# Does ESPN hurt baseball with their focus on just a few teams? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 24, 2008, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-espn-hurt-baseball-with-their-focus-on-just-a-few-teams/478540 "2008-12-24T14:30:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-espn-hurt-baseball-with-their-focus-on-just-a-few-teams/478540/21 "2008-12-24T20:59:09Z")
> [@DudleyGarrett](#): > > Wasn’t McCarver trying for a job on the YES network but wasn’t let in? I think that is true. When Fox NY carried the local games he did the Yankee Games and I know most fans use to complain about it. He was really disliked I believe by most Yankee and Met fans that both had to put up with him. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-espn-hurt-baseball-with-their-focus-on-just-a-few-teams/478540/22 "2008-12-24T21:05:20Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > The old Game of the Week on Saturday afternoon (in the Joe Garagiola days) would also focus on the top teams, as has Monday Night football (the Raiders have very rarely been on since they became crap several years ago). MNF and SNF do favor the NFC East teams to a degree, but not nearly as blatantly and myopically as the MLB does. The NFL at least makes an attempt to be diverse and to make it a merit based thing. The MLB doesn’t make any such efforts, the Rays made it to the World Series and barely got a peek and the Twins and A’s have been in the running pretty much every season and never get on. In the NFL the small market Colts get tons of air time based on their success, as do the Packers, Vikings, Jags and Panthers to a degree on par with their success. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-espn-hurt-baseball-with-their-focus-on-just-a-few-teams/478540/23 "2008-12-24T21:06:50Z")
Here is part of ESPN’s Sunday Night Coverage for 2008 3/30/2008 8:00 PM Atlanta Braves vs. Washington Nationals 4/6/2008 8:00 PM Chicago White Sox vs. Detroit Tigers 4/13/2008 8:00 PM New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox 4/20/2008 8:00 PM New York Mets vs. Philadelphia Phillies ) 4/27/2008 8:00 PM Los Angeles Angles vs. Detroit Tigers 5/4/2008 8:00 PM Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals 5/11/2008 8:00 PM Boston Red Sox vs. Minnesota Twins 5/18/2008 8:00 PM New York Mets vs. New York Yankees 5/25/2008 8:00 PM Los Angeles Angels vs. Chicago White Sox 7/13/2008 8:00 PM Colorado Rockies vs. New York Mets 7/20/2008 6:00 PM Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels The first game was the opening at the Nationals park. Here is the [Monday Night Football schedule](http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/schedule?year=2008&season=0) The team with the most Monday Night Games? The Cleveland Browns! Of course, two of their three games were against NFC East opponents. ---
**Author:** ![Frosted\_Glass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frosted_glass/32/3926_2.png) [@Frosted\_Glass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frosted_Glass)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-espn-hurt-baseball-with-their-focus-on-just-a-few-teams/478540/24 "2008-12-24T22:02:36Z")
Its funny how being a fan of the Mets, I think we get the shaft on national coverage because I grew up being able to watch every single Mets game. Now that I am in Pittsburgh, I have to go to the bar on nights that I want to watch the Mets game. I guess thats also the reason I feel the Yankees get way too much coverage. Mets fans have a tendency to feel overshadowed and slighted by the Yankees. Personally, I doubt that the rest of the country is interested in watching the Pirates get whooped on. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-espn-hurt-baseball-with-their-focus-on-just-a-few-teams/478540/25 "2008-12-25T03:45:53Z")
Is that because WOR is no longer a Superstation like WGN and WTBS? I remember watching Mets and the NHL on WOR back in the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-espn-hurt-baseball-with-their-focus-on-just-a-few-teams/478540/26 "2008-12-25T08:46:46Z")
> [@Frosted\_Glass](#): > > Its funny how being a fan of the Mets, I think we get the shaft on national coverage because I grew up being able to watch every single Mets game. Now that I am in Pittsburgh, I have to go to the bar on nights that I want to watch the Mets game. One nice thing about moving out of market, though, is that i’m no longer hamstrung by [MLB.com](http://MLB.com)’s ridiculous blackout rules for watching games online. When i lived in Baltimore, i would generally watch the game on TV, but sometimes i would be in my room doing work on my computer, and would feel like watching some baseball. Because i lived in the Orioles’ area, i wasn’t allowed to watch Baltimore on the computer. The only way to get around it—which i did on numerous occasions—was to go through an overseas proxy server. Now that i’m in California, i’ll be able to get all the Orioles games online. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@The\_Tof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tof)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-espn-hurt-baseball-with-their-focus-on-just-a-few-teams/478540/27 "2008-12-25T08:46:59Z")
Just a driveby- should anybody be interested: > **[Schreiber: Breaking down the bias](https://www.espn.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=schreiber_leanne&id=3534299)** > > In investigating allegations of East Coast bias at ESPN, the ombudsman concludes that, if there is collusion across platforms and programs, it is in the creation and promotion of superstars with the potential for crossover appeal among all fans. The ESPN Ombudsman’s story on ESPN’s east coast bias: and specifically- their wont to show the Yankees and Red Sox ad nauseum. Bottom line- the ratings drive the ship. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-espn-hurt-baseball-with-their-focus-on-just-a-few-teams/478540/28 "2008-12-25T13:38:00Z")
It’s hard for ESPN to ruin the regular season because we all get so many games from other sources- the local team, FOX, WGN, TBS. What is hurting baseball more than anything else is the way FOX screws up the postseason. Look at football, their Super Bowl starts early enough that you can watch the whole thing and still go to work every day. The first round of the playoffs is fairly first-shift friendly, even the night games start early enough that you can watch them all. But switch to the LCS and World Series, and FOX extends its middle digit to first shift workers and school kids. Start the first pitch after 8:30 and with the ridiculously long breaks between innings, you’re lucky if the game ends before midnight. So what happens when school kids can’t watch the most meaningful games of the year? It’s awful hard for them to become baseball fans. They’re killing the future fans just to make a few extra short term bucks with these insanely late games. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2008, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-espn-hurt-baseball-with-their-focus-on-just-a-few-teams/478540/29 "2008-12-26T04:44:09Z")
Baseball is booming as a business. They just shelled out a contract to a single player worth $180M. There is absolutely no indication that baseball is hurting itself in any way with its television decisions. Stop making your own personal pet peeves about how baseball is shown on TV into bogiemen for the future of baseball. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![MichaelQReilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@MichaelQReilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelQReilly)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-espn-hurt-baseball-with-their-focus-on-just-a-few-teams/478540/30 "2008-12-27T17:54:28Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Good analysis I would say and as to Connecticut, about half the state are Yankee Fans. > > OK, now I understand and see what you are saying. I’ll even admit it sounds right. Yeah, CT is actually one of the best places to baseball fan because the Yanks-Red Sox dividing line runs roughly right through the middle of the state. As a result, pretty much anywhere you go you get about a 50/50 split (with the occasional Met fan thrown in). Makes for a lot of good trash talk, etc. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-espn-hurt-baseball-with-their-focus-on-just-a-few-teams/478540/31 "2008-12-27T19:42:31Z")
Arizona is the best place to be a baseball fan. 1. We’ve got spring training. 2. We’ve got our own MLB team 3. We’ve got decent college baseball 4. We’ve got the Arizona Fall league. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-espn-hurt-baseball-with-their-focus-on-just-a-few-teams/478540/32 "2008-12-28T16:48:27Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Only compared to the one game only Super Bowl. World Series and All-Star games still routinely top the ratings chart. The entire NFL postseason crushes anything MLB puts on the air. That’s 11 games that all draw a higher rating than any World Series game, most by at least double or triple. Even the afternoon games. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-espn-hurt-baseball-with-their-focus-on-just-a-few-teams/478540/33 "2008-12-28T17:32:51Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > The entire NFL postseason crushes anything MLB puts on the air. That’s 11 games that all draw a higher rating than any World Series game, most by at least double or triple. > > Even the afternoon games. Which doesn’t invalidate my point. All of those games are one and done eliminations. It’s not a fair comparison. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-espn-hurt-baseball-with-their-focus-on-just-a-few-teams/478540/34 "2008-12-28T19:30:13Z")
Also, the NFL has several advantages in January. The weather is bad in much of the US, which lends itself to more tv watching. In October, there are a lot more activities going on. Also, in January, the NFL pretty much has a sports monopoly. Sure, the NHL and NBA are going on, but they don’t get as much attention until the Super Bowl is over. MLB in October is going up againt the NFL, college football, and high school football. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelQReilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@MichaelQReilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelQReilly)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-espn-hurt-baseball-with-their-focus-on-just-a-few-teams/478540/35 "2008-12-29T16:21:14Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Arizona is the best place to be a baseball fan. > > 1. We’ve got spring training. > 2. We’ve got our own MLB team > 3. We’ve got decent college baseball > 4. We’ve got the Arizona Fall league. Hmm… You have a lot of baseball watching opportunities, which is great. But it seems to me that some of the other fandom stuff is missing. Who are the DBack’s hated rivals? Their stadium looks like a warehouse. Can you really get up to wonder who will win the NL West with a 81-81 record each year? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-espn-hurt-baseball-with-their-focus-on-just-a-few-teams/478540.md?page=1)