The Anaheim Angels won it all last night. If you ask the unlikely World Series victors what they plan to do next, don't be surprised if the answer is, "We're going to Disneyland."
The park itself is just a three-mile hike from the stadium in which the team came out on top during last night's seventh and decisive game. The Angels are also owned by Disney(NYSE: DIS), which poses one of the most impressive triple plays in entertainment history -- though it won't show up on the media conglomerate's ESPN highlight reel.
First pitch. Disney announces it wants to shed its athletic teams. It loves ESPN, but in taking an active ownership role with the Angels and hockey's Mighty Ducks, it has discovered it's much easier to be the broadcaster of all sports than the master of specific participants. If you believe in the "Buy Low, Sell High" mantra, cashing out of the World Series champions now couldn't come at a better time.
Second pitch. Baseball is America's past pastime. With football proving to be the real ratings monster, the baseball field has truly become a diamond in the rough. The apathy is real. By sporting two wildcard teams in the unlikely title matchup, ratings were off by 24%, relative to last year's series through the first six games. So why is Disney smiling?
All seven games aired on rival Fox(NYSE: FOX). Not only is Fox smarting from the sluggish numbers, but because the network held up some of its season premieres as a result of its expanded October schedule, Disney's new fall shows made some major headway. While General Electric's(NYSE: GE) NBC and Viacom's(NYSE: VIA) CBS still rule the ratings roost, Disney is off to a strong start to wrestle third place back from Fox in key, young demographic groups.
Third pitch. With tourism sluggish at the company's theme parks, particularly California Adventure in Anaheim, you can't beat the attention Disney garnered from the games. Early in the series, San Francisco Giants' manager Dusty Baker said his children kept asking to go back to Disneyland. While Dusty's batboy son Darren ran for home plate in Game 5, going home is probably the last thing on his mind right now.
There's no doubt Disney will find a way to use this Cinderella story to market its ailing resorts and turn its foul balls into home runs.
