The Chinese Professional Baseball League took the world by storm when it became the first pro baseball organization to begin its 2020 season last month. The games were entertaining enough for American baseball fans, but more importantly, they were free.
Eleven Sports streamed all the CPBL games live on Twitter with English broadcasters, allowing fans who miss Major League Baseball to have something to watch until the MLB season begins. This morning however, it seemed as if Eleven Sports was having some issues. When I woke up and checked Twitter to see if there was a game still going on, I got a message that the broadcast was not available in my location, and I wasn't the only one.
Scrolling down to see the replies to Eleven Sports' tweet, it seemed as if others were having the same issues, and it looked as if a paywall had been put up for viewer in the United States.
Sending out responses to some of these angry tweets was an account called LIVENow, which claimed that it was now broadcasting CPBL games in the United States.
A quick look at LIVENow's website shows that you have to pay $2.49 to watch a game through their service, which isn't much, but when fans are used to getting a service for free, charging them for it now won't be received well.
The CPBL was a great way for fans around the world to get their baseball fix for the time being, and having free broadcasts in English was a massive opportunity to grow its following. With the KBO, which is considered a higher level of play, starting its season this week and broadcasting on ESPN in the U.S., the CPBL now faces the risk of losing all the fans it has acquired recently. If the CPBL is serious about growing its brand and keeping fans interested, free streams are the way to go for now, especially as more and more organizations begin their seasons and they have to fight to keep viewers' attention.
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Did you miss anything that happened around the baseball world yesterday? Well that's alright, because I've taken the biggest stories and compiled them all here, so you can get caught up. Bryce Harper wants to play in the OlympicsThis might be the first time I've ever agreed with Bryce Harper on anything. The Phillies outfielder was on the Starting 9 podcast yesterday, and among the topics they discusses was baseball at the Olympics. “It is such a tragedy to me that you are seeing - and I’m not saying this as any disrespect to any minor leaguers or anything like that - the 2020 Olympics in Japan, in Tokyo, and you’re not sending big league guys?" Harper said on the podcast. "Are you kidding me? You want to grow the game as much as possible and you’re not going to let us play in the Olympics because you don’t want to cut out on money for a two-week period? Like, OK, that’s dumb.” Currently, players on a 40-man roster who are not on the active MLB roster are eligible for the Olympics and any qualifying tournaments. Players in the Major Leagues are not eligible. Personally, I agree with Harper. The Olympics are the epitome of sports to me, and allowing the biggest stars in baseball to compete would only help grow the game at home and abroad. MLB finalizing plans to returnESPN's Jeff Passan reported on Wednesday evening that MLB is finalizing plans to get the 2020 season under way, with multiple sources saying that a second spring training will begin in mid-June and the season will start in early July. The rumored plans of having players quarantined in hubs have reportedly been dismissed as MLB looks more likely to play games at teams' home stadiums. Passan points out there are still plenty of issues, such as players' health, pay and the 2020 amateur draft, but at this time it looks as if baseball is on the path to returning. Javier Baez extension talks come to a haltCubs shortstop Javier Baez told ESPN's Marly Rivera that although he has had multiple "really good" conversations with the Cubs regarding a contract extension, those talks are on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Obviously, we want to reach an agreement, but right now everything is on hiatus. Just like it happened with baseball, we decided to leave it there. We haven't talked about it anymore," Baez told Rivera. "I'm very happy in Chicago. I believe it's one of the best organizations in the major leagues," Baez added. "We had several conversations but never focused on a deadline. They were very amicable conversations where we communicated well with each other." Baez is currently under contract with the Cubs through the 2021 season. He has been one of the biggest contributors for the team over the past few seasons, earning two All-Star selections and finishing second in the MVP race in 2018.
Yesterday was an eventful one, dominated by ESPN's announcement of KBO broadcasts. But there was some other news that trickled in throughout the day, so let's catch up here.
KBO begins 2020 season
The KBO started its 2020 season at 1 a.m. ET today, with the NC Dinos vs. Samsung Lions being broadcasted on ESPN early Tuesday morning. The network will broadcast one game each day, six days a week. Plus, as Jess Passan points out here, if you're not into waking up super early to watch baseball, ESPN will re-air a game each day.
Trevor Plouffe has sources and rumors
Former Major League third baseman Trevor Plouffe sent out a tweet last night saying he has heard from multiple sources when the MLB season can expect to get under way.
This particular timeline fits with what the rumors have been pretty much all along, but the fact that a former big leaguer is saying he's heard this from multiple sources gives credence to his tweet.
College baseball coming in June
A three-team invitational tournament will take place in Texas June 4-6. The tournament will feature players from all across the country who spend three days in workouts before forming teams and playing a round-robin tournament over the weekend. Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball has all the details here.
CPBL to begin allowing fans
While the KBO has been dominating the headlines since ESPN's announcement yesterday, the Chinese Professional Baseball League is still going strong in Taiwan. The league announced early this morning that it will begin allowing fans into games on May 8th, limiting attendance to 1,000 people per game.
It's been a long time since there were any live American sports on TV, and an even longer time since there was an MLB game. Yeah, ESPN is showing KBO games starting today, but we're all still missing the Major League Baseball season that should be over a month old by now. MLB's Opening Day at Home was a good way to hold us over for a while, but it didn't last. So if you're like us and are still craving some baseball, check out these games that you should be able to find online, and let us know if there are any others that we should watch until MLB returns to our television sets. Matt's Top Games1. 2016 World Series Game 7 Considered by many to be the greatest game ever played, the 2016 World Series has to be at the top of the list. It has everything you could want in a game seven - lead changes, dramatic home runs and a 108-year-old championship drought coming to an end. 2. 2011 World Series Game 6 Speaking of lead changes and dramatic home runs, you've got to check out game six of the 2011 World Series. David Freese etched his name into the history books with his 11th-inning walk-off home run to send the series to game seven. 3. 2018 NLDS Game 3 I had to find a way to fit a Braves game in here. The Braves went down two games to none, but rookie sensation Ronald Acuña, Jr. wasn't going to let the Dodgers sweep them. With his second-inning home run, he became the youngest player to ever hit a postseason grand slam, leading the Braves to a game three victory. 4. 2004 ALCS Game 4 The Cubs breaking their curse in 2016 was great, but the Red Sox dealt with a curse of their own for 86 long years. They became the first team in baseball history to win four straight games after being down 3-0 in a series, and it all started with a walk-off home run from David Ortiz in game four. 5. 2017 World Series Game 5 This game will probably get excluded from a lot of lists like this, and with good reasoning, but put aside all the Astros drama for a few minutes and appreciate how entertaining this game was. 25 total runs scored, seven home runs and 10 innings. It has to be included on this list. 6. 1993 World Series Game 6 Joe Carter's walk-off home run to win the World Series has gone down as one of the greatest moments in baseball history. Plus, it's always fun to watch a Phillies' loss. 7. David Bote Walk-off Nationals' losses are almost as fun to watch as Phillies' losses, so when David Bote hit a walk-off grand slam for the Cubs on Aug. 11, 2018, it was instantly a classic moment. 8. Derek Jeter's Final Game A legend like Jeter has to go out in dramatic fashion right? Although the Yanks missed out on the postseason, Jeter's walk-off hit in his final at-bat was a perfect send out. 9. 2011 Game 162 The Rays and Red Sox were tied for the AL Wild Card on the last day of the 2011 season. With the Rays needing a win over the Yankees to make the playoffs, their chances didn't seem so great. I won't give any spoilers, watch for yourself. 10. 1988 World Series Game 1 Nothing can top Joe Carter's walk-off home run to win the whole series, but how about a pinch-hit walk-off home run to win the first game of the Fall Classic. Kirk Gibson did just that in the 1988 series. Trey's Top Games1. 2016 Game 7 of the World Series: Cubs vs. Indians
In my opinion the greatest baseball game of all-time and it will be hard to beat. The ups and downs for each team, the individual moments, and the most iconic drought in all of sports being broken. The most laughable franchise in all of sports, the Chicago Cubs, end their 108-year World Series drought. That alone makes the game iconic. But add to the fact that this was a game 7, the Cubs coming back from down 3-1, ironically to the Cleveland Indians, where a major Cleveland franchise did the 3-1 comeback in the NBA Finals, and that is everything outside of the game itself. As for the game, it starts with a leadoff home run to Kyle Hendricks being pulled probably too early. To David Ross hitting a home run in his final game as a pro. Then you have Rajai Davis' home run to tie it in the 8th inning which made the stadium erupt. Then you have a rain delay as the game goes into extras and the Cubs who lost all the momentum come back after the rain delay to win it. 2. 2014 AL Wild Card Game: Royals vs A’s I moved to Kansas last July, so I had to get a Royals game on this list. This game happens to also be really incredible. The Royals are down 7-3 heading into the 8th inning where the team goes on a 3-run rally and ties it in the ninth. In which they go on to win the game in extras as they made a run to the World Series that season, losing to the Giants. 3. 2014 Yankees vs O’s: Jeter walks off in his final game at Yankee Stadium Derek Jeter is the reason I love the game of baseball, he is the reason I'm a Yankee fan. He will always be my favorite player, so you can say I was a little emotional in his final game at Yankee Stadium. 4. 2001 Game 4 of the World Series: Yankees vs D-Backs bonus game 5 So you have two dramatic wins for the Yankees in back-to-back games in Yankee Stadium just after 9/11. Add to the fact game 4 was the game where Jeter became “Mr.November” this was an iconic two games in the postseason history. Also, you could argue that this might be the best World Series of all time with the way it ended on a walk-off by the D-Backs. ( I don't have game 7 of this series because it is always hard for me to watch as a Yankees fan). 5. 2011 Game 6 of the World Series: Cards vs Rangers “We will see you tomorrow night.” Joe Buck's best call in his great history of broadcasting as David Freese hits a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th to force a game 7. This was after his bases-clearing triple in the bottom of the ninth where the Cards were on their final strike of the World Series. 6. 2003 ALCS Game 7: Yankees vs Red Sox Best rivalry in Baseball, a ticket to the World Series on the line and the game ends on an iconic walk-off. Need I say more? 7. 2015 Game 5 ALDS: Blue Jays vs Rangers Best bat flip in the history of baseball occurred in this game and it caused a brawl the following season. Do I need to say more? 8. 2019 ALDS Game 5 Nats Dodgers and NL Wild Card Nats Brewers The game where Juan Soto became a household name. 9. 2010 NDLS Game 1 Phillies vs Reds (Doc Holiday’s no-no) Postseason no-hitter is all you need to know. 10. 1988 Game 1 of the World Series: Dodgers vs A’s I wanted to pick one classic, basically a game before I was born for this list and this is one of my favorites. Good news is coming for those of us craving more live baseball. According to Jeeho Yoo of the Yonhap News in Seoul, ESPN has reached a deal to broadcast one KBO game each day, six days per week, for the foreseeable future. English-language baseball fans have been able to get their fix online by watch Eleven Sports' streams of the Chinese Professional Baseball League, but the ESPN deal with the KBO is another step forward in getting baseball in front of more fans. The broadcasts will begin at 1 a.m. ET Tuesday with KBO's Opening Day game between the NC Dinos and the Samsung Lions. ESPN stated that most other broadcasts will take place at 5:30 a.m. ET Tuesdays through Fridays, 4 a.m. ET on Saturdays and 1 a.m. ET on Sundays. The deal also includes games to be broadcasted during the postseason and the Korean Series. "We're thrilled to become the exclusive English-language home to the KBO League and to showcase its compelling action and high-level of competition," Burke Magnus, ESPN's executive vice president of programming, said in a statement. "We have a long-standing history of documenting the game of baseball and we're excited to deliver these live events to sports fans." If you need help choosing a team to root for or just want to learn a little bit about the KBO before the season begins Tuesday morning, check out this thread from Baseball Brit on Twitter. If you've read my beer reviews, you know I'm a fan of the products that Elkton Brewing Company is putting out. I've never gotten the chance to actually go there, as I came home right around the time everything started shutting down.
But my dad has stopped in there a few times to pick up some crowlers, and the beer they're brewing in Elkton is among the best of the breweries in and around Rockingham County. This newest beer that they released is called Old Spotswood, and it might be my favorite of the three that they've released. It was very similar in style to The Nutt, their brown ale, but in my opinion was a little better. At 8.0% alcohol, it also packs a punch. The beer has malty, roasty and rich characteristics, with a bit of sweetness. The official description on Elkton's website reads: "Some might fault him for being loyal to the British, but times were different back then. And we'd like to think that he was always an American at heart (at least a Virginian!). This beer is a tribute to the olden days and to the heart of exploration which led Old Al to the valley!" If you're anywhere near Elkton, I'd stop in and pick up a crowler or two of the Old Spotswood pretty soon. Untappd Rating: 4.0 out of 5 |
AuthorMatthew Atkins, Journalist and Baseball fan. Archives
March 2023
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