National Networks Show Understandable, But Still Irritating Bias Toward Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals

I’ve had a theory about Major League Baseball telecasts for a while. The theory states that every single time the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, likely the most storied rivalry in the history of the game (and sports in general), play each other the game will be nationally televised.

I’ve long theorized that every single Yankees vs. Red Sox game in at least the last decade has likely been televised. Unfortunately, I have no way of finding out whether or not this is indeed a fact. What games have appeared on which networks over the last few seasons is not something you can easily find anywhere, probably because few people honestly give a damn.

However, for the last few seasons I’ve heard a good many people give a damn. These people are, of course, not fans of the Yankees or Red Sox as those fans (and there’s a good many of them sprinkled throughout the entire United States) seem thrilled that many of their favorite team’s games (and every time they play their heated rival) are broadcast nationally. It’s not hard to be a Yankees or Red Sox fan in say Arkansas (where I’m from) because you know your favorite team will have as many as a third of their games all season broadcast. But, if you’re a fan of say the Cleveland Indians or Oakland A’s or Milwaukee Brewers in Arkansas or Nebraska or West Virginia you’re going to have trouble ever seeing your favorite team on television unless you want to shell out major bucks for the baseball television package or MLB.tv online (which many people simply cannot afford). This is a feeling that sucks for a good many a baseball fan in this country, especially when they keep getting the same old teams like the Yankees, Red Sox and other teams like the St. Louis Cardinals crammed down their throats.

There are four networks that currently air MLB games nationally: ESPN, Fox (games are regional, but there’s a small enough selection (unlike say NFL on Fox/CBS) to really matter), TBS and MLB Network – all of these networks are shown on most cable or satellite providers. Almost every day of the week there will be at least one nationally televised baseball game. That’s actually a lot of baseball available to baseball fans around the country, but if you’re not a fan of the Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals, etc. it can become pretty fatiguing. This is why every Yankees vs. Red Sox game being broadcast nationally can become irritating to non-fans of those teams.

Let’s get this obvious point out of the way. Yes, it makes complete sense for networks to want to show as many Yankees vs. Red Sox games as they can (and those two teams individual games along with Cardinals games) because these fanbases are the largest (and by a good margin) in the country and the network wants viewers, ratings and the advertising dollars that come from them. Baseball, unlike the NFL and NBA, is not a sport that is watched all that much anymore by the casual sports fan. If you’re a Cardinals fan how often would you watch a game involving a team other than the Cardinals in the regular season? Probably, not very often, especially if you have a busy life. This is partially why the networks search for the big fanbases for their games, because a Yankees or Red Sox or Cardinals game will pull in fans from all around the country, whereas a Pittsburgh Pirates or Colorado Rockies game likely would not.

It makes a lot of sense why networks do this, but it also comes off as bothersome to baseball fans because there are a lot of nationally televised games to go around and there are also a lot of other good baseball teams in the country than just the few that are constantly shown on television.

I don’t have the numbers of televised games for the entire 2013 MLB season, because I unfortunately only thought to keep a tally of nationally televised games for the second half of the season. The second half of a baseball season’s nationally televised games are more likely to be skewed than the first half of the season by team records and the playoff hunt, which would’ve made an entire season sample slightly better than just the second half sample. For example, the incredibly hyped before the season Toronto Blue Jays probably had a handful of first half nationally televised games, but didn’t have a single nationally televised game during the second half of the season. In fact, the Blue Jays were one of only four MLB teams to not have a single nationally televised game during the season’s second half with the other three teams understandably being the Houston Astros, Miami Marlins and Milwaukee Brewers – all teams with losing records and few, if any, bankable stars.      

The team with the most nationally televised baseball games during the second half of the season was also understandably the best team in baseball when the season ended, the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox had 31 nationally televised games during the second half of the season (16 on MLB Network [which televises many more games a week than the other three networks], eight on ESPN, four on Fox and three on TBS). The National League leading St. Louis Cardinals at the season’s end had the second most nationally televised games with 25 (15 on MLB Network, seven on ESPN, two on Fox and one on TBS). The only issue with these numbers is that the Red Sox were only the best team in baseball, record-wise, for the last two-to-three weeks of the regular season and the Cardinals were only the best team in the National League, record-wise, for the very last day of the regular season.

Which team was the best team in the game, record-wise, for most of the season’s second half in both the N.L. and baseball as a whole?

The Atlanta Braves.

Despite leading baseball for most of the season, including the second half of the season, the Braves only appeared on national television 10 times (five times on MLB Network, twice each on ESPN and Fox and once on TBS). Ten MLB teams appeared on national television more during that span (Red Sox, Cardinals, Yankees, Dodgers, Orioles, Rays, Reds, Pirates, Rangers and Tigers). The Braves do have a pretty good sized following, mostly from the days when they were shown exclusively on TBS, but it’s not near of a following the likes that the Yankees, Red Sox and Cardinals have. So, they could be the best team in baseball, but if they aren’t bringing eyes to the networks the networks don’t care. It’s a business. It leads to biases. It’s not really right, but nothing’s ever going to come of it. But, the fans are still going to grow fatigued and complain. Both sides are understandable.

The New York Yankees, by the way, appeared nationally on television the third most of any team in the sport during the second half of the season with 24 appearances (11 times on MLB Network, five times on ESPN and four times each on Fox and TBS) despite not making the playoffs. You can thank their national following for that.  

That’s right; the Yankees appeared in 14 more nationally televised games than the Braves. They appeared in more nationally televised games than seven other 2013 playoff teams, as well. The Yankees were broadcast nationally seven more times than the Tampa Bay Rays (who appeared on TV more because they played both the Yankees and Red Sox a lot during the season’s second half), seven more times than the Cincinnati Reds (who benefited from many games against the Cardinals), 10 more times than the Pirates (baseball’s best story of the year), 11 more times than the Dodgers, 12 more times than the Detroit Tigers,  18 more times than the Oakland A’s and a whopping 21 more times than the Cleveland Indians.

Sure, many people will be saying those lesser featured teams need to grow larger fanbases so that they can compete for TV time with the likes of the Yankees and Red Sox and Cardinals. But, to them I ask the question: How does a team build a larger fanbase? The answer: appear more times on national television.

But, now that we’ve seen that the Yankees, Red Sox and Cardinals ride their large fanbases to more nationally televised games than other franchises, some with better records/teams, it’s time to go back to my initial theory. All of those damn Yankees vs. Red Sox matchups are broadcast nationally aren’t they? Some people haven’t believed me when I’ve said this in the past, but here’s the proof. During the second half of this MLB season the Yankees and Red Sox faced each other 10 times … all 10 of those games were broadcast either on ESPN, Fox, TBS or MLB Network.

Man, it sure must be good to be a Yankees or Red Sox fan. The rest of us might want to find a job that pays better so we can invest in MLB.tv or move to a region that shows are favorite teams locally, because that’s the only way we’re ever going to see them play.

The Day I Saw A-Fraud Go Deep Three Times

I remember a lot of things about August 14, 2010 … few of them good.

I wanted to see a couple of baseball legends play before the end of their careers and I also wanted to check another baseball stadium off of my list. So the plans were made and the tickets were purchased and I was going to see the New York Yankees visit the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

I wanted to see Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera play. Alex Rodriguez was going to be there too, but I couldn’t have cared less. By the late summer of 2010 the whole world already knew that Alex Rodriguez was a cheater. We may have bought the inflated numbers and inflated body size before, but just a year earlier Rodriguez had admitted to using steroids while playing with the Texas Rangers in the early part of the ‘00s. Barry Bonds had retired a few years before, so Rodriguez was my most hated player in the game.

Insomnia has always been a bitch for me and during the summer months when I was a college student it was at its worst. The day before we (my girlfriend, my family and me) where set to drive up to Kansas City from Northern Arkansas for the afternoon game I had failed to get any sleep whatsoever. You’d think a six hour drive to the ballpark the morning of the game would be the perfect opportunity to catch ups on some Z’s, but that didn’t happen either. By first pitch I was going to be awake for more than 24 hours without sleep.

We know heat and humidity in Arkansas, but I swear that August afternoon in Kansas City was one of the single hottest days I’ve ever experienced in my life. Walking around a new ballpark that you’ve never been to can be one of the best aspects of attending a Major League Baseball game, but I didn’t want to do a whole lot of walking around in that summer heat. Kauffman Stadium is most known for its giant ass water fountain in right field, but damn if they won’t let spectators play around in it. They could seriously charge admission to it on days like this. Our seats were in right field just in front of this fountain. So not only is it amazingly hot outside, but I’m being taunted by a 322 foot fountain, which happens to be the largest privately funded fountain in the entire damn world. The only real safety from the heat that day was the indoor, air conditioned Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame, which I can’t remember how much it cost to enter, but it was definitely overpriced. The Royals franchise, at this point, was 41 years old and they had managed only one hall of fame player in that entire time – George Brett – so needless to say the team’s hall of fame wasn’t all that thrilling. Being out of the heat for a half an hour or so sure as hell was.

It was getting closer to game time so we made our way back to our seats where things just kept getting worse. I’ve got bad luck when attending sporting events, concerts, etc. and I always seem to find the seats that are surrounded by complete jackasses. This hot, tiresome August day in Kansas City we were seated in a row directly in front of four people that were the baseball fans from Hell – actually they might not have even been baseball fans, because they talked about everything in the world but baseball (and very loudly I might add) during the entire game. There is a special place in Hell, which is apparently Kansas City on a hot August afternoon, waiting for those two guys and their significant others … right alongside Alex Rodriguez, of course.

The lack of sleep, unbelievable heat and row of pricks behind us made for a somewhat miserable experience at Kauffman Stadium, but the game wasn’t really all that bad. It wasn’t all that bad, because I really didn’t have a rooting interest. I’m an Atlanta Braves fan at a Yankees-Royals game, so really what does it matter who wins? I rooted for the Royals, though, because who really roots for the Yankees?

Things got off to a slow start in the game as Yankees starting pitcher Phil Hughes and Royals starting pitcher Sean O’Sullivan had a 1-1 pitcher’s duel going through the first five innings. The fireworks would start in the sixth.

In the sixth inning Alex Rodriguez blasted a ball 423 feet right over our heads to give the Yankees a lead.

Who cares?

O’Sullivan would be knocked from the game just minutes later after Yankees catcher Jorge Posada and Yankees center fielder Curtis Granderson connected on back-to-back homers. The Royals would score two runs in the sixth themselves to keep things close. It wouldn’t stay that way for long.

The next inning Rodriguez stepped back up to the plate, this time off of Royals reliever Kanekoa Texeira. The result would be the same as the previous inning, except longer. Rodriguez took Texeira 439 feet to right field, again right over our heads.

I still didn’t give a damn.

He wasn’t finished though. In the ninth inning Rodriguez put the finishing touches on an 8-3 Yankees win with his third dinger of the day – this one the longest at a whopping 449 feet off of Royals reliever Greg Holland. I believe the ball reached the giant fountain that I didn’t have the pleasure of bathing in earlier in the day.

It was a three homer day for Rodriguez with each homer being longer and more impressive than the last. However, I remained unimpressed. Alex Rodriguez could’ve hit a Major League Baseball record-tying fourth or even record-breaking fifth home run that day and I still would’ve been unimpressed. Nothing this tainted slugger could’ve done would have impressed or even interested me.

I got to see Derek Jeter play the field and get what would end up being one of his 3000-plus career base hits. That was impressive to me. Because of Rodriguez’s bombs I didn’t get the pleasure of seeing the greatest closer to ever live Mariano Rivera pitch because it wasn’t a save situation, but oh well, those are the breaks of the game and I knew it would be a possibility going in.

I had never been to a sporting event previously where I was glad the game had ended, and I haven’t been to one where I felt that way since … but the final out came as a relief that day. I could fall asleep when I wanted, I could bask in indoor air conditioning and the row of pricks was gone and thankfully never to be seen from again.

Some would think that I’m making light of a terrific athletic performance – quite possibly the single greatest game I’ve ever witnessed in person and may ever witness in person. A three-homer game from a three-time Most Valuable Player and 14-time All Star should be amazing.

It wasn’t.

It wasn’t because I knew better. I knew, even three years ago, that Rodriguez’s achievements didn’t mean a damn thing because he had made a decision to cheat. I couldn’t cheer for that. I couldn’t respect that. I have no clue if Rodriguez was juicing at that time. He claimed to only do it in Texas from 2001-2003. He never failed a test after Major League Baseball instituted testing in 2006 and still hasn’t to this day. But, there’s a possibility that those homers were tainted, and even if they weren’t they still didn’t mean shit coming from a player who was.

It’s August again, but its three years later. Yesterday Major League Baseball suspended Alex Rodriguez for 211 games, the rest of the 2013 season and the entirety of the 2014 season because of violating baseball’s performance enhancing drugs policy and for actions detrimental to the game of baseball under the collective bargaining agreement for his part in the Biogenesis clinic scandal. The suspension uniquely came down on what was Rodriguez’s 2013 season debut after rehabbing from multiple injuries. Rodriguez, ever the joke, announced that he would appeal the suspension. He can play until the appeal is heard. Rodriguez seems to believe he’s honest now. Even though his name was alongside of 13 other players who accepted suspensions for the same thing and after he tried to cover-up his involvement in the Biogenesis clinic by purchasing documents from the clinic. It is this attempted cover-up that truly has gotten Rodriguez in deeper trouble than the rest of the players who have all only been suspended for the remainder of the season.

Everything he’s gotten is 100 percent deserved. If he never plays another game of baseball after his appeal is heard the game will be much better off.

If I have children one day I will be able to recount how I saw legends and surefire future hall of famers like Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones and Albert Pujols play the great game of baseball at an incredibly high level. I’ll get to show them the stats and video footage of these players and tell them just how special they were and just what kind of role models they were. If this day comes I hope my children look up to these guys in the same way that I do with legends I never got to see like Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Ted Williams.

I then will sit them down and tell them about the day I saw Alex Rodriguez hit three home runs and how that feat meant absolutely nothing to me because of all the harm Rodriguez and others of his ilk did to the game I love. They should and will learn that fantastic feats mean nothing when there isn’t honesty and morals behind them.

These future kids of mine are going to know the legacy of the Jeters, Joneses and Pujolses. They are just as importantly going to know the embarrassment of the A-Frauds. As much as I’d like to forget that clowns like Rodriguez exist it’s important to remember them and pass down their tainted tales this way the future lover’s of the greatest game ever played won’t mistake fake for fame when they look into the record book and see the bloated numbers of these bloated buffoons.

            

Time to Stop Ridiculous Hating on Jeter

Over the years I’ve heard a lot of hatred thrown Derek Jeter’s way saying that he’s the most overrated baseball player in the game, some even say ever. Well, Jeter went 5 for 5 against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday to become the 28^th player in baseball history to achieve 3,000 career hits. Only the 28^th and 3,000 is one of the most iconic, if not the most iconic, stats in the game. Now that Jeter has joined this class of all time greats that includes Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb, Stan Musial and others people should drop the “overrated” bit and see that Jeter is an all time great. It’s always amazed me when people tried to claim that Jeter was something less than a legend before, now if they do it I’ll know for sure that they are indeed highly ignorant. Give Jeter his due as a baseball legend and get over your asinine hatred for the man.

Reliving Marlins Owner's Horrible Decision to Can Girardi

In 2006 the Florida Marlins hired Joe Girardi as their manager after previous manager Jack McKeon retired. It was Girardi’s first managerial job and he nearly turned the Marlins completely around and had a struggling team from the year before in wild card contention late in the ’06 season. He was liked by fans, liked by his players, but he and Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria didn’t get along. After the season Girardi was named the National League’s Manager of the Year, but he was also fired by Loria, becoming the first manager in history to win that honor and be fired in the same season. Well, as you know Girardi was soon after hired by the New York Yankees and led them to a World Series title in just his second season with the team. The Marlins are on their third manager in just the four and a half years since Girardi’s firing, and oh by the way that manager is once again Jack McKeon. Loria made a horrible baseball decision back in 2006 simply because he couldn’t get along with Girardi and I hope he thinks about that every day during the Marlins recent skid toward the bottom of the NL East.

Baseball Really Isn't More Boring Than Football

It seems I’m constantly having those: “I can’t believe these people” moments. Things always seem to happen that just don’t make much sense to me and I honestly don’t see how they make sense to rational people either. These moments often revolve around sports fans.

The most recent of these “I can’t believe these people” moments has to do with television ratings of a regular season, meaningless NFL week six blowout game versus those of a huge, primetime and big time playoff matchup that turned into one of the greatest postseason pitching performances in baseball history.

According to tvbythenumbers.com, 9.6 million people watched the Tennessee Titans trump the Jacksonville Jaguars 30-3 on ESPN’s Monday Night Football on Oct. 18, while only 8.2 million people watched TBS’s telecast of game three of the American League Championship Series playoff baseball game between the Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees that same night and time.

Now, I know that football is the most-watched sport in this country and that is obvious and has been for some time, but it is still a head-scratcher to me that more people would want to watch a regular season, nothing at stake NFL game between honestly two uninteresting teams than a thrilling pitcher’s duel matchup between Benton’s own Cliff Lee, of the Rangers, and Yankees star Andy Pettitte.

On top of all of that, Lee’s performance against the Yankees, while allowing only two hits and striking out an incredible 13 batters, who aren’t slobs by the way, while shutting them out might be one of the 10 greatest postseason pitching performances in baseball history.

I’ve always wondered why a regular season NFL game would draw more viewers than a tight, postseason Major League Baseball broadcast or even more preposterous why a televised NFL preseason game would out draw a regular season MLB game.

The answers that sports fans have always given me have never seemed fulfilling. The answer is usually as simple as: “football is just better.” Every now and then, I’ll receive the more elaborate: “football is more exciting and just has more action than baseball” or “there is too much stoppage time in baseball or time when nothing is happening.”

Well, the facts are that football honestly doesn’t have any more or less action then baseball. There also isn’t any more stoppage time or time when nothing is occurring.

This is going to sound either funny, stupid or too philosophical to some, but each sport has action except for when there isn’t any.

What I mean by this is that the action in baseball starts with the pitch, which means there is constant action once the pitch is made, even if the ball isn’t batted into play. The action in a football game begins with the snap of the football. The time between the pitch in baseball and the snap in football is what I’m referring to as stoppage time and the amount of time in between the two is roughly the same. In between the pitch and the snap are mind games being played between the pitcher/catcher and batter in baseball and the offense and defense in football, which leads to a different action.

If any argument could be made as far as having less action, it could be made that there is actually less constant action in a football game, because in football you have halftime, which is roughly 20 minutes long, as opposed to the mere two to three minutes in between baseball innings.

Some fans also make the argument that baseball games are longer than football games and that baseball doesn’t fit into the increasingly small attention span of most Americans.

Sure, a baseball game doesn’t have a game clock and could essentially last all day long if it had too, but in most cases a baseball game is three hours long, which is also roughly the same length of a football game with the halftime, timeouts and commercial breaks thrown in.

This probably seems like a lot to think about and many sports fans don’t want a whole lot of thinking thrown into their sports. However, these reasons seem better to me than the ignorantly cliché “football is just better” statement.

When it comes down to it the two sports are similar in the amount of action that actually occurs during the timeframe of the event. This brings back the question: why do more people prefer meaningless, regular season football games over important, postseason baseball games?

The answer would seem to be a subjective one: the majority of sports fans just prefer football over baseball. Each fan will have their reasons why or why not, but one thing is certain in my mind: “just because” just doesn’t cut it.