February 03, 2015
On Tuesday, less than a week after Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA* rankings projected that the Phillies will finish with the worst record in all of baseball, it's being reported that a Harrisburg sports radio station will drop the team in favor of the reigning NL East champion Washington Nationals.
*PECOTA stands for Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm and according to Baseball Prospectus, it is their "proprietary system that projects player performance based on comparison with historical player-seasons."
According to David Sottile of PennLive.com, Harrisburg's Sports Radio 96.5 FM, which is owned by Cumulus Media Company, has agreed to the change as part of a one-year deal.
Perhaps there are a lot of Washington fans in the state capital, since it's already home to the Harrisburg Senators, the double-A affiliate of the Nationals. Maybe someone within the Phillies organization angered someone at the station. It can't just be because the Phillies stink, right?
Wrong.
More from Sottile:
"Our agreement was up and we made the decision last week to part ways with the Phillies and flip to the Nationals," [regional vice president of Cumulus Media Pennsylvania Ron] Giovanniello said. "Nothing against the Phillies, but clearly the Nationals are a team on the rise. They won the NL East last year and are picked to win it again this year.
"Obviously [a winning team] helps in all ways, and they certainly will be a postseason contender that makes a deeper run in the playoffs this year. Unfortunately, I don't see that in the Phillies' immediate future."
Giovanniello said Cumulus recently acquired a new FM signal on the 96.5 frequency, allowing the company to move its CBS Sports Radio programming over from the 95.3 position. The signal is also available on 1400-AM in Harrisburg and 1440-AM in York, which also flips from the Phils to the Nats. [via pennlive.com]
So there you have it, Phillies fans. Your team is* that bad.
*At least they're projected to be that bad.
Normally, I'd feel bad for those Phillies fans out in Harrisburg that won't be able to listen to the games anymore. This year, however, they might be the lucky one...
All is not lost, Harrisburg residents. It appears that a Phillies radio affiliate in Lancaster, WLPA 92.7 FM, has a signal more than powerful enough to reach you.
