2025-2026 Tigers Off Season Thread

[tiger2022]

2 minutes ago, roarintiger1 said:

I just want a simple way to watch the Tigers' games.

Mlb doesn't make anything simple.

[NorthWoods]

I'm fine with $20 a month, it's cheap entertainment vs any other choice out there.

 

[Tiger337]

33 minutes ago, tiger2022 said:

True, but when there is action it is a lot more exciting than baseball, plus there is a time element associated with football...towards the end one team is hurrying up, frantically trying to score. Baseball players have never in the history of baseball tried to speed anything up.  Football also does a lot better job of marketing their product.

Plus, a channel like the RedZone was ingenious.  It wouldn't work for baseball.

And football plays 17 games, so each game in football is super important.  Baseball...not so much.  Players are marketed much better in football.  Baseball...People who don't follow it might know Ohtani and Judge and not a lot of other players.

I played baseball in college and loved to play, but it isn't super exciting to watch on TV. I personally think that nba basketball is unwatchable and hockey can be tough to watch because it's hard to follow the puck sometimes.  And I watch the red zone

 

I agree with you on the part of the 17 games in football.  Each game is more important and it's easy for fans to watch one game a week.  I don't see football as having a lot of action though.  Often we sit around for a long time just to see a three-yard run up the middle.  Then when something exciting happens, there is a penalty or a challenge.  I find it to be tiring most of the game.  It's a good sport betting though.   

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, tiger2022 said:

In about 5 years all sports will be behind a pay wall.  They are potentially locking out a whole generation of younger fans who will decide they'd rather not spend X-amount to watch sports when they can do other stuff with their time and money.  And almost anyone under 50 does not have cable or direct TV or anything like that.  

Baseball really needs to reevaluate their model for the future because it's a sport where mainly older people watch.  I know of very few young people that will watch a baseball game.  Not saying there aren't younger fans, but baseball isn't like football, hockey or even basketball.  There is a lot of standing around and doing nothing during a baseball game. 

 

I've said this before, (but not recently so I'll repeat myself 😉) a baseball game does generate a certain amount of situational dramatic tension, but as you note, on a baseball diamond people are mostly standing around, so it's basically not particularly visually interesting to watch for the action in the way football or hockey or even tennis is. Which is why it's my contention that its popularity as a spectator sport has always been tied to the fact that playing baseball at some level has been a common experience for a larger part of the population than any other sport. Golf is similar in this regard but even more so. Do you know any non-golfer that watches golf tournaments on TV? Compare mentally to how many football fans ever played any football.

In the past, growing up *everybody* played some baseball. That makes it the sport where the most fans have the highest degree of vicarious identification with what the players on the field are doing. Thus if the popularity of baseball falls as the older fans die off, it will be because fewer people in the population left played the game in their youth (or still play it as softball). And to the degree greed reduces relatively free media access, the rate at which its popularity may fall can only increase.

[Shelton]

12 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

It would be good for me if it is carried on YouTube TV. The FDS app really stinks.

Well, you don’t need to worry about the FDS anymore when it comes to the tigers. 
 

FDS via Amazon prime has been a nice option for me. Easy to add and then immediately cancel and let it expire after a month, and then re-add the next time I need to. It will be a bummer to potentially lose out on that option, and to have multiple teams available for 20 bucks a month. It’s not going to be a huge factor during baseball season, but I liked being able to have pistons or wings available basically every night. I’m currently not subscribed because wings aren’t playing games and the pistons are ending up on their share of national broadcasts. 
 

I think you can get away with 20 bucks a month for local baseball in the summer given the volume of games. It will be interesting to see what the cost is for the equivalent of pistons.tv or redwings.tv next season, because I doubt many will fork over 40 bucks a month total to watch both teams. 
 

For me personally, I have the follow g services currently. But my household also has media interests outside of sports. 
 

Peacock (part of xfinity internet subscription)

Apple TV+ (part of Apple family bundle of services)

Prime (gotta have that instant shipping; the shows/movies are nice)

HBO via prime channels (includes TBS/TNT/etc sports)

Paramount via prime channels (includes CBS, and various soccer coverage)

ESPN/Disney/Hulu bundle including ESPN unlimited (includes all games carried by ESPN/ABC sources)

At the moment, no access to Fox channels or related sports channels like BTN, or FDS. Also no access to USA network and its handful of EPL games. Fox and its related channels are easily added/dropped when needed via prime. But I’m not gonna add YouTube/sling/directv just to get USA when I can add/drop Fox for like 15 bucks a month on demand

 

It’s kind of like playing a game to add/drop the above. 

[oblong]

The attraction to certain sports is simply cultural and in our nation football became our culture... but if you go into MN or northern MI, or downriver and certain western wayne county areas, hockey is a cultural thing, just like it is in Canada.  And soccer is obviously so huge everywhere but here.  You won't convince me that it has more action than baseball so it's not that.  People like what they like and you learn to look for things that the average person wouldn't.... I get reminded of this when I watch curling.

It's not about "better" or "worse".  It's just what you know and grew up watching.

[CMRivdogs]

Youtube is reportedly rolling out a "Sports Only" plan. Still expensive at $65 a month. It will include all the sports packages. Not sure what the local (Detroit and Michigan) cable companies are charging these days for something similar or a ESPN/Disney add on. 

Bottom line is they wii never be on "Free TV" again. Those days are long gone

https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/09/youtube-tv-introduces-cheaper-bundles-including-a-65-month-sports-package/

[Edman85]

3 hours ago, tiger2022 said:

In about 5 years all sports will be behind a pay wall.  They are potentially locking out a whole generation of younger fans who will decide they'd rather not spend X-amount to watch sports when they can do other stuff with their time and money.  And almost anyone under 50 does not have cable or direct TV or anything like that.  

Baseball really needs to reevaluate their model for the future because it's a sport where mainly older people watch.  I know of very few young people that will watch a baseball game.  Not saying there aren't younger fans, but baseball isn't like football, hockey or even basketball.  There is a lot of standing around and doing nothing during a baseball game. 

 

Unless you have been getting cable for free, sports has always been behind a paywall except for OTA broadcasts...

[gehringer_2]

10 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I don't see football as having a lot of action though

If each team sends 40 players to the plate in a game, 80 PA, maybe 20 are K's so 60 balls in play, most of which are completely routine outs where only one or two players even have to move. There are a lot  pitches thrown, but nothing happens on most pitches.

A football game may have >120 plays from scrimmage, plus a dozen kick offs in which 22 players are all going every which way in an incredibly complex scripted dance.  Most plays involve some one running for their life, or leaping in the air, and then someone getting brutally tackled. I can understand people not finding the action appealing, but to me the visual input level from the field much higher than baseball. But agree that dead time is an increasing problem in football. The game takes too long to play the hour and there are too many commercial breaks that are too long - IOW -the same problem that baseball moved to address recently. The only thing that keeps me watching football anymore is that I can DVR a game and watch it in half an hour without missing a single play.

[Shelton]

1 minute ago, gehringer_2 said:

If each team sends 40 players to the plate in a game, 80 PA, maybe 20 are K's so 60 balls in play, most of which are completely routine outs where only one or two players even have to move. There are a lot  pitches thrown, but nothing happens on most pitches.

A football game may have >120 plays from scrimmage, plus a dozen kick offs in which 22 players are all going every which way in an incredibly complex scripted dance.  Most plays involve some one running for their life, or leaping in the air, and then someone getting brutally tackled. I can understand people not finding the action appealing, but to me the visual input level from the field much higher than baseball. But agree that dead time is an increasing problem in football. The game takes too long to play the hour and there are too many commercial breaks that are too long - IOW -the same problem that baseball moved to address recently. The only thing that keeps me watching football anymore is that I can DVR a game and watch it in half an hour without missing a single play.

I will never understand the idea that a ball in play is required to qualify as action. Who doesn’t love the art of pitching?

[Edman85]

Hulu Live/ESPN/Disney bundle for main cable.

Netflix

Prime

HBO Max

Peacock (MLB, Big Ten, and some golf)

MLB.TV

Paramount+ (close to cancelling but it is cheap)

Apple TV (good shows and MLB games)

Big Ten Plus (for my Big Ten volleyball and baseball)

I get everything except local Bally channels, but those are going away. I might subscribe to the Rays/Marlins plans for a month to catch the Tigers when they play. I resisted before because I did not want to support Bally/FanDuel. Gambling sucks.

My credit card (Amex Blue Preferred) gives me 6% cash back on all of the above, and an additional $10/month on the Disney Bundle, so that lightens the cost somewhat.

[gehringer_2]

3 minutes ago, Shelton said:

I will never understand the idea that a ball in play is required to qualify as action. Who doesn’t love the art of pitching?

Thank-you Jimmy P from where ever you are.

Edited 39 minutes ago by gehringer_2

[CMRivdogs]

Baseball Perspective is out with its preseason PECOTA Projections...

Have at it

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/orgs/detroit-tigers/depth-charts/

 

[Sports_Freak]

27 minutes ago, Shelton said:

Well, you don’t need to worry about the FDS anymore when it comes to the tigers. 
 

FDS via Amazon prime has been a nice option for me. Easy to add and then immediately cancel and let it expire after a month, and then re-add the next time I need to. It will be a bummer to potentially lose out on that option, and to have multiple teams available for 20 bucks a month. It’s not going to be a huge factor during baseball season, but I liked being able to have pistons or wings available basically every night. I’m currently not subscribed because wings aren’t playing games and the pistons are ending up on their share of national broadcasts. 
 

I think you can get away with 20 bucks a month for local baseball in the summer given the volume of games. It will be interesting to see what the cost is for the equivalent of pistons.tv or redwings.tv next season, because I doubt many will fork over 40 bucks a month total to watch both teams. 
 

For me personally, I have the follow g services currently. But my household also has media interests outside of sports. 
 

Peacock (part of xfinity internet subscription)

Apple TV+ (part of Apple family bundle of services)

Prime (gotta have that instant shipping; the shows/movies are nice)

HBO via prime channels (includes TBS/TNT/etc sports)

Paramount via prime channels (includes CBS, and various soccer coverage)

ESPN/Disney/Hulu bundle including ESPN unlimited (includes all games carried by ESPN/ABC sources)

At the moment, no access to Fox channels or related sports channels like BTN, or FDS. Also no access to USA network and its handful of EPL games. Fox and its related channels are easily added/dropped when needed via prime. But I’m not gonna add YouTube/sling/directv just to get USA when I can add/drop Fox for like 15 bucks a month on demand

 

It’s kind of like playing a game to add/drop the above. 

Yes, I also have Prime. They do have some good shows. And the shipping is great.

Tigers and Red Wings will both be moving to the new streaming option, at least from what I understand. But I'm not sure if the Pistons will be staying on FDS. If so, that will be $20 a month just for the Piston games. But they're a championship caliber team now, I probably will pay to watch them.

Are the Tigers going to be live on the MLB app? Even in the Metro Detroit area? It sounds like we'll be getting all the answers/option pretty soon. The season starts in March so it should be soon.

[theroundsquare]

16 minutes ago, Shelton said:

I will never understand the idea that a ball in play is required to qualify as action. Who doesn’t love the art of pitching?

This.  Sometimes, the tension and anticipation is the action

edit: are the action?

Edited 26 minutes ago by theroundsquare