MLB

C.J. Cron hit a ball that bounced in front of the plate

By Craig CalcaterraMay 15, 2018, 8:30 AM EST
7 Comments

I was thinking of trying to find a cricket match when I’m in England, but if I crap out on that I can at least watch highlights of last night’s Rays-Royals game.

It wasn’t much of a game, but in addition to that Adeiny Hechavarria juke-and-jive I mentioned in the recaps this morning, it featured C.J. Cron, doing his Vladimir Guerrero impersonation and hitting a wicked googly off of the bounce:

 

Sadly it was an out. Vlad probably would’ve tripled off that bad boy, but he’s a Hall of Famer, so it’s not fair to hold Cron to that standard. It was still pretty cool, though.

Fox, MLB sign broadcast rights extension through 2028

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By Craig CalcaterraNov 15, 2018, 10:51 AM EST
14 Comments

FOX Sports and Major League Baseball announced a few minutes ago that they have agreed to a multi-year broadcast rights extension. The deal keeps Fox as the lead MLB rights holder, and home of the World Series, All-Star Game and a good chunk of the playoffs through at least 2028.

While the press release does not announce the financial terms, Bob Nightengale of USA Today is reporting that it will pay Major League Baseball about 30-40% more than the previous contract. While ratings are not what they used to be, it would seem that the eyeballs Fox is getting are more valuable to it.

UPDATE: That bump is actually even bigger:

For the time being, things will look very much like they do now. Starting in 2022, there will be more games broadcast. There are no specifics about how many more. The release says “FOX Sports will also expand its digital rights,” but again, no specifics on what that means, exactly.

FOX Sports has been a baseball rights-holder since 1996 and has been the exclusive national non-cable rights holder since 2001. That’s gonna continue for at least another decade.