Brewers losing fans……

Given the cost of goods and inflation it’s not surprising that attendance numbers are down.  People don’t have nearly the amount of discretionary income as before.

While inflation may contribute to it at some level, the problems are much deeper for baseball and the Brewers.

1. I loved watching baseball growing up, but it's a more boring game now. Analytics people refer to the "three true outcomes" which are strikeouts, walks, and home runs. Those are played were no-one is involved except the pitcher, batter, and catcher. In the glory days of baseball (1920s to 1980s), the percentage of plate appearances that ended in those outcomes slowly crept up from about 15% to just under 25%. Now it's approaching 40%. Analytics say things like hit-and-runs, bunting guys over, stealing bases, moving guys over from 2nd to 3rd with no one out are all too risky in terms of the benefits of getting another chance to hit a home run. Often the most movement that happens in the field is when guys shift at the start of an at-bat (that's another reason why the game is more boring). That doesn't explain the Brewers relative to other teams, but it contributes. Keston Hiura has been their best offensive player the few weeks. His three true outcomes percentage is 60%. You watch any game now (and especially the Brewers without a superstar position player) and you are just dwindling your thumbs waiting for a guy to hit a home run.

https://sabr.org/journal/artic...baseball-flashpoint/

2. The Brewers hitters are, for the most part, particularly boring. There is no one that you make it a point to be in the room to watch every time they are at bat. In 2018-19, Yelich was the most exciting player to watch in the league and you never wanted to miss an at bat. Not just the home runs, but the doubles and action on the base paths, and the clutch hits. It was like watching Giannis play for the Bucks. It was something you'll talk to your grandkids about. Giannis continued at the same level or better and the Bucks won a title. Yelich just lost all his power and is now just a spray hitter, but he strikeouts even more than he used to. 40% of his appearances are the three outcomes. In just over 1200 plate appearances in 2018-2019, he had 63 doubles and 80 home runs. In just over 1200 plate appearances from 2020-22, he has 45 doubles and 18 home runs. Instead of a transcendent superstar you make it a point to go see, he's just an average guy now (except he's getting paid 26 million. a year). That has an effect on attendance.

3. We debated the Hader trade on here a lot and people made good arguments about why it was the right move to trade him, but it was just such a massive letdown for a lot of people that they got virtually nothing back for him that improved this year's team. You understand a move like that if you out of contention, but the Brewers were in first place. A lot of fans and some of the players (see Devin Williams' interview that day and the Lauer comments below) interpreted it as a move where the Brewers essentially gave up this year. I know people in my family that were rapid Brewer fans in Wisconsin that watched every inning and were planning on going to games lost their enthusiasm for the team. They may still watch a game, but not in the same way, and they are no longer planning to make the drive to Milwaukee to watch the game.

https://www.brewcrewball.com/2...e-brewers-leadership

The two greatest players in the history of the game, Russell Branyan and Rob Deer, were pioneers of 3TO. 

Baseball sucks now because every goddamned game is blacked out. 

@El-Ka-Bong posted:

The two greatest players in the history of the game, Russell Branyan and Rob Deer, were pioneers of 3TO.

Baseball sucks now because every goddamned game is blacked out.

I can't believe you talked about two of the greatest players in the history of the game that pioneered 3TO and didn't mention the man who started this all in Milwaukee - Gorman Thomas.

1979 - 45 HRs, 98 walks, 175 strikeouts in 668 plate appearances (48%).

The amazing thing is that back then the criticism of how often Gorman struck out and his batting average only being in the 240s in good years kept him out of all-star games and being voted higher for some awards. Now, he'd be a 3TO superstar.

While they didn't go on a losing skid after Gorman was traded, at least for the 13 year old kid that I was back then, trading Thomas to the Indians kind of signaled the end of that first group of elite Brewer teams. 5 future HOFers (Fingers, Yount, Molitor, Simmons, Sutton), several other guys that made multiple all-star teams (Cooper, Money), some workhorses on the mound (Vuckovich, Caldwell, Slaton, Moose Haas), and power bats like Oglivie and Thomas. Those were fun teams to watch.

And maybe not the best player but my favorite, homegrown Jim Gantner!!

@ammo posted:

And maybe not the best player but my favorite, homegrown Jim Gantner!!

From Eden, Wisconsin