Category: Media

Thoughts on MLB’s 2025-2026 offseason

Some thoughts on what to look out for this offseason, as MLB and the MLBPA enter the final year of the current collective bargaining agreement.

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A little bit of end-of-season collecting of loose ends here, to start the offseason. We’re entering the final season of the current collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the Players Association, so while there are always trends or happenings to watch out for, that’s even more the case in this scenario — what can be gleaned from the last full offseason before MLB decides to go lockout mode in 13 months?

First, there is going to be a lot of discussion about the Dodgers, and if they are ruining baseball because they spent a ton of money. There is actually some nuance to this discussion — I’ve already seen a whole lot of everything-is-a-nail style arguments about their spending both in terms of those who are against it and those who support it — that is being missed, but here’s where I stand.

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Notes: WPBL announcements, WNBA CBA battle, Stop Falling For It

A new league makes announcements, WNBA bargaining is getting heated, please stop assuming that the Dodgers will force a salary cap, and more from my recent writing.

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The WPBL announces its first four cities, sort of

The Women’s Pro Baseball League will play its inaugural season in 2026, and used this week where baseball fans are quietly waiting for the World Series to make some announcements. First, the first four cities were selected, and they make a whole lot of sense: New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. All four are historic MLB cities with massive media markets and fan bases, which should give them a built-in edge when it comes to getting attention.

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Notes: Manfred confirms reported broadcast deals, playoffs too big update

Rob Manfred speaks on broadcasting, the playoff picture is still bugging me, and assorted work of mine from around the internet.

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Manfred acknowledges rumored broadcasting deals

Speaking at a Front Office Sports conference Tuesday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred spoke up about the rumored broadcast deals that the league was working on with the likes of ESPN, NBC, and more. Awful Announcing has the details:

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Notes: A’s in Vegas, MiLB attendance, broadcasting

More on the Las Vegas Athletics stadium and future, MiLB attendance has dropped (and a theory for why), and an update on the MLB broadcasting sales.

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The A’s will play in Vegas, sort of

Construction of the new stadium in Las Vegas continues, in the sense mounds of dirt are being moved around and there is some basic infrastructure being constructed there, but as J.C. Bradbury pointed out on Bluesky this week:

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MLB is reportedly selling MLB.tv. Let’s dive in.

Trying to sort out just why and what this means.

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MLB selling the technology behind MLB.tv, BAMTech, to Disney? Sure, that made sense each time they let the Mouse bite off a piece, as the league got a ton of money for the tech that powered a service they could keep using without owning the rights to it and licensing it out themselves, as they had done for WWE and the NHL.

MLB selling MLB.tv itself? Well that’s going to take a little more thinking through. That’s reportedly what’s going down, with ESPN the buyer, as part of a reshuffling by both parties in terms of their baseball broadcasting priorities.

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Rafael Devers’ crime was speaking his mind

Rafael Devers could have been reasoned with, but the Red Sox never bothered with any of that, and now they don’t have to.

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The Red Sox have traded Rafael Devers, their highest-paid player, and they didn’t even wait for the smoke to clear to start telling the press that they did it because they felt like Devers wasn’t a team player. His refusal to move to first base after Triston Casas’ season-ending injury was a poor portent, you see, and it was time to move on, as the player on the 10-year, $313 million deal had certain responsibilities they felt he was not fulfilling.

What of the responsibilities the Sox had to Devers, though? Per Devers himself, the team had promised him that, as part of his signing a contract with a franchise that had traded Mookie Betts to clear salary and had let Xander Bogaerts walk after yet another insulting offer for a homegrown player on the way out, that third base was his position now and into the future. After Devers spoke to ownership over the winter about their need to bring in some help — “I’m not saying the team is not OK right now, but they need to be conscious of what our weaknesses are and what we need right now” — they went out and signed free agent Alex Bregman… to put him at third base. Without consulting Devers on it.

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Rob Manfred is denying there are plans for a lockout, again

Rob Manfred is contradicting the words of Rob Manfred once again.

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For some reason, people keep asking MLB commissioner Rob Manfred about the looming threat of a lockout after the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement. It’s so weird how this happens after you use an interview at the New York Times (by way of the Athletic) to say that there will be a lockout after the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement, but that’s just how the media works, am I right?

Manfred has spent the first half of 2025 pretending he didn’t say that lockouts should be considered the new normal, as just part of the process of negotiating a new CBA, that he didn’t liken them to “using a .22, as opposed to a shotgun or a nuclear weapon.” In February, Sportico relayed that Manfred had “tampered down his rhetoric” by saying that, “I’m not going to speculate how we’re going to negotiate with the PA. We’re a year away. I owe it to the owners to coalesce around our bargaining approach. And quite frankly I owe it to our fans not to get into this too early. It’s bad enough when you’re doing it and bargaining, and everyone is worried about it. We’re just not there yet.” Attempt number one at putting the cat back in the bag, basically.

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On MLB’s potential MLB.tv, MLB Network plans

The latest in MLB’s ongoing cable replacement saga.

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Sports broadcasting is in a state of flux, and not just when it comes to Major League Baseball games. For decades now, cable has been at the forefront, and it has paid dividends for leagues to align themselves with cable companies, literally, thanks to the carriage fees that every customer — sports-watching or not — were saddled with. With cable subscriptions trending down, though, and streaming and cable alternatives having taken hold, a new future is needed, to provide new revenue streams. Or, at least, ones that aren’t headed in the wrong direction.

This, in a general sense, is old news with MLB — I wrote about their problems with the regional sports network (RSN) model and the kinds of complaints and negotiating tactics that the Players Association would have to deal with from management back in 2021 for Baseball Prospectus, and it wasn’t necessarily new then, either. It’s reared its head in some new ways of late, however, such as with the end of the ESPN/MLB partnership looming, and MLB’s pretty open desire to switch to a different revenue-sharing model that’s more akin to that of the NFL.

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Notes: Rizzo on the Rockies, NCAA women’s tournament, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Someone else dislikes Dick Monfort as much as I do, why the women’s version of March Madness needs its own TV deal, and why the Jays were right to re-sign Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

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Before last weekend’s series between the Phillies and Dodgers, Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper made a perfect little statement. When asked about the Dodgers’ spending habits and all the complaining that’s been going on regarding said habits, he said, “I don’t know if people will like this, but I feel like only losers complain about what they’re doing. I think they’re a great team. They’re a great organization.” He’s right, in that this is some loser mentality stuff at work, but the thing is, we need more of that energy out there from players and the media to hammer home just how big that loser energy is.

Alanna Rizzo, formerly part of the Dodgers’ broadcast team but now back at MLB Network, apparently agrees. While speaking to Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post about the Rockies, she did not mince words when it came to owner Dick Monfort and his thoughts on the Dodgers and spending:

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Notes: ESPN deal, Rob Manfred talks salary cap again

ESPN doesn’t seem to believe that the MLB relationship is over after 2025, and Rob Manfred is trying to put the cat back in the bag again.

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ESPN opted out of the final three years of their national broadcasting deal with MLB, which wasn’t a surprise, necessarily, especially given the league’s devaluing of their own product in deals with (arguably) Apple and (inarguably) Roku. Over at Sports Business Journal, though, comes sourced word from ESPN that they don’t see this as the end of the relationship between the two after 2025.

Someone might want to let MLB know about that, since the league has been publicly airing its grievances with the worldwide leader and its coverage — or lack thereof — of MLB’s games. You’ll also find plenty of fans who aren’t broken up about ESPN ending things, since they, a little too regularly, act like they’re embarrassed to be covering baseball games. Which doesn’t do much for growing the game, no?

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