At the base of Section 141 in Marlins Park, adjacent to the right-field foul pole and hanging over the visitor's bullpen is a screen. It can flip through images and advertisements, but a lot of the time, this screen displays messages from DraftKings, the daily fantasy sports company.
It shows players' names and positions and their daily values according to DraftKings. In a stadium that features bright colors and a gaudy home run sculpture, the screen is a reminder of the future of sports. Gambling will be more prevalent.
This week's Supreme Court ruling opened the possibility for legal sports gambling across the country. It should draw more interest from fans. But how will it affect the players?
Marlins right-handed reliever Brad Ziegler, at 38, is the oldest player on the team. He's played for four teams and appeared in 675 major-league games. Zeigler has experienced a lot, but he can't see legal gambling bringing much of a change from what the players currently go through.
"I don't see how, from a player's perspective, it can get a lot worse than it did once daily fantasy started, once DraftKings and FanDuel got in there," Ziegler said this week. "People, essentially, felt like they were losing money because of my performance. It's no different. They've already been doing it. They hammer you on Twitter. They give you death threats, whatever else that comes with it. It's everybody just hiding behind a computer screen."
Daily fantasy sports allow users to select a new team every day with the opportunity to win money every day. Unlike season-long fantasy leagues, single performances by players have more of an impact on the results of daily fantasy sports. That opens players up to a stream of vitriol and venom that was previously limited.
Ziegler knows that when he gives up a run or blows a save, there will be negative messages on his Twitter account. He deems the attention "normal" by now.
"We always had something because there was always betting," Ziegler said. "Daily fantasy just made it way more accessible. People could do it from their phones. They didn't have to go to Vegas to do it. There was an increase for sure. It was already something that we dealt with, and then it just became something we dealt with more."
Instead of fans betting on the result of a game, or a player's performance, legal gambling could open the door to a wave of new betting options, including betting on the outcome of each individual play.
From a larger perspective, the potential widespread gambling could be a boon to leagues and teams. As an extra revenue stream opens up, entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban estimated that teams' values would double.
Marlins CEO Derek Jeter, in a meeting with reporters earlier this week, said he wasn't sure about gambling's effects on the bottom line.
"My perspective is I don't know enough about it to even intelligently comment on it," Jeter said.
For Ziegler and the players, though, things may not change much.
"It was already happening," Ziegler said. "Vegas put out lines every day. It just will increase the volume of it. I'm sure MLB will try to get their cut of it. Other than that, from our perspective and what we're focused on every day, it doesn't change anything."
