I read Ian’s post this afternoon on how FOX is sticking it to the Connecticut-based faction of Boston Red Sox fans by selecting the Subway Series for its game of the week. In selecting the game between New York’s Yankees and Mets for its Saturday night primetime match up over the possibly more appealing Chicago Cubs/Red Sox game I too wonder what the hell FOX 61’s (WTIC-TV/Hartford) programming team is thinking. Ian outlined the reasons in his post so I won’t repeat them here, let’s just say I agree wholeheartedly.
To me if I can’t see the Cubs and Red Sox, and I can’t where I live either, I sure as hell have zero interest in yet another game between the Yankees and Mets. I’m pretty sure this is how the majority of America feels when FOX and ESPN bomb them with back-to-back Red Sox/Yankee games.
I’d rather watch the Texas/Philadelphia game, which has Cliff Lee pitching for his new/old team against his old team or the Oakland/San Francisco game. Anything but being force fed this made up rivalry between two teams who share the same city and tabloid back pages. The only person who cared about this game was George Steinbrenner and last I checked, he checked out.
The problem here not only lies with some Fox affiliates picking the wrong game, it also lies with the exclusivity right of the MLB TV contract with FOX. The contract forbids not only two different games to be shown in the same market but there is also no available cable, satellite or MLB.TV feed of the games shown to other parts of the country.
What this means is that FOX 61, who has a “sister station” in the Hartford Market WTXX TV Channel 20, can not have WTXX show one game say Cubs/Red Sox while FOX 61 shows the Yankees/Mets. It also means that even if you wanted to, you can not go to your favorite sports bar Saturday night in Connecticut and request the satellite feed of the Cubs/Red Sox game. Due to the exclusivity clause the satellite and cable providers are not allowed to carry the feeds of those games. Nor can you view the out of market games on your MLB.TV account.
Face it, we all know that baseball broadcasting rules, especially when it comes to primary and secondary markets and blackout rules are antiquated and are in dire need of overhaul. Fact is that until the Commissioner’s Office, the teams and the networks come to the understanding that the current rules are hurting the game more than protecting broadcast rights it won’t happen.
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The real culprit in this hullabaloo is interleague play. Started in 1997 as a way to generate more interest in the game it was supposed to be a short lived experiment lasting only a few seasons. The problem is our Baseball Fueher Bud Selig LOVES interleague play more than he loves himself.
For the last 15 seasons we have been force-fed bogus “Made for TV” rivalries like the Yankees and Mets, Braves and Red Sox, Marlins and Rays, Orioles and Nationals, Angels and Dodgers, Whites Sox and Cubs, Rangers and Astros, Royals and Cardinals, and on and on.
Does anyone outside of those cities give a crap about those games? Does anyone in those cities give a crap about those games?
Only Sir Bud does.
By implementing interleague play, Selig also created a situation where there was no longer a balanced schedule. Prior to interleague play each of the MLB teams each played 162 games all against their own league. You played your division teams 13 times and 12 games vs. the other teams in the opposite division. This breakdown was kept even after the leagues went to three divisions in 1994. The balanced schedule didn’t leave us until the advent of interleague play in 1997.
Now with “Bud’s Folly”, the American League schedule has a team play 18 or 19 games vs. the 3 or 4 other teams in their division. And 18 games against the National League with 6 of those (3 home; 3 away) against a “natural rival” each season and then the other 12 games are played against 4 other NL teams by division on a rotating basis. The balance of the scheduled games are then split against the two divisions.
The National League schedule has two more teams so the division games end up with different numbers. NL teams play division rivals anywhere from 15 to 19 times in a season. Then they have their 18 interleague games and the balance against the other two divisions.
The problem with this is come pennant race time because of the mess Selig made not every team has played the same amount of games against the same level of competition. An example is the Tampa Bay Rays have to play the Yankees and Red Sox 18 or 19 times each to try to compete for a wild card slot. While teams in the Central and West, say the Minnesota Twins and the Oakland A’s, competing for the same wild card spot only had to play the Red Sox and Yankees about 6-8 times over the course of the season. By this schedule the Rays have to play a tougher schedule to make the playoffs over teams in the other “softer” divisions.
For some reason Selig and the owners continue to force the worst thing to happen to the MLB pennant races and in some cases TV coverage on the American baseball fan. But like the broadcasting rules governing blackouts and markets I don’t see any corrections being made to this issue either. As long as Selig is in the commissioner’s chair it appears we will continually be subjected to games that do not mean anything in the pennant races or for the majority of fans attending and watching on TV.
Follow Steve on Twitter at @djstevem
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