Major League Baseball

MLB: In-Game Interviews Causing Fans to Miss Action

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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More than once, MLB’s in-game interviews during the first round of the playoffs have distracted viewers from key run-scoring moments.

MLB, we need to talk. The in-game interview madness needs to stop.

When viewers tune in to watch Major League Baseball (on any network), they do it to watch the game itself. If the in-game interview process is causing fans to miss important moments of the game, then MLB and its broadcast networks have failed at their most basic job. It’s that simple.

“But it’s the playoffs!” one might argue. “Someone has to tell the casual fans all of the inside information about the game and the teams!”

Let’s be clear. Even the most casual fans cannot learn anything from a hasty mid-inning conversation with Terry Francona or Joe Maddon. There is no manager sitting in the dugout mid-playoff game, thinking to themselves, “Now would be a great time to provide my detailed tactical strategy to a reporter on national television.”

In-game interviews mostly fall into two categories: touching personal stories, and collections of throwaway lines regarding on-field play. No one (on any team) is breaking down the game, or sharing their thought process as they head into the late innings. They’re filling up their ten minutes with as many vague lines as they can, impatiently waiting to get back to the game.

“No matter what happens in this series, our guys have really done a great job of grinding and keeping their heads in the game this season.”

“He’s got good stuff out there tonight, really keeping the hitters off-balance.”

“We just need to be patient and swing at our pitches when we get ’em, not try too hard.”

Those could be lines from just about any in-game interview, because players and coaches don’t ever say anything.

It’s apparent that managers and players don’t like to do those interviews, and fans don’t enjoy watching them during live action. Forcing someone to rehash yesterday’s performance or preview what the pitching matchup looks like tomorrow when they’re trying to win the current game is distracting. This is doubly true in an elimination game, when every strategic decision matters.

Even if the interview has substance and doesn’t interfere with the manager’s ability to run the game, it’s still a terrible idea.

More from Call to the Pen

During Game 3 of the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers’ series, Rangers third base coach Tony Beasley was telling a very moving story about the ways in which the team has supported him throughout his battle with cancer this season. First of all, that kind of story is something that deserves fans’ full attention, not something that should be used as filler material while viewers are more focused on the game. Beasley deserves more respect than that.

During that interview, Elvis Andrus hit a solo shot that distracted both the reporter and Beasley from the conversation, who would likely have preferred to be celebrating with his players anyway. Viewers missed out on the excitement of a home run call in an elimination game. Presumably, the broadcast crew would rather have been calling the home run than impatiently waiting for a chance to interpret the interview.

No one was doing what they wanted to be doing at that moment.

The same thing happened in the NLDS. After Chicago Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks was hit by a line drive, reliever Travis Wood came into the game just in time to be able to bat the following inning. Wood has hit ten homers in his career, but none quite as epic as the one he hit in Game 2 of the NLDS.

Not that the viewers noticed his home run at first. Wood had crossed home plate before most people even realized he had put the ball in play. MLB Network was too busy showing a taped interview with Giants manager Bruce Bochy to call the first home run hit by a reliever in the postseason since 1924.

Fans didn’t just miss out on a big moment; they missed a historic one. It won’t be the last time, either, unless MLB and its broadcasters come to their senses regarding these pointless interviews.

TBS wisely listened to viewer feedback regarding their choice not to show a pitch count on the screen. Perhaps it’s time for them to take another look around social media, and see that not one person will miss these interviews either.

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