I was thinking about this when I saw that the cheapest seat for opening day at Dodger Stadium this season is 302.00 for a general admission seat. Well, I looked at the Dodger ticket guide, and that is just a bit exaggerated. It cost 159.00. But the point is, that is way too high for my blood or most any retiree on SSA.
Now the exact same seat is 51.00 for a game against the Giants the following week. Still too rich for my blood. Last season according to Statista, the average price of a ticket at Dodger Stadium was 209 dollars. 23 dollars higher than a seat in Yankee Stadium.
You add in parking, which at Dodger Stadium can be as much as 40 dollars or more, concessions, well, it adds up to about as much as I used to make in a week. By contrast, the average price at a Marlins game was 69 dollars.
The closest ballpark to me is Coors Field in Denver. Average price there, 85 dollars. Now, I have not been in several years. But I know the biggest hassle in Denver is parking close to Coors. There was a lot right across from the main entrance that I used a couple of times. It was 30 dollars to park there. But I have gotten seats as cheap as 15 dollars there. And I believe it still only costs 10 to sit in the rock pile.
Listening to the guys who went to Camelback, it seems the price of spring training games has skyrocketed too. The one time I went, I sat in the third row just to the left of the Dodger dugout and it cost me 29 dollars.
This is why when I do go to Los Angeles to visit family, I would rather make the drive out to Rancho and watch the kids in a box seat that costs less than 20 dollars and park for six.
Granted, any ballpark you go to food and beer are going to be high. The garlic fries at Loan Mart are better than the ones at Dodger Stadium and are two dollars less. I do not drink beer, so I do not have to spend upwards of 10 bucks for a 12 ounce drink.
But the way prices are now, I have a feeling that I won’t see a game in person again. There are no senior citizen discounts and no Veterans discounts that I have seen. Baseball pricing has gotten way out of hand.
Yamamoto looks like a disaster, sorry to say. He is not ready for MLB talent. Dodgers should prepare to replace him until he gets his head together.
Jeff – now this really is Dodger October baseball.
Their two leading pitchers, Glasnow and Yamamoto, are already struggling. Who’s left?
They chose Grove. I would have picked Yarbrough. He’s good for at least 3 innings. Grove is already on shaky ground.
Muncy looking very shaky at 3B. Grove has given up 3 runs already. Make it 4!
Roberts should never be in charge of the pitching rotation. Give it over to the pitching coach.
Lighten up dude. It is the second game of the season, and that ball Muncy missed barely made it over the corner of the bag. He had little chance of catching it, let alone getting the runner out. Yamamoto had the jitters period. Glasnow had control issues in the middle three innings of his outing. But pitched two 1-2-3 innings. You expect too much too soon.
Muncy is a disaster look at his at bats Mr, K with risp
I’m talking about the error he made.
Pointing out his ks he will have a lot more of both errors and ks
Freeman and Hernandez have struck out as many times as Muncy in this game. Muncy has two hits Freddie one and Hernandez zero. You are blaming the wrong guy. This loss is on the pitchers. All last year Muncy made only 17 errors, most of those at the beginning of the year.
I do not give a rats rear end about 2 errors in the second game of the year played in a park that is not up to major league standards. How many stadiums does Muncy play in that have artificial turf? Yeah, he missed a couple. Outman uncorks a bad throw, it happens. More concerned about the fact that the bullpen has given up 10 runs. Every time the Dodgers got close; they did not shut the Padres down. Also, they have left 12 runners on base. I guarantee you Muncy will drive in more runs that he will allow on errors. Is he Brooks Robinson over there? No, but he will be fine when they get back home.
No doubt, this game is on the pitching staff but we don’t need poor fielding to pile on. Sure, errors happen, but 3B is a very strategic bag that needs someone better fielding it. Most of us thought Muncy would move on to DH, but Ohtani silenced that.
Forget about it. Muncy is the third baseman period. He did a good job there in spring and has improved his game. The guy was ill and lost about 10 pounds just before this trip. You are putting way too much into one bad game. He will be fine.
Are you serious? How many runs did Glasnow allow, 2 ? And only 2 hits? That’s not struggling. And we won the game! Yes Yamamoto is looking like a deer in the headlights but don’t most of us expect him to improve?
I didn’t expect this. I don’t think anyone did.
Glasnow didn’t exactly struggle. 4 walks, 3 Ks in 5 sucks for a #1. ERA out of the gate is 3.6. Hopefully that improves.
Everybody knows Muncy is a less than third baseman. The team will have to live with it.
Glasnow isn’t struggling, chico.
The whole pitching staff seems to be struggling. I know the Padres are a good team but this is free flowing blood.
Whole pitching staff? Cmon, get serious. The guys who pitched after Glasnow yesterday completely shut down the Padres. None of them were available today. Miller and Stone and Paxton aren’t pitching on this trip. But Kelly, Hudson, Phillips and Brasier did a great job. This game, despite the three errors, is on the pitching staff. They walked 6, gave up 17 hits. Only 2 of the runs were unearned. So, they still would have lost 13-11 despite the errors. Fans going batshit crazy after one game in a ballpark that is not up to MLB standards.
“Fans going batshit crazy after one game in a ballpark that is not up to MLB standards.”
Ok, but you gotta admit, this game was pitching and defense stinker. I don’t believe it portends anything, hope not anyway, but it was an awful game to watch.
If it makes anybody feel better, Pepiot had a nice outing for the Rays…
I don’t think much of anything should be read into “Seoul Series.” No reason to panic about Yamamoto.
It was a very odd way to start the season–not a classic “season opener” in the good ol USA, but a spectacle overseas designed to promote Baseball (with a capital B) to a growing global market. A lot of hoopla.
Roberts talked about the excursion as it was a corporate “team building” exercise. (In a past life, I did one of those at Squaw Valley. The skiing was fun, the team-building not so much.) It was also the debut of the Ohtani Era for the Dodgers, with two new star pitchers who were likely facing unusual stress.
For that matter, the Padres pitchers didn’t play well today either.
It’s fitting that the teams split what was a glorified set of exhibition games. Yes, these games count in that standings. But they were also exhibitions.
As for Shohei’s former interpreter, ugh… I’d really prefer to just think about baseball, with a small b.
Bruh, you need to chill out. Do you expect perfection after every loss? It’s the second game of the season. If they don’t make it to October, then come out with this nonsense. Sheeeesh man, first two games and already the negativity?
15 runs on 18 hits in 3 innings in one and a half hours.
Plenty of action.
Mookie just won a car with a HR
10-8
Now he can finally drive his kids to school {sobbing}
Get home and get grounded.
Note to MLB – don’t do this again.
Already in the plans that next year, or the year after, they are going to open in Japan.
Why? I can exhibition games but not Openers. For all teams the season should open in the U.S..
Probably for crowd interest. Not as appealing to play games that don’t count.
Scott Andes and I had a conversation about Dodger tickets. I’m not sure what the issue is here.
to me, this means the market is working efficiently. Dodger prices are right where they should be. I would argue that ticket prices used to be artificially low. That may not be a bad thing.
Marlin‘s prices are cheaper, because nobody wants them. There’s more supply than demand. not really sure what the problem is.
I have heard it argued that baseball is losing the next generation of fans. That might be true, might not.
but I think that’s more due to video games, social networks, streaming services, un authorized streams of the games.
i’d like going to games. I like keeping score games. But I easily acknowledge the baseball is boring in person.
Might not be for everyone, but I like to read while I watch a game sitting in the easy chair.
I have been on a quest for a really good reading chair for about five years now.
Mine is a saddle leather recliner. As expected, it was kind of stiff the first year so but just like saddle leather is supposed to it softens up with age and just gets better and better.
Cheers
A lot of that is true Bluto. Bear’s point, those average salaried individuals raising a family can no longer afford FCI’s, is valid.
Baseball is boring in person? Not to me. Not usually anyway. When I lived in Napa I took a friend’s two son’s to their first MLB game in SF and that game was indeed a snooze fest. Those two boys didn’t have a good time. Neither did I. Cost me a bunch. But in Arizona I could get box seats for half price and my Sedona buddies and I went a few times a year and had a blast. Now that I live here in the OC I won’t be going to anymore games.
I agree that ticket prices are high, but the market dictates prices. Dodger attendance is almost 4 million, so a lot of people are paying the high prices. The prices for concerts are very high also. People pay $1,000 to see Taylor Swift or U2. I heard a friend is paying over $1,000 for a George Strait concert this year.
I wouldn’t pay those prices but someone does. And on top of the ticket prices, Ticketmaster takes $20-$80 and parking costs $40 or more. Yes, I am old and cheap, but not worth it to me.
They are way too high. But I get it. The team wins and the demand for tickets goes up. Doesn’t matter, a family of four could easily blow a grand on one game! That is insane.
Got a question for you gambling dudes out there:
What bookie would take bets totaling $4.5 million in debt from someone making what an interpreter would make? Seems to me these are debts that someone making many millions of dollars a year would incur.
I’m not up on gambling either. What I don’t understand is why would you go to a bookie instead of all the online sites they have now? Are they offering better odds? 120 billion bet on sports in 2023.
I’m just a craps man, but I think I have the answer. This is the reason you go to third-party bookies because you don’t have to have the money upfront. Lotta gamblers think they go down a little. I’ll come up I’ll come back. All the while the bookie is making money off the VIG or the interest.
That’s kinda what I figured. It just seemed crazy anyone would take a bet, or bets, not knowing if they could be covered. But what do I know about these things. I would add if Ohtani knew about this he could be in trouble. And how could he not?
Ever heard of the Yakuza?
Yes. You think there is a connection here?
Some thoughts so far:
*The pitching obviously sucked last night. We won’t lose many when we score 11. No time to overreact.
*I thought Glasnow looked fine to me. Nasty stuff and I’ll live with 4 walks, early.
*We all know Muncy is adequate, at best, at 3rd. But we will all live with that because we love his bat. To his credit, he’s lost weight and looked more mobile to me when I watched work outs at Camelback Ranch. But this is the best version of him defensively. This is who he is. I thought the ball by 3rd base was foul, but ruled fair. To me it was just a double pulled down the line and Max had no play. The Ole play to Max’s glove side was a ball he failed to pick. Get used to it.
*It took me no time to get a gut full of Eddie Perez. He offers his assumptions and backs them up with bullshit. Lots of Tim McCarver there. He blamed Muncy for not using proper mechanics on the double down the line. Eddie was all over Max speculating he was “on his heels and lacked focus due to the long inning”. I say it was a double.
*Eddie and Ravi also postulated “Yamamoto was unable to control his emotions” and it “got the best of him”. And the teams poor performance could be blamed on “Jet lag” and “Ohtani’s distracting situation”. I was one friggin baseball game. Please don’t piss in my ear and tell me it’s raining.
*I don’t think much of Yamamoto’s rolling, 77 mph curveball. It has a hump out of his hand and just rolls to the hitter with no late break. We called this a “legion roundhouse curve” back in my day. But let’s give the kid a chance before we push the panic button.
*Perhaps 4 pitchers we saw last night won’t be on the 26 man roster especially if Treinen and Graterol are healthy. Grove, Hurt, Feyereisen and Valand will be in the minors and not throwing to the Padres in a counter.
*Had enough of the drum in the background, the emaciated cheerleaders who looked 10 and the ballpark that looked worse then Oakland’s.
*Does MLB really need an enhanced global presence in Korea and Japan? Stay home and play where you don’t need to pay for sleep coaches.
*Yes Bear the prices are outrageous at Camelback Ranch as I mentioned many time this Spring Training. I saved a little with walk-up tickets on game day. But not much. The going rate for advanced tickets to sit on the outfield berm grass was $89.00. Family of 4 to sit out there – $356.00. Tall domestic beers – $18.00 each. Bottled water – $6.00 each. Hot Dogs close to $10. The average family is getting priced out. Remember, it’s exhibition baseball where the starters generally play 5 innings for early games. I saw 12 spring games and plan to watch 2 more Sox games but I’ve moved on to Goodyear Ballpark where prices are still reasonable without the Dodgers.
Hopefully it’s too early to draw conclusions, otherwise Yamamota is loosening Friedman’s bowels.
Muncy light tastes the same and is more filling. Outman is hitless but is making soft contact versus striking out. Still, time to pass the torch and flip him with Muncy in the batting order.
Middle infield D is solid so far and not a worry for me.
Were the drums signaling the pitches?😀
Good one.
Mookie has bobbled a couple but got outs on them. He will be league average. Lux won’t.
For those who are interested in the Ohtani-Ippei gambling saga, here’s a link to an analysis by Craig Calcaterra who writes a daily newsletter.
This is far and away the most complete analysis (given the paucity of facts available so far) that I have seen.
Based on the possibilities he lays out, it doesn’t look fantastic for our hero right now.
https://cupofcoffee.beehiiv.com/p/cup-coffee-extra-breaking-shohei-ohtaniippei-mizuhara-story?utm_source=cupofcoffee.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=cup-of-coffee-extra-breaking-down-the-shohei-ohtani-ippei-mizuhara-story
Thanks Jefe. This covers exactly what I was asking earlier. No matter the truth in this, it stinks and MLB and/or the Feds will have to do something.
Based on what I have read.
This is an awful post. It’s wrong fundamentally, Ohtani has wired 500K not millions, and descends from there into raw speculation.
I think I’m confused. You can, and it should be easy to, disregard the above post. I’m confused about the amounts. In the story frankly, I’m confused about everything in the story. I’ll try to read more tonight.
I am hereby advising you that, as per your suggestion, I am ignoring the above post and you’re correct, it was easy to do so.
However, since I’m always interested in what you have to say, I’ll wait until you complete your further studies and have more comments.
I thought it was well written and covered several of the possibilities. I still ask, how could Ohtani not know about this?
This might explain why Shohei was able to defer so much of his salary.
Top MLB players by endorsement $ 2024:
3) Aaron Judge – 6 mil
2) Bryce Harper – 7 mil
1) Shohei Ohtani – 65 mil
Yep.
And by deferring his salary to enhance the Dodgers’ odds of a championship, Shohei will further enhance his brand value.
Now if only he didn’t socialize with gamblers….
You have to be referring to Ippei because Ohtani does not know the bookie at all.
Ohtani SAYS he does not know the bookie but, at this point, we have no way of knowing that.
I’m going to believe him though, until proven otherwise.
Ohtani did not say that the bookie did. Not splitting hairs here. Ohtani has made no statements at all, so he has not said anything. All of his statements will come later through his lawyers. At this point, I am giving him the benefit of the doubt until concrete evidence of his involvement is shown, he is innocent of any wrongdoing. Let’s not make the same mistakes we made with Bauer and judge before all the evidence is in.
The money came out of his account. How the hell did that happen without him knowing about it? I guess we’ll find out.
Is anyone besides me having trouble getting on Mark’s site?
I can’t get on Mark’s site too.
I can get on, but the first article on there is from the 19th. The last couple aren’t there. Funny even though the 19th was previously closed out I can comment on that post too. Must be the new server he said he migrated to a couple days ago.
Now I tried to get back on and cannot and it says forbidden. Got to have something to do with that new server. Maybe all the pretentious bullshit from BJD is gumming things up!
Yes, my better judgement doesn’t allow it.
JDM to NYM – 1 year, $12.0MM. Got a small raise from 2023. I am a JDM fan, so I hope he does well, except against the Dodgers.
Mets will only pay $4.5MM of the salary this year. The remaining $7.5MM will be paid in $1.5MM annual installments between 2034-38. So the NPV will come in less than $12MM, which will help with the AAV and tax.
Mark’s site is back, but you never know if the server is going to screw up again.
But you can count on him screwing up again.