Stadium News

Breaking News from the Bench to the Bleachers

OutKick

Has NASCAR Lost The South? Ex-Driver Unloads After Seeing "100,000 Empty Seats"

It hasn't been the greatest week in the world for NASCAR. Sure, they've had a better week than Dianna Russini, but that's a low bar. Other than her, though?Yeah, it's been a rough go of it for the folks in the big glass building across from Daytona International Speedway. Of course, that's because of two major headaches in the racing world: TV ratings, and attendance. Those two things drive folks who make a lot more money than me crazy, and both took a major hit at Bristol last weekend. Because I'm always ahead of the trends, I already wrote about both. I told you on Monday that the grandstands at Bristol were embarrassing. They were. I wrote on Wednesday that the TV ratings for Bristol were alarmingly bad. They were. And now, former NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield is officially hitting the panic button after what he saw last weekend:"Check out what the NASCAR grandstands used to look like when I raced at Bristol," Mayfield wrote in a lengthy Facebook post. "When the biggest story is how many people are staying home to watch a golf tournament in Georgia, the sport is in a coma."Ty Gibbs gets his first win in front of 100,000 empty seats. It looked like a COVID era race out there. If the ‘World’s Fastest Half Mile’ can’t out draw a Sunday at Augusta, then NASCAR has officially lost the south."Is it the car? Is it the drivers? Or has the "Colosseum" just become a graveyard? Tell me I'm wrong."Yikes. Just a brutal takedown from a driver who doesn't exactly have the greatest relationship with NASCAR. That's fair. I will admit, you have to take everything Jeremy Mayfield says with a grain of salt because bridges have certainly been burned. I don't want to get into it here, but it all stems from a drug test back in 2009. You can look up the rest if you'd like. Anyway, back to Bristol … Mayfield is 100% right in this case. The stands were half-empty. FS1 averaged fewer than 2 million viewers for the first time in the history of that channel. It was bad in the stands, and it was equally awful in living rooms across America. For example, the grandstands certainly look … bare … when you watch this in-car camera from Kyle Busch:Not great! Has NASCAR "officially lost the south," as Mayfield said? Perhaps. I've long said that NASCAR abandoned its fanbase years ago. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out, though. They left places like Rockingham and Kentucky for Mexico and downtown Chicago. They spent all of 2020, and beyond, virtue-signaling their tails off. Nobody likes the Next Gen car. Steve Phelps was a disaster for the sport in terms of public image. Now, they've gotten better in recent years. I will admit that. The series has, somewhat, returned to Rockingham. Chicagoland is back on the schedule. The Clash at Bowman Gray is miles better than Los Angeles. Phelps is out, thankfully. The playoff format is gone. Again, they've taken steps to improve. You can't say they're not trying, because I just gave you 14 examples of how they are. But is it too late? Maybe. We'll see. Jeremy Mayfield certainly has his doubts, for whatever that's worth. 

Read moreHas NASCAR Lost The South? Ex-Driver Unloads After Seeing "100,000 Empty Seats"

San Diego Padres Closer Mason Miller Is An Insane Human Cheat Code Destroying Major League Baseball

The regional aspect of modern Major League Baseball makes it easy to miss out on stories or players from across the country. The San Diego Padres might be one of the best examples of that, considering most of their games start after 9pm Eastern and finish well after midnight.So it's forgivable if some baseball fans have not followed Padres closer Mason Miller this season. But boy oh boy, should baseball fans be following Mason Miller. Because what he's doing to opposing hitters this season, along with his performance for much of last season, is virtually unprecedented and may never be accomplished again. RELATED: Here's What The San Diego Padres Record $3.9 Billion Sale Means For Major League BaseballWednesday night, Miller entered in the ninth inning with the Padres up 5-2 on the Seattle Mariners. He struck out the side, getting J.P Crawford, Mitch Garver, and Cole Young looking. Nothing too unusual about that, right? But what is unusual is that Wednesday's dominant performance added to what's become an unimaginable run from Miller. To the point where the stats he's putting up would be unrealistic in a video game.Wednesday's outing meant that Miller had officially passed nine innings pitched this season. And in those 9.1 innings, he's allowed one hit. Not one hit per inning, one total hit. He's also allowed one walk, meaning that out of 30 total batters faced, two have reached base. His batting average allowed this season is .034. He's making professional hitters look worse than when pitchers hit. But that's just one side of it. The other remarkable side is that of the 30 hitters he's faced, he's struck out 23 of them. Nearly 77% of hitters who've come to the plate against him have struck out. Last season, the MLB leader in strikeout percentage among qualified pitchers was Tarik Skubal at 32.2%.  Put differently, Miller's 23 K's in 9.1 innings correlates to just over 22 strikeouts per nine innings. For reference, the Major League record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game is 20. That's only been achieved four times in baseball history.Obviously, Miller is a reliever, not a starter, and it's easier to put up these kinds of numbers in sporadic outings compared to one game where hitters have multiple opportunities to face the same pitcher. Still, the scale of what he's doing is mind-boggling. And it's not just this season.Since June 20, 2025, Miller has allowed two runs. Total. Over 43.1 regular season innings, he's allowed two runs. He's struck out 81 hitters over that same time frame and allowed 10 hits. 149 total batters faced, 10 hits allowed. That's a .075 batting average, to go along with an .098 slugging percentage. Again, he's making big league hitters look worse than pitchers. Here's another way to think about this. Baseball-Reference has a statistic called ERA+, where 100 would be effectively league average. Last year, Paul Skenes had a 219 ERA+ on his way to winning the NL Cy Young Award. In his time in San Diego, Miller's ERA+ is 780. Then there's this, per OptaSTATS. Miller has struck out, including the playoffs:"No other MLB pitcher in the last 50 years has matched any of those stretches at any point in his career. Regular or postseason."So how is this possible, you might be wondering. Rob Friedman, aka Pitching Ninja on X, put together an overlay video of Miller's 103+mph fastball and slider that explains why hitters have so much trouble.They have to sit fastball, because otherwise it's nearly impossible to catch up to 103-104mph. But his slider looks nearly identical halfway to the plate, meaning hitters are either way too late for his fastball, or way too early on his slider. When he's throwing strikes, as he has been all season, they can't sit back and wait for a 3-0 fastball down the middle either. Even when they guess right, the quality of his fastball and slider as individual pitches makes him exceptionally hard to it. This bears out when looking at contact rates. Thus far in 2026, hitters are making contact just 51.6% of the time when they swing at pitches inside the strike zone. In 2025, when hitters swung at pitches in the strike zone from Tarik Skubal, they made contact 77.3% of the time. When hitters chase against Miller, the contact rate drops to just 25.8%. Last year, Skubal's contact rate allowed on pitches off the plate was 50.1%. His stuff is so good that he can throw it for strikes and still get swings and misses. When hitters swing at balls, they have little-to-no chance of even making contact, let alone high-quality contact. You can't wait him out and hope he walks you, because he's walked one out of 30 hitters this season. And his fastball and slider look the same, despite a 15-18mph speed differential. What we're seeing is a level of dominance that's almost impossible to comprehend. It's only 9.1 innings, so it's possible that these stats regress a bit as the season wears on. But at this point, Miller has essentially broken the modern day hitter. And made the Padres virtually unbeatable with a lead in the ninth inning.

Read moreSan Diego Padres Closer Mason Miller Is An Insane Human Cheat Code Destroying Major League Baseball

Here's What The San Diego Padres Record $3.9 Billion Sale Means For Major League Baseball

Friday morning, news broke that the San Diego Padres organization had officially been sold. And that news effectively ended much of the debate, disagreement, and complaints about the market size disparities in modern Major League Baseball. For over a decade, the Seidler family, primarily the late Peter Seidler, owned and operated the Padres. And they turned a perennially bottom-feeding franchise into a juggernaut. How? By treating a competitive sport like a competitive sport, and investing heavily in the on-field product. Now? It's been sold to billionaire José E. Feliciano and his wife Kwanza Jones, owners of the English Premier League team Chelsea. For a staggering, and record-setting $3.9 billion. RELATED: San Diego Padres To Be Sold For Record $3.9 Billion DealNearly $4 billion for a team located in one of the smallest markets in Major League Baseball. A team that's never once won a World Series, and hasn't won the National League West in quite literally 20 years. That team sold for $4 billion. Just six years ago, Steve Cohen bought the New York Mets for $2.4 billion. The New York Mets. In New York City. The largest media market in the country. And the Padres just sold for 63% more, six years later. This is why all the whining and complaining from small market teams across the sport is manipulative nonsense.What makes this price even more stunning is that the Padres currently do not have a television deal with a regional sports network. While much of the focus and criticism of the Los Angeles Dodgers' spending habits rests on their agreement with Spectrum, Padres games are produced exclusively by MLB. Fubo and DirecTV+ carry the Padres "channel," but for most fans, they are forced into buying the team's package of games through MLB.tv. And they're still worth $3.9 billion. How can this be, when teams like the Pirates and Marlins relentlessly cry poor, despite raking in huge amounts of revenue sharing dollars? The Marlins even play in a significantly larger market than the Padres. San Diego County has roughly 3.4 million people, while the Miami metropolitan area has 6.4 million. Yet the Padres can routinely run payrolls at or above $200 million, while the Marlins spend under $100 million. Why?Because the Seidler family, particularly Peter, spent money to build a competitive product, taking advantage of the window of opportunity that the Chargers' move to LA offered. Seidler, who had serious health issues for years, invested in the team in hopes of winning a World Series before he died. They signed big name free agents like Eric Hosmer, Xander Bogaerts, and Manny Machado. They were aggressively in trades, bringing in stars like Blake Snell, Josh Hader, Mason Miller, Dylan Cease, and Juan Soto. They signed key players to extensions, like Yu Darvish, Jackson Merrill, and Fernando Tatis Jr. And what do you know, fans appreciated the effort. Petco Park is routinely sold out, and currently ranks second in average per game ticket sales with 42,395. Turns out, the old adage of spending money to make money is accurate. This sales price shows that the owners complaining about not being able to compete with big market teams are, to put it mildly, wrong. Money is pouring into the sport, and there's more to be made when teams try to win. Fans buy tickets when ownership shows they take winning seriously. Fans buy jerseys when they have star players to support. And fans will spend money to buy a package of baseball games when there's a reason to watch. Instead, we have owners like Bob Nutting in Pittsburgh, who hasn't signed a free agent to a contract longer than two years in decades. Literally decades. We have the Marlins, who have taken a community of rabid baseball fans, as the electric atmosphere at the World Baseball Classic demonstrated, and spat in their face by demonstrating a commitment to spending as little as possible. We have the Milwaukee Brewers, who while competitive, trade every single big-name player they have as soon as possible to avoid long-term contracts. But the Padres sale demonstrates that despite the excuses and gaslighting, the fastest way MLB owners could increase their franchise values is by spending money on players. If you build it, they will come.

Read moreHere's What The San Diego Padres Record $3.9 Billion Sale Means For Major League Baseball

Media Attacks Critics of Broadcaster Angie Mentick For Using AI

According to a large quantity of baseball media, you're either not allowed or it's too far to criticize a female broadcaster for having AI do her job for her. On Thursday, social media blew up after a video of Seattle Mariners broadcaster Angie Mentink went viral. The video, taken by a local Mariners fan, who I will not name because he has now gone private on X seemingly because of the relentless backlash he's recieved, showed Mentink preparing for a postgame interview using Gemini, Google's AI tool.What Mentink typed into the AI text box is what caused the backlash. She asked for "Good questions after a tough loss in baseball."My first reaction was astonishment. It was hard to believe a sports media professional would be using AI to do their job for them. This wasn't asking AI to summarize, or contribute to an existing question(s). It was blatantly asking AI to formulate questions from scratch when she is hired to have the wherewithal and professionalism to create a line of questioning that elevates the broadcast, even after a "tough loss."From the minute this post came across Mariners fans' and sports media member's timelines, and was reshared by Barstool in a now deleted post with the caption, "The future of journalism has arrived", they attacked the fan for recording the broadcaster, making that the main issue, while ignoring the clear issue of how reporters should be properly using AI to do their job.While I'm thrilled to know Mentick has been able to return to her duties after a stroke, I believe that highlights another aspect of this issue that is worth exploring. I'll discuss that in a minute. Host Alanna Rizzo of the podcast "Foul Territory" coined the fan "Dork of The Week" and claimed that nobody has "the right to take a picture or say whatever the heck they want."In Rizzo's lengthy diatribe, she repeatedly defended Mentink as someone who "knows ball", which I would simply reply to saying, "If she knows ball, why does she need AI to generate questions for her?" Mentink is in her 30th year of covering the team. She should know the team and how to do her job better than anyone. Ken Rosenthal, the lead reporter for MLB on FOX, including postseason and World Series coverage over the last two decades now, and maybe best known for knocking over and staring down the Milwaukee Brewers team photographer during a postgame interview celebration, called the actions of the fan, "ridiculous.""What she should be judged on is what she does on camera, not what she does sitting in a camera well getting ready to do a postgame interview," Rosenthal added. In a sense, I can agree with Rosenthal. As a reporter, you should be judged how you do your job while you are in front of the camera, actually conducting interviews. Attempting to frame the criticism as an indictment on her entire, lengthy career is disingenuous and a strawman, in my opinion. We can't ignore the fact that a seasoned MLB broadcaster is asking AI to do what she should be able to do herself and what she's hired for. That's the focus. That's the criticism. Let's put it this way:If Ken Rosenthal was caught in the dugout asking AI to give him "good interview questions after a tough loss in baseball", he’d be incinerated online and his credibility would be in question in that moment. Fans would wonder if he still has what it takes to do his job better than the next man (or women) up. That’s a fact.To make myself crystal clear, I'm not calling now, nor have I ever called for Mentick to be fired. I just believe this is an act of unprofessionalism that should be properly addressed, rather than turned into an "attack on women in sports" or an "attack on a stroke survivor."Mentick's recovery from a stroke is something we all should applaud. I know many who have suffered strokes, and by no means am I making light of that situation. She suffered a stroke in late February and wasted little time before she returned to Mariners' broadcasts about a month later on March 28th. The problem I have is framing this as if criticism is off limits because she's reportedly still recovering. As I said online many times over the last 24 hours, and I will say here, and I mean no disrespect. If Mentick is having to rely on AI to formulate, not perfect or analyze her existing questions, but actually formulate her questions, due to any sort of cognitive issue, she should take more time away from the ballpark to recover. I'm sure the Mariners and their broadcast partner, Root Sports (no relation), would love to help make sure she's taken care of physically and financially, to ensure she can return to perform the duties of her job at a high level like she has for many years. Many other media colleagues came to Mentick's defense. I can appreciate that, in a sense as well, but what I don't stand for is the constant virtue signaling and distraction/deflection techniques used by media to grandstand in the midst and aftermath of what I believe to be fair criticism.Evan Grant, Texas Rangers beat writer for The Dallas Morning News posted about being excited to "see Mariners TV reporter Angie Mentink, who is first-class and an absolute warrior" for tonight's game in Seattle. He also rebuked "people on this hellhole", also known as X, for "trying to drag her down." The post was also retweeted by ESPN's senior writer and baseball analyst, Buster Olney.Is this criticism of Mentick really so unfair that journalists need to call fans and other journalists "dorks" and "fools" for pointing out a sports media professional asking AI to come up with "Good questions after a tough loss in baseball"? Honestly, I think it's laughable and comparative to how media tried claiming the criticism of Dianna Russini was "misogynistic", as if this was an indictment on all female sports media members, which I sarcastically joked about while sharing the video yesterday. Heck, even USA Today's Nancy Armour wrote an opinion piece titled, "Dianna Russini put credibility of all women in sports at risk."Again, it's a disingenuous way to dialogue, resorting to personal attacks rather than properly addressing the issue and the points of criticism.Has Mentick received some nasty comments in the wake of this video? I'm sure she has, and I don't agree with nor do I endorse those comments, but the actual conversation is based on journalistic integrity regarding the use of AI. Posts like Grant's make it seem like Mentick should be immune of criticism, especially when he claims, "There is zero about that picture to criticize."I feel I have to repeat this: The conversation is not whether it's ok to use AI in our profession. It's about HOW we use AI in our profession.AI is a great tool that I, my colleagues, and countless others in sports media have used in the rise of it's reliability, accessibility, and popularity. When it comes to research, developing scripts for social media content, perfecting a line of existing questioning for interviews, developing more succinct points in articles, and more make AI a useful tool in our industry. Emphasis on "tool". It should be a good addition to what we've developed as professionals. If we present ourselves, or give the public any credible reason to assume we as nothing more than presenters of what AI has generated for us, it's a danger for the industry.Mentick light-heartedly responded to the backlash on X stating, "Earlier this season I experimented with AI to see if it had any questions to add to my list for my postgame coverage." What I'd warn Mentick about in this social media and AI-infused world, is be careful that you don't give the public any reason to believe you're taking shortcuts by having AI do your job for you.Imagine if I was caught at my office asking AI, "Write me a good article based on the video of Mariners reporter Angie Mentick using AI prior to postgame interviews." It would rightfully cause credibility issues, show that this job could be done by anyone with the ability to ask AI somewhat coherent questions, and not rely on the thoughtful, unique mind and perspective of the writer/content creator. Instead of grandstanding and claiming this is somehow unfair criticism, sports media should have seized this opportunity to discuss what is the proper uses of AI in the industry. Give examples of how it's used now in broadcasts. Discuss what the lines are to maintain credibility and professionalism. But no, they've used this time to trash a fan, give the impression that female broadcasters and reporters should be coddled, and consider critics of that scum of the earth.Media gonna media.

Read moreMedia Attacks Critics of Broadcaster Angie Mentick For Using AI

Paige Spiranac Ditches Everything For Maxim, Kay Adams Blows Kisses While Her Peers Bicker & Major 12U Update!

The Strait of Iran (Trump's words, not mine!) is OPEN for business, stocks are so green my head is SPINNING, and we've made it to another Friday. The libs are always cooked on Fridays, but this one in particular really has to be pissing them off. Are we back, or WHAT? Momentum is really rolling now. The weekend is here. We're all secretly cutting out early today. I may even go hit some golf balls this afternoon. Who has it better than us? Nobody. Not one single country. The US of A is firing on all cylinders on this day. Let's finish strong. Welcome to a Friday Nightcaps – the one where Paige Spiranac finds herself back on the cover of Maxim just in time for the RBC Heritage. What else? I've got the best of the rest from a loaded week of #content, Lauren Boebert has a question for everyone, and Kay Adams continues to wear the crown while all of her peers bicker like teenagers! That's our girl. This is how it's done. Take notes!Grab you whatever your heart desires – it's a Friday, after all – and settle in for an end-of-the-week 'Cap!Let's switch things up a bit today. I'm in a decent mood because my kids might be able to afford college again, so why not? This 12U homer has been all the talk this week. We first dove in on Wednesday, and then again yesterday. For those who skipped the past two days, here it is:Everyone and their mother is outraged at this clip, and I get it. Go-pro on the helmet. Slamming the bat. Camera crew following him around. It's an absurd scene. I've maintained all week that the easiest solution is just drilling the kid. Most of you agreed, which doesn't surprise me because you're all smart. It's why I teach the advanced class. From Eric P:It reminds me of a 12U basketball game when I was coaching an undersized team that was undefeated and playing up. The other team kept knocking our players around, so I walked to the other coach during the game and said that if it didn’t stop, we would out score them 60-0 the rest of the game and not let up.  He couldn’t believe it and despite the fouls slowing down, we still decided to outscore them 48-4 the rest of the way. Our parents were laughing because they knew what I said.. the other parents were not so happy with me.. One of the best days of my coaching career. From Allen K:When I was 11 years old (51 years ago) I was leading off first base.  The pitcher made a move to pick me off.  I was so sure he balked I didn’t even bother trying to get back to first base.  I was tagged standing still waiting to hear the balk called.  Instead I was called out.  I started to argue and heard my dad’s booming voice "shut up and sit down boy!"  I shut up, sat down and never pulled another move like that again.And, from Fred T:I believe a conversation with the coach and parents, along with an apology, would be a better starting point. If that does not resolve the issue, then a ball on his back would be warranted.No, that clip has nothing to do with the 12U kid, but we had benches clear at the end of a game yesterday, so I figured that was as good a spot as any to use it. Anyway, back to the drama … we've got a pretty major update to the viral homer, courtesy of an OutKick source!From Ryan V:One thing that might be important to note is that this happened at a PG Tournament in Sanford this weekend where 2 "influencer" teams played.  The clip in question is a clip from cs99tv's Pottstown team.  They literally put together a team of the best 13-year-olds who have reclassified to play in 12U and go out and dominate a tournament never to play together again.  They bring in a special influencer coach for the weekend which helps to attract kids hoping to be given a bat or a sliding mitt as they have seen them do in countless clips online.  The cameras on the helmets and cameramen are to capture content so they can post clips online, which will provide them enough contact to keep the money rolling in. I would expect that these kids are being told to ham it up for clips because, let's be honest, watching a guy hit a nuke and run the bases isn't going to get as many clicks as what you see in this video.  Wow! What a twist. Did you guys know "influencer teams" existed? Did you know "influencer" coaches existed? Is this happening all over the country? If this is true, and I have no reason to doubt Ryan V., then it just makes this whole thing that much worse. Social media really has been our downfall, hasn't it? Obviously, it keeps me in a job. I can only be so mad at it, given this class is built on viral social media clips. But still, it's just so insufferable. We now live in an age of influencer travel ball teams. We're just creating a pipeline for the Savannah Bananas, which is another thing that has run its course. Disgusting. OK, we've done a ton of talking today. Let's go back to social media and get to the best #content from a big week!A true mixed bag of #content this week, but I think you all weaved it in and out beautifully. Well done. Couple thoughts …1. Lauren Boebert asking why congress is so horny is PEAK stuff for 2026. Asking that after what happened in 2023 also took some serious nuts. Nicely done. 2. Welcome back to class, Kay! No drama with our queen. Just #content. 3. How great was it to hear Joe Buck call baseball again? Remember when everyone hated him back in the day? Boy, were we wrong. 4. Happy 74th birthday to Bill Belichick! 5. Junction Boys! There's a name I haven't heard in quite some time. Remember Junction Boys on ESPN? An all-time movie:Amazing. I can't believe it's been 23 years. Goodness. Speaking of things on the TV … let's rapid-fire this Friday class into a big weekend. First up? Here's your yearly PSA that the best TV series currently on right now returns this Sunday night. If you haven't been watching From, now is your chance to hop on board:It's the best show on TV, and it's not particularly close. Even Hookstead loves it, and it has nothing to do with war! Do you know how hard it is to keep Hookstead's interest in something other than our military? Anyway, the second-to-final season starts this weekend. I rarely get excited about anything on TV anymore because it's all crap, but this one is a winner. I promise. You're welcome. Next? Let's check in on Yankees fans as the team stumbles through a 3-7 stretch of baseball!Yes! This is what I'm talking about. At least Gerritt Cole is doing something for his team this season! The MLB season is starting to heat up. Let's get AFTER it this weekend. OK, that's it for today – and this week. Good work, everyone. It ain't Augusta, but the RBC Heritage is this weekend for those interested. Take us home, Paige!OutKick Nightcaps is a daily column set to run Monday through Friday at 4 p.m. (roughly, we’re not robots).Do influencer teams really exist? Email me at [email protected].

Read morePaige Spiranac Ditches Everything For Maxim, Kay Adams Blows Kisses While Her Peers Bicker & Major 12U Update!

Trades Could Save NFL Draft, Which Lacks Multiple Franchise QBs And Polarizing Players, From Being A Yawner

The 2026 NFL draft lacks marquee quarterbacks and compelling storylines, but NFL GMs say trades could provide the excitement, with multiple teams holding extra first-round picks.

Read moreTrades Could Save NFL Draft, Which Lacks Multiple Franchise QBs And Polarizing Players, From Being A Yawner