seen in my lifetime - a largely homegrown rotation, developed by the Brewers, that is leading the National League in most major pitching categories.  Our last great rotation was 2011, but was comprised almost entirely of free agents and trades.  Recently the Brewers ended a turn through the rotation where the five starters yielded only 1 earned run in over 28 innings pitched.  At some point all five of these starters will hiccup, but the more interesting part to me will be if we are still hot in August, are players going to start being shut down or limited due to the shortened season last year?

2.  Keston Hiura will return to form, but not this year.  He will end up splitting time with Kolten Wong, Daniel Vogelbach, and others for the rest of the season.

Let me just start by saying I am a huge Keston Hiura fan and I wish him the best.  When Ryan Braun quasi-retired, he was the guy whose jersey I bought to replace his.  He's got some of the quickest hands I've seen and when he's right, he takes the ball the other way like a 10-year veteran.  That being said, I think even the casual fan can see the gaping hole in his swing.  Simple geometry and physics will tell you that swinging 45 degrees up at a ball that is coming in downward at 95 miles per hour, while also trying to time a leg kick that comes up to your chest is extremely difficult to get right.  He is second only to Javier Baez for swing-and-miss rate at pitches in the strike zone dating back to the start of 2020.  I think he will have no choice but to overhaul his swing and his timing mechanisms, and maybe sacrifice a little bit on the power and launch angle to help him become the complete hitter he was a couple of years ago as a rookie.  But that is incredibly difficult to do during a season unless he is sent down to AAA.  So I see this year being another "3 true outcomes" year for Hiura - walk, strikeout, or homerun - but he will be back with a vengeance in 2022.  The Brewers are not a team that can afford to give up on a top prospect until they have exhausted all avenues.  You need look no further than Lucas Erceg converting to a 2-way player to believe that.

3.  Jackie Bradley, Jr. will have the most games played in the outfield this season.

Stop if you've heard this before: David Stearns signs a player that seems to make no sense or may not have a fit on the team at the time, and ends up being a key contributor.  Stearns and Manager Craig Counsell have always had the philosophy of signing the best available players and worrying about position and playing time later.  Jackie Bradley Jr. definitely fits into that category.  While most Brewers fans reacted sharply to "why are we spending all that money on a 4th outfielder," I think most baseball pundits outside of the Brewers saw this as a steal.  With Lorenzo Cain now 35 years old and coming back to baseball after 18 months off, and Christian Yelich's balking back, we are now seeing the value of having a gold-glove outfielder available to rotate in.  He's seen the lion share of the playing time so far this year along with Avisail Garcia, and although he probably has the least productive bat on paper than any of our outfield options - including Tyrone Taylor who deserves a shot as well - his defense, speed, and reliability are going to keep him in the lineup consistently, especially in the late innings.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 4/19/21:

Brewers 8-7; 3 @ Padres, 3 @ Cubs

Twins 6-8; 3 @ Athletics, 3 v. Pirates

2021 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 0

Peter - 0

Brewers Opening Weekend 2021

The Brewers attempted with Opening Day 2021 to turn the page from a year we'd like to all soon move past, as the home ballpark was open to fans this past Thursday for the first time in over 18 months.  Besides fans being allowed into the ballpark (albeit at 25% capacity), the other noticeable change from last year was the elephant in the room that I have not yet addressed on this blog - the ballpark name change.  As of January 1st 2021, the ballpark that I grew up in and have known intimately for 20 years is now knows as American Family Field.  I live not too far from the ballpark now and have noticed the the signage getting replaced here and there over the last few months in preparation for Opening Day, and honestly I'm a big fan of the logo.  People can say "It will always be Miller Park to me" all they want, but I don't think anybody can objectively deny that the old logo and graphics were horribly outdated.  The new refresh using the American Family Insurance logo blended with Brewers colors and an outline of the roof looks stunning on top of the ballpark driving past on I-94, especially at night when it's lit.  American Family even went so far as to update Bernie's Chalet as they are really trying to ingratiate themselves to the Milwaukee community.  Like I mentioned, the name change has been a polarizing issue in town, and I get it that people hate change and getting rid of tradition, especially in baseball - and I would be the first to admit that I'm generally in that category.  But we're not exactly talking about Wrigley Field becoming Caterpillar Field.  This is a relatively young park that simply had a corporate naming rights deal expire that I think people will get used to in a year or two, just like every other stadium name change.  "AmFam Field" even rolls off the tongue.  If 87-year-old and 50-year veteran of the Brewers, Bob Uecker, can get through an entire broadcast without slipping up on the name change, I think we can all manage just fine.  If it is still too much to handle, feel free to move to West Milwaukee where the entire city refuses to accept the change and is not changing the name of "Miller Park Way."

Another change for this year that was not insignificant to me is that I was not there!  2021 marked my first Opening Day I did not attend (in which fans were allowed) since 2007, and that year I was finishing my Masters' Thesis en route to the summer ball tour, so I think I had a good excuse that year.  It was a really difficult decision for me to not to go this year, much harder than I thought it would be.  As Spring Training rolled along I thought I would be fine with it, but when the day actually got here, it really hit me hard that I would not get to be at the ballpark, missing that familiar waft of sausage smoke as you enter the parking lot at 9 AM.  Instead, I smelled coffee and tacos as I went to a little taqueria near my house to watch the game.  On the bright side, I will say that I feel much better now about attending a game in 2021 than I did 3 months ago.  My wife and I have each already received one dose of the vaccine, and I think by mid-summer we will be itching to get out of the house with our newborn so long as virus and vaccine protocols continue improving.  So, I am going to return to keeping my "ballgames attended" tally on the blog after a one-year hiatus, but don't expect that number to even creep into double digits this year.

As for the on the field product, it was a pretty disappointing showing all around.  I wasn't expecting the team to hit that much as I don't think anybody is.  They made the playoffs last year despite their worst team batting average in franchise history, and this year's success is predicated on comeback seasons of about half of the roster, including Travis Shaw who is back now at third base.  But what was surprising was the pitching.  By and large the pitching is expected to carry us this year, but outside of the masterful performances of Corbin Burnes and Josh Hader, even that was a little shaky.  Keston Hiura is also still adjusting to moving to first base, and Lorenzo Cain is still getting his nearly 35-year-old body back into playing shape after opting out last season.  It's hard to gauge a season after 3 games against a really good interleague opponent, but it's hard not to have at least a knee-jerk reaction knowing how poorly things went last year.  Hopefully 9 games against the Cubs and 3 against the Pirates in the month of April will right the ship.  This weekend definitely made me yearn a little bit for the teams of the 1990s and 2000s of my childhood, who might have been horrible but at least they could rake.  It's a lot harder to listen to a 2-0 loss than it is a 10-8 loss.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 4/5/21:

Brewers 1-2; 3 @ Cubs, 3 @ Cardinals, 3 v. Cubs, 3 v. Pirates

Twins 2-1; 3 @ Tigers, 3 v. Mariners, 4 v. Red Sox, 3 @ Angels

2021 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 0

Peter - 0