Is this the year we stop running MLB boxes?

What planet are you living on? Four is freaking bountiful in this climate.

 

Don't cut the boxes.
Cut the roundup first and run the write-thru AP gamer on the Cards, and the no-quote gamer from the Braves that will satisfy most of the local fans.
Design the boxes to fit in a four-column, top to bottom box and leave two columns open beside it for other agate like the betting line, transactions and tv listings. You can also put the Cards jump and the Braves gamer here as well.
The four column box will give you space for about 12 boxes, standings and the pitching line.

 

Baseball roundups are an absolute waste of space. It says the same thing that the box score says and takes up a lot more space. I'd rather have a solid notes package (if available) or a breakout story/feature in that spot than roundups.

 

My low30sK paper is 3-4 hours from the Braves, so that's the most important.
Next, we have people that either love or hate the Yankees, so if we run a Rays box (6-7 hours away) instead of Yankees, we get calls.
So, if I'm slotting the boxes, I do all I can to get the Braves, Yankees, Rays (a local player is on the Rays), and for other national followings, the Mets, Red Sox or Cubs.
Most of the time, we're able to get all the boxes we need to get in.

I can do without the Mariners, Twins and Rockies. I don't like running roundups - would rather run a Braves notebook or some kind of national feature.

 

16K daily in South Carolina. We get between 4-5 pages for sports (usually four). We run boxes, standings and a short Braves gamer. Most -- MOST -- of the time we can cram all that into four columns. If we ever got cut to 3-4 pages, baseball scores would disappear. I'm not cutting local, which I firmly believe is why our circulation continues to go up, for agate.

 

We had space issues one day last summer and cut our baseball page. We heard about it the next day. But I'm wondering if we'll have to cut it to just the "local" boxes this season with space cuts. We're doing it with NBA and NHL more often now.

 

This sounds similar to our situation.

 

We're within 90 minutes of an MLB team, and last summer we cut back to box scores for the NL West, a short gamer for the state's MLB team with a small roundup up for the rest. It was a cut because of space, obviously. Complaint calls were infrequent.

 

I think it depends on your audience and how you approach your work as a newspaper. If you're a local weekly that primarily focuses on teams in your coverage area, even one page is a waste.

If you're a daily that at least tries to cater to a more metropolitan audience (read: people who grab your paper for national/world news as well as the state and local), two pages might be more justifiable.

I didn't run any MLB coverage at my old shop because it was a weekly. When the Godless County-based Class AA team was in the middle of a pennant race, I ran boxes for that team's games. I also did league standings. When they fell out of the playoff chase, out went the boxes and the standings.

 

Not running box scores is insane. You must run 'em.

 

This thinking is why newspapers are dying.

Oh, and the use of 'em.

 

Sorry but that's inconsistent. I can see the Braves where you are and even the Rays. But the rest? All or nothing.