Yankees home playoff games worth $6.7 million to businesses. Each home game the New York Yankees play in the 2009 Major League Baseball postseason is worth $6.7 million to city businesses, according to data from the Economic Development Corporation. That includes money spent by visiting fans, players and media members on hotels, retail, transportation and dining, assuming that 34,150 people attend the game who don’t live in the city, the analysis said. Indirect benefits to New York bring the total economic benefit of each game to $11.9 million. – Bloomberg
Phils, Rox out for Game 1 momentum. Both teams have myriad reasons for inflating the importance of a singular baseball game in the midst of what they hope will be 11-win October runs.
The Phillies and Rockies each won their first games of the postseason en route to NL pennants and Fall Classic appearances the past two years. The Rox took down the Phils here in Game 1 of the NLDS in 2007, and the Phillies turned the trick on the Brewers here last season. -MLB
A whole new season for Cards, Dodgers. For Los Angeles, those National League-best 95 wins do nothing but ensure the team home-field advantage. The 47 home runs and 135 RBIs from Albert Pujols would complement an MVP trophy well, but they won’t win a championship. It’s all wiped away. And, yes, that means we’re erasing how it all ended, too.
Two of baseball’s most storied franchises will begin their best-of-five Division Series at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday. And when that first pitch, scheduled for 9:37 pm ET, is thrown by Randy Wolf, both teams intend to start anew. In fact, they’re just thankful that they can. -MLB
Yanks have had Twins’ number in ’09. But the reality of it is this: the Twins haven’t won in the Bronx since July 4, 2007, and have lost eight in a row. They dropped a four-game series in the new stadium from May 15-18, but each game was a one-run affair, and in each game, the Yanks had to come from behind to win, two of them in extra innings.
In their two postseason series, the Twins split the opening two games at the old stadium, winning the opener both times, only to be swept in the Metrodome. -MLB
