I just don’t care about the Yankees or the Phils- I’ve got no regional ties to either team (save for a Mets fan as a best friend, so I kinda hate the Phils) and I don’t really have a strong allegiance to any particular player (save Chase Utley and Nick Swisher, so that’s kind of a push). It sort of factors in, but not really.

I was just talking about this the other day in terms of the Phillies being like and all-West Coast team. Ryan Howard is the only one of their starting eight that doesn’t have West Coast ties. Utley, Rollins, and Feliz were prominent players for California teams at some point, while Werth and Victorino were recognizalbe names in the Dodgers system for several years. Ruiz is from Panama. Ibanez was a Mariners favorite.

Not that these ties factor into baseball markets. Feliz and Victorino are probably the only two that at best have minimal impact on the post-season ratings. Phili and NY are such major baseball markets though that any loss in geographical ratings probably balances out.

I think it’s interesting how the two talk shows for George Lopez and Wanda Sykes were marketed. Lopez, more a West Coast comic, had promos running on TBS throughout the Dodgers and Angels series. Sykes, more of an East Coast comic, has promos running on Fox during the World Series.

Does it diminish the fun/importance of the series since both teams are from the same geographical area?

No, but it does make me question the need for a whole day off to travel.

How much, if any amount, do you think MLB loses in merchandising and advertising revenue when there is a local series?

I think the “Subway Series” proved that an “all New York” championship allows the rest of the nation to tune out. The Angels and Giants series was not well received either.

Since 2004, there’s been barely any interest in the World Series, considering ratings of the past. I don’t know, really, if the problem is the teams playing or if it’s the way Fox maanges things. All indications so far seem to be that this WS is up form last year, but how much remains to be seen.

Or, am I just a shallow fan for thinking it’s a bit boring when the teams are neighbors?

It’s boring because the Phillies won last year and the Yankees have already won 26 times. In my heart of hearts I just hope both teams are killed in a plane crash because I don’t want either of them to win.

It’s that we know the Yankees are going to win and knew from the beginning because they spent half a billion dollars. I’m not holding it against them, they’re just doing what’s necessary to win, but it just takes away from it to know that the only reason they’re winning is because of what they spent in the off-season.

Looks like it was made on Angelfire in the mid 90’s. Whatever works I suppose. I wasn’t going to say anything but since you did, I figure it can be laughed about.

this series lacked luster because it was the two teams I was rooting against to make it there, for the first time ever I couldn’t even pick a team to root for. I heard that same feeling from a lot of baseball fans, and even some non-fans.

The one thing I get tired of hearing about is the size of the market of the two teams. I always kind of felt that people, and especially the media, would equate TV ratings of the world series to the popularity of the sport, that idea always kind of bugged me. Now we get all these ideas that the sport needs the big guns in the series for america to care, and I think that’s completely bogus. I for one just want to see different teams there every year, that I think would spread interest more, even if the TV ratings took a hit.