World Series Game 6: Which Bullpen Blows It Tonight?

SoxFanInCali

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California. Duh.
Chase Utley is 0 for his last 29 in the postseason, but him getting hit by a pitch changed the series.
 
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jon abbey

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I think everyone except maybe Rich Hill could go tomorrow, McCullers to Keuchel to Verlander might be Hinch's best shot. Exciting!

I said LA in 7 coming in, I'm guessing LA 25-24 in 14 innings on a bases clearing double into the gap by Brandon McCarthy.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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I, for one, wish this series could go for another seven games. I know it isn't purist baseball but this has been damn fun to watch.
 

Dr Manhattan

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As a UK based Sox fan (of very many years) it still blows my mind that baseball isn't your #1 sport. Especially the NFL just gets more boring and nonsensical in many different ways (on and off the field). In a nutshell, whats the primary reason for this? baseball season being too long/too many games? reliance on the "one swing of the bat (many times nothing comes of it" tempo?
 

fiskful of dollars

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I know, right? I have become so ambivalent about the NFL (except the Pats, of course). The NFL has become a tire fire in the past few years. The conflict between the undeniable damage of CTE and the subsequent rule changes have effectively ruined my enjoyment of the game. I know people hate it when there's talk of "I'm not watching once TB12/BB are gone", but I get it.

Baseball is still glorious...and (as an AL fan- obviously) the NL version of baseball is soooo much better in my opinion. Watching the in-game strategy this WS has been fascinating. I have no idea what's going to happen in G7. I hope the game matches up to the previous 6.
 

fineyoungarm

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As a UK based Sox fan (of very many years) it still blows my mind that baseball isn't your #1 sport. Especially the NFL just gets more boring and nonsensical in many different ways (on and off the field). In a nutshell, whats the primary reason for this? baseball season being too long/too many games? reliance on the "one swing of the bat (many times nothing comes of it" tempo?
To paraphrase H L Mencken - "Never over estimate the intelligence of the American voter." Or the attraction of violence. Or that American football is tailor made for TV. Or how much TV Americans watch (guilty). Or the attraction of games being played once a week, making each one "important".

It won't happen in my lifetime, but, if the head injury issues cannot be resolved or dramatically lessened, football may go the way of boxing. The most famous athlete in this country for decades usually was the heavyweight champ. (Usually, See Babe Ruth.) And the champs in other weight divisions were widely known. Today professional boxing is largely irrelevant.
 

rlsb

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The Dodgers are undefeated (1-0) in seventh games of seven game series not involving the Yankees. Every little bit helps.
 

Harry Hooper

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As a UK based Sox fan (of very many years) it still blows my mind that baseball isn't your #1 sport. Especially the NFL just gets more boring and nonsensical in many different ways (on and off the field). In a nutshell, whats the primary reason for this? baseball season being too long/too many games? reliance on the "one swing of the bat (many times nothing comes of it" tempo?
Gambling fueled the NFL's rise in many ways.
 

tims4wins

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The NFL's decline is beginning. That said, it made all the sense in the world why it shot past baseball. Games are once a week, so you only invest 3 hours a week in your favorite team, as opposed to like 18 hours a week for a baseball team. Also, because each team only plays 16 games, you will tune in to watch the other good teams in the league in marquee matchups. Every game that the good teams in your team's conference play matter to your team's playoff chances. The average viewer won't tune into some random MLB game on a Tuesday night in July. But because of the scarcity of NFL games, everyone is interested. I think Thursday night football has proven that we have hit an oversaturation point though - there is too much football on TV now, which means we see more crappy matchups, which leads to fewer viewers. Another factor has been HDTV and how the experience of watching football became tailor made for TV. Baseball is an awesome in person sport because of the social aspect of it. Football is perfect for TV because of HDTV, and because you can go get a beer or snack or to the bathroom during the TV timeouts. And yeah, gambling has played a big part too. Generally speaking though it is because of the national appeal of football, vs. the regional appeal of baseball.

Edit: in baseball, it used to be harder to follow your team if you were out of the home market - so you might actually watch some other national games if you were craving baseball. Now you can just watch your team's games very easily and tune out the rest.

Attention span is another factor. Football is short, 5-10 second bursts, easy to process from that perspective. Baseball is more drawn out. I think pace of play is a huge issue in baseball but YMMV
 

InsideTheParker

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Another factor has been HDTV and how the experience of watching football became tailor made for TV.
I saw Sunday night's game on a much bigger tv than usual, an LG in a hotel, and I was knocked out by how beautiful baseball was in HD on a big screen, how the graphics just popped, and how nice it was to see all the pitch velocities. At home, our largest TV is 36" because I have prioritized decor over baseball. Now I have seen the error of my ways, and I think that HDTV ought to lure more people to baseball.

As for your other point, that we all have the choice nowadays (via mlb.tv., etc.) of watching our own team and don't have to wait for whatever the superstations from Chicago and Atlanta are carrying, I don't agree that that increases parochialism. Because of mlbn, I am many times a week given the choice of watching other teams' games, and often flip back and forth between them and the Sox game. (This may explain the inanity of some of my gamethread posts) I think I love baseball more for these new opportunities. I actually understand very much preferring the games of one's own team, but how can you not occasionally want to know how their rivals are playing other teams?

As for the short attention span that football plays to: that's why I hate it, because it's mostly commercials. Most of the people I know (except for my husband, who studies Patriots games as if they were lectures by a favorite professor) seem to enjoy football in the social way you attribute to baseball. They gather in each other's living room, and eat and drink and talk all the way through the damned game.
 

tims4wins

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My point was more that baseball is awesome in person because you converse with who you are sitting with, etc., due to the time between pitches, innings, etc. Re: gathering in each other's living room, I think that is a huge function of the schedule. When games are on Sundays, and the Super Bowl kicks off at 6:45, that is a great time for people to get together. Plus again it is once a week. With baseball, you're not going to throw a Game 3 Party at 8:30pm on a Tuesday night.

Re: parochialism, you use MLB.tv to watch other teams' game because you are a huge baseball fan. That's awesome, but that's different than 99% of the public. Baseball is a huge commitment to follow your own team, let alone the rest of the league. With Red Zone, etc., it is far easier to follow the NFL.
 

Bosoxen

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With Red Zone, etc., it is far easier to follow the NFL.
MLB Network has Strike Zone, which is a similar setup in that it goes around the league and shows you key at bats. Obviously, it's going to be different in that there are staggered start times and, unlike Red Zone, they can't and won't show you every score. The other limitation is that it's only Tuesday and Friday nights and only during the window in which MLB Network is airing its showcase game - meaning games with early and late start times will be underrepresented.

I used to watch this every Tuesday night before my daughter was born (even at the expense of that night's Sox game) but her arrival has really cut down on my baseball consumption so it's been a while since I tuned in. I actually didn't even know they had expanded it to Friday nights until I Googled it to provide the link.
 

tims4wins

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MLB Network has Strike Zone, which is a similar setup in that it goes around the league and shows you key at bats. Obviously, it's going to be different in that there are staggered start times and, unlike Red Zone, they can't and won't show you every score. The other limitation is that it's only Tuesday and Friday nights and only during the window in which MLB Network is airing its showcase game - meaning games with early and late start times will be underrepresented.

I used to watch this every Tuesday night before my daughter was born (even at the expense of that night's Sox game) but her arrival has really cut down on my baseball consumption so it's been a while since I tuned in. I actually didn't even know they had expanded it to Friday nights until I Googled it to provide the link.
I'm aware of strike zone. Again, the difference is schedule. Watching red zone for a couple hours once a week - again, on a Sunday - when your team isn't playing is different than doing it on a Tuesday night.