2020 MLB Season

[Dynasty 2,273]

I'd be (slightly) surprised if Tampa Bay outlasts Arizona.

[Kramerica Industries 1,639]

On 2/27/2020 at 3:19 PM, FiddySicks said:

Phoenix turns into the surface of the sun come the summer time

 

[snip]

 

Phoenix is HUGE, and has been growing pretty rapidly for a long time now.  They have nearly six million people and either are already or are soon going to be the fourth largest city in the country. 

 

EDIT: Just checked that. They’re 5th, but have been slowly gaining on Houston.

 

These two things don't make any sense to me. What's the appeal I'm not getting? 

[FiddySicks 10,610]

15 hours ago, Kramerica Industries said:

 

These two things don't make any sense to me. What's the appeal I'm not getting? 

 

Lots of land, low taxes, strong job market, and it’s a really cheap place to live relative to the surrounding major cities. It’s basically a getaway for middle class midwesterners who are over the cold and Southern Californians who are tired of the cost of living.  

[JayMac 3,195]

1 hour ago, FiddySicks said:

 

Lots of land, low taxes, strong job market, and it’s a really cheap place to live relative to the surrounding major cities. It’s basically a getaway for middle class midwesterners who are over the cold and Southern Californians who are tired of the cost of living.  

So these are basically the American version of the snowbirds that are supposedly going to attend Florida Panther games every season. Transplant markets seem to survive but never have rabid fan bases (i.e., Atlanta). 

[FiddySicks 10,610]

Yeah Arizona is definitely the west coast Florida, in many MANY always. 

[BringBackTheVet 17,524]

City populations in western areas don't mean anything.  What counts as 'city' there is not the same as it is elsewhere.  Metro is more important, and Phoenix isn't top 10.  

 

Phoenix "city" is 517 sq mi.  Boston "city" is 89 sq mi.  Philadelphia "city" is 141 s mi.

 

I'm not sure how to get the land area of the metro areas, but I'd be surprised if what counts as Phoenix' city area is drastically different than other cities' metro areas.

[Seadragon76 766]

As a Mariners fan, it's bad enough that there's that playoff drought and now being the only team to never reach the World Series... it's going to be even worst knowing that this season is pretty much being punted on for next season.

[_J_ 1,650]

21 hours ago, FiddySicks said:

 

Lots of land, low taxes, strong job market, and it’s a really cheap place to live relative to the surrounding major cities. It’s basically a getaway for middle class midwesterners who are over the cold and Southern Californians who are tired of the cost of living.  

Yeah, this. Me, an East Coaster would move to Phoenix because it would get me close to San Diego/LA without having to pay the housing prices in SD/LA

[FiddySicks 10,610]

15 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

City populations in western areas don't mean anything.  What counts as 'city' there is not the same as it is elsewhere.  Metro is more important, and Phoenix isn't top 10.  

 

Phoenix "city" is 517 sq mi.  Boston "city" is 89 sq mi.  Philadelphia "city" is 141 s mi.

 

I'm not sure how to get the land area of the metro areas, but I'd be surprised if what counts as Phoenix' city area is drastically different than other cities' metro areas.

 

Yeah sure, but 5 million people is still 5 million people. Metro area may not be top ten (it’s 11th ), but Phoenix is also growing faster than any of the metro areas above it sans the two Texas metro locations. 

 

Ultimate point I’m trying to make is that Phoenix should be a good baseball market just based on the numbers. 

[GDAWG 1,599]

On 2/27/2020 at 11:30 AM, TBGKon said:

Structural emergency?  Would BC Place be where they end up last minute?

 

So BC Place will not only have to schedule around the Whitecaps and BC Lions come June, but also the possibility of an MLB team?  

[OnWis97 4,407]

On 2/29/2020 at 12:51 PM, FiddySicks said:

 

Lots of land, low taxes, strong job market, and it’s a really cheap place to live relative to the surrounding major cities. It’s basically a getaway for middle class midwesterners who are over the cold and Southern Californians who are tired of the cost of living.  

Hey, that's me...

But to me, Phoenix provides a similar problem. A really bad winter in Minnesota keeps you locked inside for a few months.  Seems to me that every summer would be that way in Phoenix.  I've never been there, so I'm basing it on a particularly suffocating Labor Day weekend in Vegas.

[FiddySicks 10,610]

56 minutes ago, OnWis97 said:

Hey, that's me...

But to me, Phoenix provides a similar problem. A really bad winter in Minnesota keeps you locked inside for a few months.  Seems to me that every summer would be that way in Phoenix.  I've never been there, so I'm basing it on a particularly suffocating Labor Day weekend in Vegas.

 

Yeah, it’s kind of funny. I’m from an area with a really temperate climate so basically being a prisoner in your own home half the year due to weather really bothered me. It took me the longest time to realize that so many of the Chicagoland people I knew were cool with it because they’re used to that, just during the opposite part of the year. 

[Sport 13,000]

 

2 hours ago, OnWis97 said:

Hey, that's me...

But to me, Phoenix provides a similar problem. A really bad winter in Minnesota keeps you locked inside for a few months.  Seems to me that every summer would be that way in Phoenix.  I've never been there, so I'm basing it on a particularly suffocating Labor Day weekend in Vegas.

 

you're right. I went to my cousin's outdoor wedding in June in Phoenix when it was 115 degrees during the ceremony. It was misery. I'd rather be cold. If you have to be outside you wear your cold weather pants, put on a coat, a hat and gloves. There's no solution like that for that kind of oppressive heat.

 

To bring this back to baseball, the day after the wedding the Reds just so happened to be in town so my family and I went to Chase Field to see them play the Diamondbacks. After walking the short distance from the car to the stadium it was nice to be inside of a climate controlled environment, but that wore off after a few innings because it felt like they didn't have a single light on inside the stadium and the entire building had the atmosphere of a warehouse. Combine that with the feeling of "don't go outside or you'll literally die" and the recycled air and it's how I imagine living in a colony on the moon would be like. 

[Maroon 510]

3 hours ago, Sport said:

 

 

you're right. I went to my cousin's outdoor wedding in June in Phoenix when it was 115 degrees during the ceremony. It was misery. I'd rather be cold. If you have to be outside you wear your cold weather pants, put on a coat, a hat and gloves. There's no solution like that for that kind of oppressive heat.

 

To bring this back to baseball, the day after the wedding the Reds just so happened to be in town so my family and I went to Chase Field to see them play the Diamondbacks. After walking the short distance from the car to the stadium it was nice to be inside of a climate controlled environment, but that wore off after a few innings because it felt like they didn't have a single light on inside the stadium and the entire building had the atmosphere of a warehouse. Combine that with the feeling of "don't go outside or you'll literally die" and the recycled air and it's how I imagine living in a colony on the moon would be like. 

 

I've always said that you can keep on layering on in the cold, you can't just keep on stripping down in the heat to the point where it's no longer hot.

 

[Dalcowboyfan92 381]

To me, it's much easier keeping warm than keeping cool. (Kind of goes without saying, tbh.)

 

Really, it's some of the same issues the Rangers had when they soap boxed for a new stadium (although, they have the potential for wicked thunderstorms, whereas Phoenix doesn't get them as much).

[LA_Angels 137]

On another note, let's not forget how bad Vancouver would be for a MLB team. BC Place would empty most of the time. If the Dbacks have to go anywhere "Temporarily", Vegas and their money makes the most logical sense to me.

[SFGiants58 12,713]

There’s also Montréal, if we want a “long term experiment.”

[GDAWG 1,599]

1 hour ago, LA_Angels said:

On another note, let's not forget how bad Vancouver would be for a MLB team. BC Place would empty most of the time. If the Dbacks have to go anywhere "Temporarily", Vegas and their money makes the most logical sense to me.

 

Also, the grounds crew at BC Place would have to go from baseball to soccer to CFL which might be difficult to do.  

[_J_ 1,650]

15 hours ago, GDAWG said:

 

Also, the grounds crew at BC Place would have to go from baseball to soccer to CFL which might be difficult to do.  

Soccer to CFL isnt a terrible switch I'd imagine. Just a case of removing goal posts and repainting lines.

 

Baseball has been done, but the harder switch. Nothing unheard of though

[GDAWG 1,599]