It's 2013, have you killed your MLB page yet?

Arthur Dent: Excuse me, what is your name by the way?
Slartibartfast: My name?
[pause]
Slartibartfast: My name is Slartibartfast.
Arthur Dent: I beg your pardon?
Slartibartfast: Slartibartfast.
Arthur Dent: [laughing] Slartibartfast?
Slartibartfast: I said it wasn't important.

 

Man, I hate to see agate go. I could sling agate like Bubbler slings yogurt at dead deer.

 

Can't stand agate, but longtime readers want it. Plus, I don't think there is enough compelling wire content (or at many shops, available staff) to warrant cutting it altogether. You gotta fill the pages with something.

We're in the process of changing our Sunday MLB page to a prep sports centric feature page. I'd rather give the folks who still care enough to subscribe/read online something they can't get anywhere else ... and that sure as hell ain't longer MLB capsules.

 

Local agate isn't going anywhere.

 

it has been for years in the PNW ... preps anyway.

 

Interesting perspectives here.
I've pretty much decided that we're going to go with a MLB package each day that consists of:

Expanded standings with scores and schedules.
Boxes for only the Cardinals and Braves (our main drivers of interest).
A lead/photo on one of those two teams, if possible.
A sentence each on whichever teams have finished up by 10 p.m. CT.
Some sort of graphic on how our several "local" players did each night.

I think I can wedge that into about 2.5 of our new, narrow columns. Leaves plenty of room on 3B for whatever else needs to get in on that day.

For Sundays, may try to stick with a full page, if we're getting the full stat package again this season.

 

Reasonable approach. I just never did understand the logic behind "we have to run ALL the boxes" and yet, in the next breath, "we don't have the space to run that (NBA, NHL, golf, colleges, etc.). I can see doing it midsummer, when there is little else going on, but I can't afford it in April/September and I thought it was really inconsistent to do it some days and not others.

 

Yes. I'm keenly aware of the need to manage reader expectations. They can smell fear.

 

Don't do a separate page, but keep boxes as part of the agate page (except on those days we're cut to two pages and run only area boxes, if any).

Decided that we won't break up the agate into NL and AL anymore now that MLB is all interleague, all the time. Saves a few minutes, plus, we don't separate AFC and NFC boxes in football, which has had interleague play, so to speak, since the merger.

Oh, and slartibartfast: Make mine a Coors Light.

 

Need a way to format it so it is mobile-friendly.

 

But why do I need that from your newspaper when I can get it from mlb.com's At Bat app, on any device I want, updated by the minute? Not criticizing the idea ('cause it's a good one), I'm just curious.

 

They can, of course.

But you want to keep your readers on your properties: print, website, blog, etc. If they want to go to other sites afterward, fine, they'll go anyway. But you're trying to give them the complete package before they start surfing.

But even if you're right, and you are, you can maintain the "Overnight Baseball" blog with so many other cool features. I still like the idea. I'm still offering my service if some of y'all want to try this. I'm unemployed still. I'll do it for $150/week. Let's see how it works out for a few months.