Will you be watching the World Series?

On a scale of 1 to 10, how much will you watch?

  • 1. None of it

    Votes: 78 26.0%
  • 2. A bit of it as I have to

    Votes: 13 4.3%
  • 3. A little, if I bump into it on tv

    Votes: 76 25.3%
  • 4. Some, I like the pageantry

    Votes: 34 11.3%
  • 5. I expect I will end up seeing about half of it

    Votes: 30 10.0%
  • 6. I will try to see much of it

    Votes: 19 6.3%
  • 7. Planning to watch as much as I can

    Votes: 30 10.0%
  • 8. Unless something important comes up, I am there

    Votes: 10 3.3%
  • 9. As much as I can, nothing is more important to me than the Fall Classic

    Votes: 3 1.0%
  • 10. Wouldn’t miss it for anything

    Votes: 7 2.3%

  • Total voters
    300

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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I came to really like Freeman, Albies, and Ron Washington this post-season. I admire the skills of Riley, Rosario, and, particularly Matzek.
I forgot about Washington. I like when baseball lifers get rewarded with either an All-Star selection or a World Series. It'd be nice to see him or Freeman get some hardware too, I guess. But I think that if Baker wins this, he's a slam dunk for Cooperstown. I'd like to see that happen.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Cheaters vs Choppers. I won't be watching any of the World Series.

The Braves have some likable players plus Ron Washington as coach but I'll be damned if I'm going to tune in to national TV seeing their fans do that horrible chop. Screw those guys.

I like Dusty Baker. I think he's gotten an unfair rap over the years, I think he's evolved as a manager and he's apparently a great guy and the perfect choice to manage the Astros after they canned Hinch. That being said, screw that organization too. Crane and Luhnow still run the show and are still a couple of McKinsey jackwagons.

If I'm rooting for anything it's the meteor.
 

8slim

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I can't say none, because I'm sure I'll flip over to a game at some point over the next week. I'll keep tabs on the score because that's super easy given mobile alerts.

Over many years I've gone from being a baseball fan to a Red Sox fan. That's not to say I don't follow baseball news beyond the Sox, but I very rarely watch non-Sox games, so the World Series isn't an outlier in that sense. I tend to check out of the NBA and NHL post-seasons once the Cs and Bs are eliminated too, unless there's a compelling moment or a game 7.
 

Rice4HOF

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I'm not much of a sports fan. But I am an obsessed baseball fan. I would rather watch a t-ball scrimmage than the Super Bowl. In the "off-season" I'll watch games from the ABL (side note: they've cancelled their 2021-2022 season).

So, yes, I'll watch every inning of every game.
 

AlNipper49

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Watching? If the Sox were playing the Braves I was planning on going to every game in ATL since I'm only a little under two hours away. I'll still take my oldest to a game though, it's not often that one can drive to a World Series / SuperBowl / whatever championship. I think it'll be fun as hell for him, and probably me too.
 

joe dokes

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I won’t watch any of it. As someone without a cable package in NYC (no broadcast) MLB doesn’t make it easy enough to get the games. I would show my kids, who like baseball, but not at the hassle and expense of tracking down another streaming service subscription. As part of my MLB TV package, we’d watch some.
Albany area and no kids, but yup. Without cable I have no way to watch it anyway.
If you really want to watch without cable, isn't it broadcast on Fox OTA?
 

Wallball Tingle

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I chose 4. I'll likely flick it on and leave it in the background a fair bit of the time and the evening times aren't as horrid for a west coaster.

Best friend from high school (in south Texas) is a Houston fan and I'd rather the 'stros win over the overtly racist franchise. I may change my mind as the series go on. It's been true a few times in the past that I was wrong about which team I'd root for in the end.
 

Yelling At Clouds

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Cheaters vs Choppers. I won't be watching any of the World Series.

The Braves have some likable players plus Ron Washington as coach but I'll be damned if I'm going to tune in to national TV seeing their fans do that horrible chop. Screw those guys.

I like Dusty Baker. I think he's gotten an unfair rap over the years, I think he's evolved as a manager and he's apparently a great guy and the perfect choice to manage the Astros after they canned Hinch. That being said, screw that organization too. Crane and Luhnow still run the show and are still a couple of McKinsey jackwagons.

If I'm rooting for anything it's the meteor.
For the record, the bolded is no longer true as of the 2020 season. If you want to argue his tenure/influence casts a long shadow over this current version of the team, though, then I agree.
 

RedOctober3829

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I'll be watching. The Braves are my NL team because it was either them or the Cubs in the 80s when I lived in NM and because I've been in the Atlanta area for thirty years.
I'd watch even without a rooting interest because it's baseball. While not close to the same interest that I'd have with the Sox it will still be fun to have a team to root for.
Yeah I have enjoyed watching the Braves as well. My cousins who live in Marietta are neighbors of Snitker so they are super thrilled for them.
 

OCD SS

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If you really want to watch without cable, isn't it broadcast on Fox OTA?
Not sure the arena is an option, I get no real reception in the part of my apartment where the TV is. If it were the Sox, we’d find a way/ pay for streaming, but I’m sure MLB doesn’t need casual viewers outside of Atlanta or Houston, right?
 

ookami7m

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I went 6 - mostly because I'm at work for most of the start of the games and we have but one TV at the house to watch anything on so by the time I get home it's not worth a fight with the kids most of the time. I'll definitely watch starting in game 4 for any possible clinching game.
 

Brianish

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If you really want to watch without cable, isn't it broadcast on Fox OTA?
Local Fox affiliate changed its frequency a couple years back, and we don't pick up the new one. I'd at least put it on in the background otherwise.
 

DeadlySplitter

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I think I will mostly be on MLB.TV this time while doing other things.

Houston-Washington was an amazing series, very likable WC run by the Nats. The end of the season is still a bit raw for me, Braves aren't quite as likable, Houston way more hateable than two years ago obviously, and I have some personal health things right now that come first.
 

Sad Sam Jones

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I'll be working evenings during half the games, so it will come down to whether the game is still capable of capturing my interest in the 4th or 5th inning. I've always mildly enjoyed the Braves on the field, so I think I can convince myself to root for them at a minimal level of emotional investment. I don't actually like anything good happening for their fan base for political/social reasons, but even aside from Houston fans' own baggage, I also doubt their base is really any different when it comes down to those issues I have with Braves fans.
 

Hank Scorpio

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I’m a cord-cutter, so I won’t be watching. I’ll be checking in on the box scores and highlights online, and be fervently pulling for the Braves to eliminate the Bregman’s.
 

mauf

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I voted #4, even though I could give a fuck about the pageantry, as that was the only option between “I’ll watch a couple innings if I stumble across it” and watching about 50% of the innings, which is a benchmark I won’t reach. It’s baseball, I’ll watch. But Braves-Astros doesn’t interest me, so there will be times I’d normally watch where I’ll watch football or putter around the house instead.
 

Looch

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This exceedingly non scientific poll is still surprising in that a small sample of predominantly white, male, and older fans who care enough about baseball for most of the year to obsess on the ups and downs of one team, quite decisively don’t care enough about the sport to see how the story ends.

It has long been obvious that the situation is bad for younger people, minorities, and women, as the Times story today did a good job of capturing, but it is even worse that the sport to the likes of us is only compelling until we don’t see the laundry we grew up caring about. That’s so not good and the tweaks being considered don’t seem likely to fix this march toward descending to NHL localized ratings.

I personally answered #5 —that I will see about half of the WS— because I tend to fall asleep around 10:30-11, which is roughly the fifth inning of most of these playoff games. I’d rather be functional in the morning than see if something interesting happens around midnight in a slog between two teams I’m indifferent about.
 

jon abbey

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This exceedingly non scientific poll is still surprising in that a small sample of predominantly white, male, and older fans who care enough about baseball for most of the year to obsess on the ups and downs of one team, quite decisively don’t care enough about the sport to see how the story ends.
The season is so long and the national TV coverage is so soulless that it is hard to motivate these days once my team is eliminated.
 

Yelling At Clouds

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The season is so long and the national TV coverage is so soulless that it is hard to motivate these days once my team is eliminated.
I have thought for a while that shortening the season would increase both the quality of on-field play and fan interest. For obvious reasons, it will never happen. (I’m also aware that this is not what happened during the 60-game season, but that was played under what we’ll call “unusual circumstances,” so I’m not sure it’s indicative of much.)
 

InsideTheParker

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The season is so long and the national TV coverage is so soulless that it is hard to motivate these days once my team is eliminated.
It doesn't have to be, as TBS just demonstrated, but FOX is hopeless, with Smoltz muttering stories about his baseball past more than analyzing the play on the field. And the pre- and post-games are embarrassing. Maybe those are aimed at young people who prefer raucous to smart, but they are (or ought to be) asleep by the fourth inning. I wonder if mlb and FOX have #s indicating more consumers watching than if they started at 7 pm? Many of those TVs are on, but the consumers are asleep in front of them. At least in my house.
 

axx

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It doesn't have to be, as TBS just demonstrated, but FOX is hopeless, with Smoltz muttering stories about his baseball past more than analyzing the play on the field. And the pre- and post-games are embarrassing. Maybe those are aimed at young people who prefer raucous to smart, but they are (or ought to be) asleep by the fourth inning. I wonder if mlb and FOX have #s indicating more consumers watching than if they started at 7 pm? Many of those TVs are on, but the consumers are asleep in front of them. At least in my house.
IIRC the networks mostly only care about the first hour for TV ratings purposes. 7 PM eastern would be tough for people on the West Coast, at least during the week.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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World Series games used to be played in the daytime, at least on the weekends. I know that MLB is terrified to lose ratings to college and pro football but it loses a great deal of the soul and appeal of baseball to play games at 830 at night in late October, very often in cold weather cities.

Baseball would be much better off not giving a shit about what the other sports are doing and just doing what's best for the game on the field. Sadly they haven't been doing that for AT LEAST 50 years.
 

jon abbey

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Day baseball is definitely not best for the sport on the field. First of all, shadows always mess up a few innings around 4/5 PM but also players are much more used to playing at night and the quality of the play is generally higher.
 

bankshot1

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Day baseball has sun and warmth going for it. And yes the sun does cast a shadow. Baseball at 40 degrees in late October is not optimal

Hell if only old farts are watching, they might as well watch during the day, then grab the early bird special, and then call it a night.

And who knows you might get kids to watch.
 

mr_smith02

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First, apologies for starting a second poll...I didn't see this one.

I find it far more difficult to tune into the World Series when the Sox get as close as they just did. I will be a casual observer of this WS because I hope the Astros lose and Ian Anderson (pitcher for the Braves) is a local kid.
 

pedro1918

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I will not go out of my way to watch a single pitch, but if I am home with nothing else to do? Sure.

I really hate the Astros and I don't care for the Braves at all.
 

drbretto

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First, apologies for starting a second poll...I didn't see this one
Hey, if you hadn't, I wouldn't have seen this one either. Now I can express my all important opinion! :p

I am essentially completely disinterested in any sports that don't involve my teams anymore. I used to be a "real fan" don't get me wrong. But since cutting the cord, I pretty much just watch playoffs where my guys are in it.

I might have fallen under "I'll watch if I stumble on it" but if I want to watch baseball these days, I have to deliberately stream it.
 

SoxFanInCali

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I might catch a couple innings here and there, but probably won't watch a full game. Fuck the Astros, but I'm also not going to get too excited for a fan base that continues doing that stupid chant.

As I've gotten older, I think the biggest difference in my sports viewing is that while I'm still excited to support my teams, I generally don't care about watching games they aren't involved in.
 

8slim

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IIRC the networks mostly only care about the first hour for TV ratings purposes. 7 PM eastern would be tough for people on the West Coast, at least during the week.
This isn't true. A game's rating is the number of people viewing in the average minute across the entire telecast. If anything, this is precisely why games start as late as they do. Typically audiences build throughout the first 2/3rds of a game, being lowest at first pitch and then gradually climbing. From there it mostly has to do with competitiveness - a close game will usually sees audiences build to the end, while a blowout will see a decline (although it is exceedingly rare for an audience to ever get lower than it was at first pitch, no matter how bad the blowout).

People really underestimate how late most folks on the east coast will stay up to watch games. It's the bias of affluent, middle-aged, professionals who are often the types to hit the sack early-ish. But overall viewing levels are very strong right up through midnight.
 

Petagine in a Bottle

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Just out of curiosity, how often do folks here watch MLB games that don’t include the Sox? Or the Sox rivals? I consider myself a pretty big baseball fan but I don’t want generally watch non-Sox teams. Part of it is obviously how the season works- usually everyone is playing at once, so it’s hard to watch other teams, and usually after watching the Sox, it’s pretty late or I’ve had enough of baseball for the day.

NFL is really she only sport I will regularly watch non-Patriots games, but there is a lot about the sport that is unique (only a few times a week, exclusive windows, short season, etc).
 

Petagine in a Bottle

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Oh and baseball airing games on weekends during the day against football would be suicide. You have to maximize eyeballs and way more people are available to watch at night, and you need to at least attempt to minimize competitive programming people might also want to watch. MLB is generally lower in the pecking order than NFL and CFB; certainly so when the teams are ATL and HOU.
 

donutogre

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Baseball is my favorite sport, so I expect I'll catch at least a little. But, I fucking hate both the Braves and the Astros, so I have absolutely no dog in this fight and would be happy if both teams fell into the Grand Canyon (with the obvious exception of Mookie. But that doesn't even win out over my Dodger dislike).
 

Ale Xander

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Day baseball is definitely not best for the sport on the field. First of all, shadows always mess up a few innings around 4/5 PM but also players are much more used to playing at night and the quality of the play is generally higher.
Edit after seeing sunset times in the south.
Northeast games can do 6:05 first pitch at least on Sat and Sun

They could also change the schedule and so Sat-sun games 1-2 and 6-7
But at SJH hits the nail on the head, so scared of football and other sports
 

mauidano

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Watching? If the Sox were playing the Braves I was planning on going to every game in ATL since I'm only a little under two hours away. I'll still take my oldest to a game though, it's not often that one can drive to a World Series / SuperBowl / whatever championship. I think it'll be fun as hell for him, and probably me too.
Lifetime shared experience. You gotta go!
 

mauidano

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Baseball is my favorite sport, so I expect I'll catch at least a little. But, I fucking hate both the Braves and the Astros, so I have absolutely no dog in this fight and would be happy if both teams fell into the Grand Canyon (with the obvious exception of Mookie. But that doesn't even win out over my Dodger dislike).
Except Mookie isn't on either team so I guess he's safe from falling into the Grand Canyon.
 

donutogre

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Except Mookie isn't on either team so I guess he's safe from falling into the Grand Canyon.
Oh my god. *checks time* Nope that was long after coffee. My brain just assumed the Dodgers won, so halfway through the post I just...flipped. Point still stands, I hate the Braves and Dodgers and Astros. I am going to leave that idiotic mistake in my post for posterity.
 

AMS25

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I chair the dissertation committee of a huge Braves fan. We split costs on MLB TV and share an account. I will be rooting for the Braves because their victory will make Tyler happy and will hopefully encourage him to finish the damn thing already.
 

Rovin Romine

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Catch as catch can. . .but likely not much.

1) The games run very late.
2) The games run very long.
3) Requires extra steps to stream/watch, which is a PITA I'm willing to do for the Sox but not otherwise.
4) There's a shit-ton of advertising, which is one reason I cut the cord in the first place.
5) The national broadcast teams suck. Names over actual talent.
6) I'm mostly rooting against the Astros, and won't feel much if the Braves win.

It's basically designed to be unwatchable.
 

Marbleheader

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I never understood why the Super Bowl, the biggest television event, starts at 6:30 but they can't schedule World Series games at the same time. Even if the start time is 3:30 on the West coast, the games are not going to be over until after 6:30. The NBA is the worst with 9PM start times. All league championship games should start by 7PM. 75% of the population lives in the Eastern and Central time zones.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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I never understood why the Super Bowl, the biggest television event, starts at 6:30 but they can't schedule World Series games at the same time. Even if the start time is 3:30 on the West coast, the games are not going to be over until after 6:30. The NBA is the worst with 9PM start times. All league championship games should start by 7PM.
I would guess because it's a one-time event on a Sunday in February that the country essentially shuts down for.

I mean, if the World Series starts at 6:30 on a Tuesday in October people on the East Coast are getting home from work, maybe they're at the gym, they're driving their kids back from activities, eating dinner; in other words lots of stuff. Maybe TV people don't think that folks will watch a game if they come into it an inning or two late. The amount of things going on increases as you move west.
 

Marbleheader

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I understand that and I'm sure the numbers reflect the start times that have the best ratings. Given that the length of games seems interminable, I would rather miss the first couple of innings than miss the end of that game. It's what West Coasters do anyway. What it boils down to is that East Coast>West Coast and I need my sleep.
 

E5 Yaz

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Oh my god. *checks time* Nope that was long after coffee. My brain just assumed the Dodgers won, so halfway through the post I just...flipped. Point still stands, I hate the Braves and Dodgers and Astros. I am going to leave that idiotic mistake in my post for posterity.
I'm not sure whether it's sad or impressive that it took nearly three hours for someone to pick up on the error of your ways
 
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joe dokes

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I'm not sure whether it's sade or impressive that it took nearly three hours for someone to pick up on the error of your ways
The OP is usually a smooth operator, so it's easy to miss an error like that.
 

InsideTheParker

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I am now watching last night's game on mlbn, because I fell asleep last night around the fifth inning.
No Buck and Smoltz! No stupid bases display! Whoever the guys are in the booth, they are inoffensive and I have no urge to turn them off.
Edit: one of them is Dan Plesac, who is sort of an idiot, but the other guy is quick to gently correct his errors, like calling the Astros catcher "d'Arneau."
 
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Red(s)HawksFan

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I am now watching last night's game on mlbn, because I fell asleep last night around the fifth inning.
No Buck and Smoltz! No stupid bases display! Whoever the guys are in the booth, they are inoffensive and I have no urge to turn them off.
Edit: one of them is Dan Plesac, who is sort of an idiot, but the other guy is quick to gently correct his errors, like calling the Astros catcher "d'Arneau."
Must be the MLB International broadcast. I remember for the Red Sox-Dodgers series it was Vasgersian on the play-by-play. Even without hearing it, I can't help but think they've upgraded.