Monday Morning Texas Rangers Update

Good morning. There isn’t anything of note on the Texas Rangers today. Then again, there’s not much reason to be noting the Rangers these days.

Nevertheless, it was a noteworthy day for MLB yesterday even beyond Ron Washington’s Atlanta Braves securing a 2-0 lead in the NLCS.

If you listen to people who are paid to talk about baseball, you’d think that the game is terrible at best and doomed at worst. The product on the field isn’t and never was the problem, however. The game is fine. Folks lost sight of the things that do plague the sport to crusade about non-issues like pace of play and too many strikeouts.

Two of the major actual issues with the game that limit the growth and viability of what we spend our evenings watching all summer have been the draconian television rules that have long prevented fans from being able to watch their teams and the league and players' union selling out grossly underpaid minor leaguers.

MLB is potentially taking some baby steps to partially rectify those issues in what could be a surprising boon for a sport that could use a win.

First up, MLB is considering launching a service to allow fans to stream their team’s games without a cable television subscription that could come as soon as 2023.

Secondly, as Jeff Passan reported yesterday, teams will be required to provide housing for minor leaguers beginning in 2022.

There will likely be pitfalls and ramifications for these two milestones along the way — because it’s MLB — but if both are implemented in a player/fan-friendly manner, it could be a positive advancement for the actual issues facing the sport.

Have a nice day!