Sacrifice World Series revenue for parity?

From Bill Shaikin: The World Series is upon us, and this one should be a delight: The team with the best record in the National League, the Milwaukee Brewers, against the team with the best record in the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays.

The players are about to take baseball’s grandest stage. Yet this has somehow become a strange national obsession: not how Jacob Misiorowski or Junior Caminero might shine in the series, but how many people might watch it.

Should you care? Not really. Have you ever thought about watching a World Series game and thought, “Hmmm, let me consider what the ratings might be before I decide to tune in?”

Major League Baseball cares, of course, because its owners count on billions of dollars from the sale of television rights, and those rights are worth more money when more people watch the games. And, since the fog of a collective bargaining war has enveloped the sport, the ratings make for an intriguing subplot in the World Series.

This World Series is what owners say they want: less of, say, the Dodgers and the New York Yankees, more of teams from smaller markets that seldom advance through the playoffs, if they even get there. Neither the Brewers nor the Rays have won a World Series.

Yet the ratings for the Dodgers-Yankees World Series in 2024 almost doubled those for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers in 2023, and this year’s ratings should be much closer to 2023 than 2024.

So, in a sport that already generates the majority of its broadcast revenue in national rather than local packages, amid the collapse of regional sports networks, are the owners taking a risk of making less money on the World Series?

U.S. women’s soccer is no longer a juggernaut

From Kevin Baxter: When Emma Hayes took over the women’s national soccer team two years ago, she had less than two months to get it ready for the Paris Olympics. So with time short, she motivated her players by telling them stories, including one about how ultra marathoners push through pain.

“For me, simplicity was critical,” she said. “I didn’t waste time.”

That plan worked, with the U.S. digging deep to win its final four games, each by a single goal, en route to Olympic gold.

Hayes has had a much longer window to prepare for next summer’s World Cup, so she’s ditched the storytelling in favor of hands-on teaching. The lesson, however, is pretty much the same: winning won’t be easy because the rest of the world has caught up to the U.S.

And it’s a lesson she taught by scheduling seven consecutive games against three of the top seven teams in the world. The U.S. winning just three of those games wasn’t a disaster; it was the point.

Rams sign another kicker

From Gary Klein: The Rams moved to augment their struggling special teams on Tuesday, signing veteran kicker Brandon McManus.

The Rams worked out McManus and veteran Matt Prater on Tuesday and then chose McManus to replace Blake Grupe, who is on injured reserve after suffering a knee injury during his Rams debut in an 18-16 defeat by the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium on Sunday.

McManus will be the third kicker on the roster this season for a team that opened as the favorite to win Super Bowl LXI but is now struggling with a 2-4 record heading into Sunday’s game against the Raiders in Las Vegas.

Kings get first win of season

Adrian Kempe scored twice and the Kings got their first win of the season, rallying from an early deficit to beat the Washington Capitals 5-2 on Tuesday night.

Artemi Panarin, Erik Gustafsson and Scott Laughton also scored for the Kings (1-4-2), and former Capitals goalie Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves as first-year coach Peter Laviolette recorded his first with with L.A.

Ryan Leonard and Cole Hutson scored for the Capitals, who took a 2-0 lead in the first period but were held scoreless for the final 41:25. Washington’s Logan Thompson stopped 21 shots.

Ducks fall to Islanders

Ondrej Palat, Viktor Eklund and Simon Holmstrom scored first-period goals and the New York Islanders beat the Ducks 3-2 on Tuesday night for their second straight victory.

Ilya Sorokin made 15 saves to help the Islanders improve to 3-0-1 in their last four games.

Frank Vatrano and Alex Killorn scored for the Ducks, who lost their fourth straight game. Lukas Dostal finished with 22 saves.

MLB postseason schedule

World Series
All games at 5 p.m. PT
All game on FOX/FOX Deportes/FOX One

No. 1 Milwaukee vs. No. 1 Tampa Bay
Friday at Milwaukee
Saturday at Milwaukee
Monday at Tampa Bay
Tuesday at Tampa Bay
*Wed., Oct. 28 at Tampa Bay
*Friday, Oct. 30 at Milwaukee
*Sat., Oct. 31 at Milwaukee

* if necessary

This day in sports history

1950 — Tom Powers of Duke scores six touchdowns — three rushing, three receiving — in a 41-0 victory over Richmond.

1956 — Billy Howton of the Green Bay Packers catches seven passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns in a 42-17 victory over the Rams.

1961 — Eddie Arcaro wins the Jockey Club Gold Cup for a record 10th time. His mount, Kelso, wins his second straight Gold Cup.

1967 — The expansion Seattle SuperSonics win their first NBA game, a 117-110 overtime victory over San Diego.

1973 — Fred Dryer of the Rams becomes the first NFL player to record two safeties in a 24-7 victory over the Green Bay Packers.

1975 — Carlton Fisk breaks up a thrilling contest with a homer in the 12th inning to give the Boston Red Sox a 7-6 victory over the Cincinnati Reds and force a seventh game in the World Series.

1979 — Chicago Bulls guard Sam Smith scores the first four-point play in NBA history during a 113-111 loss to the Bucks at Milwaukee.

1980 — The Philadelphia Phillies win the World Series for the first time in their 98-year history, defeating the Kansas City Royals in six games.

1998 — The New York Yankees win 3-0 at San Diego, sweeping the Padres for their record 24th World Series championship.

2006 — Two rookie pitchers start the World Series for the first time. Anthony Reyes pitches into the ninth inning to help St. Louis cruise past Detroit and Justin Verlander 7-2 in Game 1.

2006 — Michigan State rallies from a 35-point, third-quarter deficit to beat Northwestern 41-38 in the biggest comeback in NCAA Division I-A history. Brett Swenson kicks the winning 28-yard field goal with 13 seconds left after an interception by Travis Key.

2007 — Rob Bironas kicks an NFL-record eight field goals, the last a 29-yarder with no time left to give Tennessee a 38-36 win over Houston. Bironas adds two extra points to set the NFL record for most points by a kicker, with 26.

2007 — New England’s Tom Brady passes for 354 yards and a team-record six touchdowns in a 49-28 victory over Miami.

2012 — Tamika Catchings scores 25 points to help the Indiana Fever win their first WNBA title with an 87-78 victory over the Minnesota Lynx.

2015 — Daniel Murphy and the New York Mets finish a playoff sweep of the Chicago Cubs with an 8-3 victory to reach the World Series. Murphy homers for a record sixth consecutive postseason game.

2017 — Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov extend their season-opening points streaks to nine games, sending the Tampa Bay Lightning past the Pittsburgh Penguins 7-1.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time...

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