NEWSLETTER
The Diamond Sports Group saga has taken another turn for the worse and once again left fans in the dark. This time, Comcast is shutting the lights off on their Bally Sports RSNs until the two sides can come to terms on a new carriage deal. That and more MLB Notes in today’s MLBits.
Comcast Drops Bally Sports, Leaving Fans in the Dark—What Does it Mean for MLB’s Plans to Launch a Blackout Free Streaming Service Next Season?
Comcast and its Xfinity television service have dropped Bally Sports, leaving fans of 38 teams across MLB, the NBA, and the NHL without a way to watch their favorite teams. It’s not a huge issue right now for NBA and NHL fans since their teams are playing nationally televised playoff games if they’re still playing at all. But Baseball fans will feel the brunt of the carriage dispute between Comcast and Diamond Sports Group.
Fans of the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays, and Texas Rangers will be impacted.
While the whole thing boils down to dollars and cents, the sticking point right now is Comcast’s desire to have Diamond’s Bally Sports channel included in a premium tier, which means that even when the games are back on the air, many cable subscribers will have to upgrade their packages to see their favorite teams.
Comcast said in a statement that they’ve been flexible with Diamond and plans to credit their customers on their monthly bill for the costs associated with the programming.
“We have been very flexible with Diamond Sports Group for months as they work through their bankruptcy proceedings, providing them with an extension on the Bally Sports Regional Networks last fall and a unilateral right to extend the term for another year, which they opted to not exercise,” Comcast said in a statement. “We’d like to continue carrying their networks, but they have declined multiple offers, and we no longer have the rights to this programming. We will proactively credit our customers for the costs associated with them — most will automatically receive $8 to $10 per month in credits.”
The Athletic’s Evan Drellich has more on what the latest carriage dispute and Diamond’s bankruptcy case means for MLB and their plans to launch a blackout-free streaming service with some of the teams in the league as soon as 2025.
Will Mike Trout Ever Escape Anaheim?
Aside from his body failing him more often than we would like to see in the back nine of Mike Trout’s career, his lack of exposure on baseball’s biggest stage has been the most frustrating part of one of the best’s career.
Baseball fans have been deprived of seeing Mike Trout in October for much of his career, all spent in Anaheim. Trout has always maintained that he has no desire to leave the Angels to pursue a World Series elsewhere, but with his body breaking down, he may never have the opportunity, even if he was to have a change of heart.
Trout turns 33 in August and has missed more games than he’s played since 2021, and he’s owed $212.7 million. He doesn’t exactly jump out at you as the type of player that would fetch the Angels a return they deem appropriate. But as Ken Rosenthal opines, nobody is untradeable. Not even an expensive, aging, and broken-down Mike Trout.
Early Season Takeaways: New Rules, Hot Starts, and Bad Umpires
“Whether it’s Angel Hernandez calling strikes on pitches literally a half-foot off the plate or Hunter Wendelstedt kicking New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone out of a game because of what a fan had yelled, April’s umpiring gaffes had followers clamoring for the days when robot umpires will arrive in the majors. And, yes, robot umpires are inevitable.”
Jeff Passan’s early season takeaways column is live at ESPN.com this afternoon, and it’s worth your time today.
RPM(less) Renaissance: Matt Waldron is Bringing the Knuckleball Back
If you’re older than 30, chances are, you’re a fan (or at least someone who vividly remembers) when knuckleballers were a regular thing in baseball. The knuckleball went by the wayside in the modern-day race for RPMs on pitches.
That is, until Matt Waldron, who is making a case for its return with his RPM-less wonder that has him sporting a 4.35 ERA (111 ERA-) and a 4.06 FIP (103 FIP-). Waldron’s not going to be in the hunt for the Cy Young Award, but he’s pitching well enough to stick in the back end of just about any MLB rotation.
Matt Waldron Knuckleball with 14 inches of Run. 😳 pic.twitter.com/LnWwak53th
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 25, 2024
Jay Jaffe has more on Waldron’s knuckler in his latest column at FanGraphs.
