As I glance over MLB's national schedule for April, something hit me – holy crap, there sure are a lot of Yankees and Red Sox games featured on MLB Network, ESPN, and Fox. After doing some number crunching, I was more than a little shocked at just how well both teams were represented, and honestly, a little terrified at just how over the top the schedule is in favor of these clubs.
I want to preface this by saying that I know how popular both teams are. They're the Yankees and the Red Sox, part of a long-time rivalry with massive fanbases in huge markets. I get all that. I also understand that the Yankees will be celebrating the farewell tour for Derek Jeter this year and have a number of expensive new faces in place, while the Red Sox are the defending World Champions and that April 15th marks the one-year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings, which the Red Sox helped the city heal from.
But despite all that, the phrase "over the top" describes the national broadcasts for these two teams in April perfectly. No less than 17 Yankee games will be airing on ESPN, MLB Network, and Fox Sports 1 in April – that's 63% of their 27 game April schedule. Not to be outdone, the Red Sox will have 15 of their 28 April (and Opening Day on March 31st) games on those same national networks – that's a cool 54%.
The heavily-hyped Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is also one that that going to get rammed down our collective throats during the first month of the season, but moreso than usual. The teams play seven times in April, and six are already scheduled for some form of national TV. The lone holdout is the game on Wednesday, April 23rd, but rest assured it'll be there – ESPN hasn't announced their Monday and Wednesday night games that far into the month year.
I'm all about showcasing the best teams, but can we give this a rest? I know that the new national TV deals allow for more games than ever to be shown, but maybe mixing things up would be good for everyone. Maybe instead of focusing on the Yankees, give some spotlight to teams that actually made the playoffs in 2013, like the Indians or the Athletics. Maybe instead of telling us about how Mike Trout is an all-world talent, show Mike Trout and his Angels when they're playing teams other than the Yankees or former Yankee Robinson Cano's Mariners.
The Yankees and Red Sox still draw decent enough ratings nationally, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe baseball would see the ret of their national numbers creep up if they dialed back the obsession with these two markets and maybe focused a little more elsewhere.
Comments are closed.