The Royals took a 2-1
lead in the Series Friday night by holding on 3-2 against the Giants at
AT&T Park. I wonder how many people
outside of Kansas City and San Francisco were watching.
Judging by the TV
rating for the first two games, not many.
According to USA Today, game 1 on Tuesday drew the lowest
opening-contest ratings ever, while Wednesday recorded the second lowest ever
for a game 2. There are any number of
reasons why, starting with the snail’s pace of each broadcast.
Back in olden times, a
nine-inning 3-2 game most likely would have been over in under 2:30; Friday
night, it took 3:15. Why? Well, there was the numbing assault of
commercials followed by MLB’s need to stand up to cancer, a five-minute or more
feel-good exercise that was sandwiched by…more commercials. Of course, Harold Reynolds said he liked the
pace of the game.
The other problem with
the broadcasts is the announcers.
Reynolds and Joe Buck should not be allowed to speak, ever. If anyone in the commissioner’s office had a
clue (which means this is purely hypothetical), the World Series would be
treated as the tradition and the opportunity that it is. For openers, the game’s best broadcasters,
and only the best, should be calling the action; hello, Bob Costas and Vin
Scully and maybe John Rooney. Second,
baseball needs to stop being afraid of football. Schedule games early and schedule them to
compete with the Bears, et al. The
ratings are in for the other, meeker, way.
Last, kill the
ads. The World Series is, or used to be,
an event just as big as the Super Bowl.
Restore some of that glory by broadcasting commercial-free games. Instead of someone telling me how clean my
clothes can be, let sponsors put their logo in a corner of the TV screen, where
Fox shills for its programming. That’s
it. No more ads, nothing read between
pitches or innings. Do that one game,
two games, seven games, and you’ll grow the sport just fine.
And do it for at
least one game of the week on Fox, the MLB Network and ESPN during the regular
season. Then, let’s see about the
ratings.
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