THE ATHLETIC's Melissa Lockard noted after years of "trying to compete on a limited budget," the A's have "dropped those pretenses and jumped fully into rebuild mode for the first time in the Billy Beane era." Asked what makes this rebuild different from other years, A's GM David Forst said, "Up until now, we have really straddled the line. When I say that, I mean between rebuilding and trying to compete in the major leagues. As long as I have been here and as long as Billy has been here, we've felt like whatever resources and dollars that we have, we are going to put into the major-league club and try to be as competitive as possible here" (THEATHLETIC.com, 9/5).
MAKING ACCOMMODATIONS: In Milwaukee, Rich Kirchen reported the Brewers have "changed their last regular season appearance at home to an afternoon game from a night game to avoid a conflict" with the Packers. Brewers COO Rick Schlesinger said that the team's Sept. 28 game against the Reds at Miller Park will start at 3:10pm CT rather than the originally scheduled 7:10pm. The Packers are scheduled to play the Bears at 7:25pm the same day at Lambeau Field. Schlesinger said that the Brewers will "accommodate Packers fans at Miller Park through television monitors" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 9/5).
CLOCKING IN: In Minneapolis, Michael Rand reported the average MLB game this season has "added five minutes and checks in at 3:05 for a standard nine-inning affair." Meanwhile, the average nine-inning Twins game this season has "lasted a shade over 3 hours, 9 minutes," and their last 10 games have "all been at least three hours." For the season, the Twins have "only played 40 games in less than three hours." Rand: "Lest you think there are some extra-long outliers that are driving up the average game time, the median -- the number right in the middle of the entire 133-game nine-inning set of games for the Twins this year -- is also 3 hours, 9 minutes" (STARTRIBUNE.com, 9/5).
