ESPN/MLB
Baseball, more than any of the other major American professional sports, is a uniquely local sport. Other than teams like the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, and Giants, people largely root for the team representing their area.
That, combined with the 162-game slog that is an MLB season, makes fans of the sport feel particularly close to their teams and those around them: broadcasters, reporters, pre-and-post-game show hosts, etc.
As a Mets fan, let me put it like this: there have been some dreadful Mets games that I’ve sat through just so I could listen to Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, and Keith Hernandez B.S.
This is all to say that (when the Mets qualify, which is rare) one of the worst aspects of playoff baseball is having to abandon the local broadcast teams and instead listen to national broadcasts, especially when considering the quality of ESPN’s.
Here’s Michael Kay calling the biggest hit of the Detroit Tigers’ season and one of the biggest hits in MLB all year, for example:
Michael Kay with one of the worst calls you’ll ever hear pic.twitter.com/6H9cVOWNlD
— Justin (@JustinMLB) October 2, 2024
Another aspect of ESPN’s playoff baseball coverage that’s been drawing particular ire is their in-game interviews, which it seems like no one other than ESPN producers want to see.
During Game 1 between the Brewers and the Mets, they interviewed Christian Yelich — a player who isn’t even playing in the series. Then, in Game 2, they cut to a dugout interview during the crucial, game-deciding 9th inning, resulting in tons of backlash from baseball fans.
ESPN juuuuust made it back in time from that 9th-inning in-game interview to catch Jose Iglesias's flyout. pic.twitter.com/UEEBlpt2XX
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 3, 2024
“I’ve seen a lot of bad sports broadcasting moments, we laugh and move on. Not this, this shit right here is unacceptable. Two fan bases feel like their season is on the line. They come to you ESPN because it’s the only place the game is on, you cannot pull this in a big moment,” said one viral assessment of ESPN’s broadcast.
“Hi @ESPN it’s f—— inexcusable to do an interview in the dugout during the ninth inning,” another viral complaint read.
“These in-game interviews rarely bring any insight and take away from watching what people tuned in for–you know, the actual game,” a baseball fan opined.
Luckily for baseball fans, the Wild Card Series round will be the final round of playoff baseball ESPN has the broadcast rights to, with coverage shifting to TBS/MAX and Fox/FS1 for the Divisional Series round.