Offseason Update: Nov. 11, 2021

No AFL game but yesterday the “Fall Stars” were revealed, giving us the lone Washington representative: Cole Henry. The game will be televised this Saturday at 7 p.m. on the MLB Network, so set your DVRs. Good news: No Tom Verducci, who is the answer to the question: “Is there anyone worse as color analyst than F.P. Santangelo?”

The Rule 5 Draft is scheduled for December 9th next month. Should it happen (it did happen in 1994), Todd Boss has you covered over at Nationals Arm Race. My prediction: If there is a work stoppage, we’re gonna have a laugh watching the beat writers pretend they know what’s going on and/or the MASN and WaPo commenters who wouldn’t have a clue if they bought the Parker Bros. division from Hasbro.^{Narrator: We always have a laugh over these folks; Rule 5 Draft has nothing to do with it}

In tangential to the site but of interest due to local connection somewhat related news, the MLB Draft League will return for 2022 with an expanded schedule. I’d remark about the experience or the attendance, but I did not make it to a MLBDL game last summer nor did the league track (or perhaps more accurately, release) attendance figures.

My guess is that the level of play would be very similar to the mid-to-upper-tier collegiate wood-bat leagues (i.e., like the Appalachian League game I did go to in August) According to his highness at Ballpark Digest, attendance at some MiLB affiliates that had been Shempped—he calls it “jump to collegiate” instead of “fall from affiliated”—improved at some of the outfits, even with COVID-19 issues and restrictions.

I’m not sure if that’s due to pent-up demand or, if MLB’s cynical stance may be right: The casual fan won’t know the difference (arguably the fan experience at Pulaski was the same as if not better than your average Low-A game), and most won’t care that the players they’re watching are basically paying to play.