With one week to go earlier than opening day, there’s thrilling information from the North and South Sides.
The Chicago Cubs have extra choices to observe Marquee Sports Network, and the White Sox may be nearer to getting a South Loop Stadium in the future.
Meanwhile, the World Baseball Classic lastly ended with Venezuela’s thrilling win over the United States in Tuesday’s championship recreation, which implies no more angst over Mark DeRosa.
With snow on the floor and a single-digit wind chill, it’s time to start out serious about opening day.
Pricing out streaming choices
The Cubs introduced new streaming choices for Marquee telecasts, making the network available on Hulu + Live TV and through Amazon’s Prime Video. As a disgruntled Comcast cable TV subscriber who downgraded from the Ultimate tier after the finish of final season, this was nice information.
So I logged onto the Marquee web site to get extra data, and was directed to a dwell chat field. I requested for Bruce Levine, however as an alternative received somebody named “John” who replied: “I understand that you want to speak to a specific person. Unfortunately, we don’t have that option to transfer you. Just rest assured that I’ll do my best to help you with your concern.”
Since I didn’t belief John, I made a decision to name a dependable supply at Cubs camp in Mesa, Ariz., and requested for those who needed to pay additional for getting the Cubs video games on Hulu + Live TV or Prime Video.
It turned out that the Marquee Sports Network will probably be included totally free on Hulu + Live TV, and fortuitously I nonetheless had the Hulu password to my cousin’s former spouse’s account. But that turned out to be the fallacious Hulu, and to get the Hulu streaming service would imply spending one other $90 a month for channels I don’t even watch on cable.
Marquee Sports Network reaches agreement with Hulu and Amazon Prime to stream Chicago Cubs games
So Amazon’s Prime Video appeared like a higher possibility, regardless that I simply cancelled my subscription a month or so in the past after Amazon proprietor Jeff Bezos received rid of The Washington Post sports activities part and gutted the worldwide protection.
But it turned out that Amazon Prime doesn’t provide the Cubs community totally free, so I’d be spending $15 monthly once more for Amazon and one other $20 for Marquee. Add in the $20 for the Chicago Sports Network direct-to-consumer app for White Sox video games, and that’s $55 mixed to observe each groups, which is more than the $40.25 for the two channels on the Ultimate tier that I cancelled after the 2025 season to keep away from paying for reruns of Cubs and Sox video games.
Of course, I might simply watch each groups on DTC apps for $40, saving a quarter. Anyway, like Craig Counsell and Will Venable, I’ll have some onerous selections to make earlier than opening day.
Life was a lot simpler — and cheaper — when the solely two stations you needed to know had been WGN-Ch. 9 and WSNS-Ch. 44.
Train desires
Thanks to new stadium whiplash from the Chicago Bears saga, I hesitate to say the report from Crain’s Chicago Business that White Sox owner-in-waiting Justin Ishbia might have a piece of land available for a new ballpark on the different facet of the river from the Chicago Fire’s new stadium in the South Loop.
Ishbia’s personal fairness agency, Shore Capital, is “in the early planning” for a mixed-use improvement at the prepare yard close to the 78, based on Crain’s, after agreeing to purchase a 47-acre chunk of land from Amtrak.
Naturally, that suggests a new ballpark at the site for Ishbia. A brand new Sox Park appears to be a finished deal in his thoughts.
Asked about a new stadium final November, Ishbia told me, “I will say this: The lease (at Rate Field) is up in four years after 2029, and I’m 48. So I can tell you one thing for sure — we will build a new stadium. I’m not sure when it will be. But in the next 50 years, when I’m the steward, there will be a new stadium built.”
How will probably be paid for is the massive query, however Ishbia has already invited Pope Leo XIV to throw out the first pitch, so it’s received to occur.
Few Sox followers wish to wait even 5 years for the Ishbia period to start. But Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf will retain management via at the least 2029, based on the settlement they signed final 12 months, and may resolve to maintain it via 2033 if he needs. Ishbia has the possibility to purchase the group for the 2034 season.
Based on conversations with baseball insiders, Reinsdorf is hoping to host the one hundredth anniversary of the inaugural All-Star Game at Comiskey Park, an concept that sprang from the mind of former In the Wake of the News columnist Arch Ward. That means Reinsdorf would doubtless nonetheless be the proprietor in 2033.
But hopefully Ishbia would have that new stadium constructed by then, with a right-field wall brief sufficient for a left-handed slugger like Munetaka Murakami to pop one into the Chicago River, and an higher deck that doesn’t replicate the epic fail of new Comiskey Park.
It’s the finish of the world as we all know it (and I really feel positive)
The World Baseball Classic was a good diversion from spring coaching video games, and it was nice to see Venezuela have fun after its 3-2 upset win over the United States’ stars.
It’s not the finish of the world for America, however simply an exhibition baseball recreation, albeit with a lot extra drama.
A real “classic” would contain a three-game sequence at the very least, however MLB doesn’t need the video games to intrude on the gamers’ seasons, which is comprehensible contemplating the stakes.
In the finish, the U.S. group didn’t hit when it mattered most, reminiscent of the Cubs in a three-game sweep by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2008 National League Division Series.
“Let me tell you this, you could play postseason between now and another 100 years, and if you score six runs in a three-game series, it’s going to be another 100 years before you win here,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said, referring to the franchise’s century-long drought.
DeRosa performed on that ’08 Cubs group, so he may keep in mind the feeling of utter frustration, watching so many gifted hitters fail time after time.
Naturally, DeRosa stated he’d wish to return as supervisor in the subsequent WBC for a third shot. But hopefully he returns to the job he’s extra fitted to — morning speak present host at MLB Network — and lets another person strive. An skilled supervisor is required, and DeRosa had two probabilities to get it finished.
Fox Sports analyst Alex Rodriguez additionally must take a hike subsequent time. While Commissioner Rob Manfred handed out silver medals to the U.S. group, A-Rod confidently stated, “This means the world to them … getting a hug from the commissioner.”
I’m guessing a hug from Manfred was not on anybody’s want checklist.
