Baseball news, predictably, is hard to come by these days, with the lockout now in its fourth month. But here are a couple of "consumer'' issues as we await a new deal between the owners and players:
* If you bought tickets for the scheduled March 31 season opener at Fenway, with the Red Sox hosting the Tampa Bay Rays, all might not be lost after all.
While there are conflicting reports about whether MLB could make up the first two series of the season -- games that commissioner Rob Manfred wiped out when the two sides failed to reach an agreement at the nine-day Jupiter Summit last week, but might be made up if, in the unlikely event, owners and Players Association can hurry up and make a deal -- the Red Sox are trying to offer a make-good deal to ticketholders for the March 31 game.
Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy told BostonSportsJournal.com: 'In an attempt to give everyone that purchased tickets the opportunity/choice to attend the new Opening Day, ticketholders were able to select a refund of credit and will be offered the opportunity to purchase the new Opener via a series of priority presales.''
It would seem that not everyone who bought tickets for March 31 will be able to buy the same number of tickets for the re-scheduled opener, and even if they do, the tickets may not be in the same location -- aside from season-ticket holders, that is.
But the priority pre-sales are one way to offer March 31 ticket holders a chance to buy tickets to a new Opening Day.
For the record, for now, that new opener would be April 15 against the Minnesota Twins. For now, that start time is 7:10 p.m., but if it becomes the adjusted home opener for the Sox, there remains a good chance that the game will be moved to the afternoon -- the traditional time for home openers.
That day would also mark Jackie Robinson Day, which MLB introduced in 2004 to celebrate the man who helped integrate baseball in 1947. This year marks the 75th anniversary of that milestone.
As it stands, with the first two series of the season canceled, the Sox would begin the 2022 season on the road, with three games in New York (April 7-10) and Detroit (April 11-13) before returning to Fenway.
That, of course, like everything else associated with the lockout, is very much subject to change.
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Even as the lockout drags on in its fourth month and owners continue to maintain that the industry is suffering, MLB reached a new media deal with Apple TV+, Apple's streaming service.
It's likely to enrich the owners further, while potentially alienating fans.
The deal calls for Apple TV+ to televise a doubleheader each Friday of the regular season -- beginning in 2022, assuming there is a 2022 season, of course.
Those games will be exclusive to Apple TV+ and not shown elsewhere. So, when the Red Sox are either the early game or the late game, these games will not be shown on NESN, or anywhere else for that matter. That's not likely to sit well with some members of the fan base, who either aren't AppleTV+ subscribers or don't wish to be.
It's not yet known how many appearances each team will make, though it's a safe bet, with approximately 50 telecasts (two per week, for about 25 weeks of the regular season), the Red Sox, as a team with a national following, will be on at least a couple of times.
MLB will produce these telecasts for Apple TV+, though nothing is known about the announcing team.
This isn't the first time that MLB has explored non-traditional TV for games. Starting in 2020, MLB introduced Games of the Week on YouTube. The Red Sox made one appearance on YouTube in 2021.
