Wildcard baseball is here and ESPN is on the call. Understandable. Biggest name in sports media, they should be able to broadcast games. Makes complete sense. Until you watch 90 seconds of these broadcasts and realize they are flat out HORRIBLE. I get it – I am spoiled with SNY and Gary, Kieth and Ron. But these national broadcasts are terrible.
If you are simply a baseball fan trying to watch, it isn’t too bad. Having every playoff game available to the nation makes a ton of sense. But forcing the fans of those teams to watch the most important games of a season with this shit is inexcusable.
It is the 9th inning in a 2-run game. We have a reporter in the fucking dugout interviewing a player that forced us to MISS A PLAY! In between innings you sit there wondering if a pitching change will happen and who might be coming because the broadcast never acknowledges the bullpen. In 100% of local broadcasts if there is even the slightest amount of movement in a bullpen, it will be shown, acknowledged and talked about.
There also are never any replays of close plays. Pete Alonso fell over his bat and did not make it to first base. ESPN did not show what happened until the next half inning. I genuinely thought he was hurt. ESPN went on to do something similar about 5 times in THE SAME GAME. This is exactly how every Met fans living room looked for about 5 minutes. Simply inexcusable by ESPN.
Also, A close play? Will the other team challenge? You will never know, because ESPN won’t show a replay. And when they do, they’ll make sure to find the worst camera angle as possible to ensure that you won’t be able to tell which way it will go. The announcers will absolutely let you know which way they WANT it to go though!
Why is “Want” in all caps? Good question. That is because of the very clear slant in every single national broadcast. This is a slant that you can very clearly pick up regardless of how invested in the game you are – it is also a slant that does not exist in any other sport. In the NFL, other than when Al Michaels is loosing a huge bet or when Mahomes plays on NBC, you have no idea who the announcer wants to win the game. For some reason for The MLB, you can tell in the inflection of every single announcer what team they are rooting for.
These broadcasts are just horrible products and for a casual baseball fan watching a game – it isn’t that bad. But for the fans that are living and dying with every pitch – it is boarderline unwatchable.
A Fan With A Mic 