With the MLB season ending on Sunday night, MLB Network is transitioning into the offseason. Replacing the hours upon hours of Quick Pitch in the mornings, the channel is adding a morning talk show: Hot Stove, which normally was a nightly broadcast during the offseason in the vein of MLB Tonight.
The show will be hosted by Matt Vasgersian and Harold Reynolds, and will feature insights from the team at Sports On Earth, including the fantastic Joe Posnanski, formerly of Sports Illustrated. But in a press release that MLB Network sent announcing the offseason scheduled, I noticed something that scared the hell out of me.
In an offseason where news can break at any moment, Hot Stove will start a baseball fan’s day by providing live analysis, debate and interviews with MLB Network insiders, current MLB players and celebrity baseball fans.
See what I bolded? DEBATE. I really hope that Hot Stove doesn't turn into First Take, Baseball Edition with Mitch Williams and Reynolds screaming back and forth about whether or Jason Heyward is an elite player, or if Prince Fielder is a choke artist who will ever win a ring. This could get dicey, and quickly, if things spiral out of control.
Also on the schedule in the offseason for the network are the returns of both Intentional Talk (cue groaning) and Clubhouse Confidential (which is pretty good), both for a half hour each every weeknight. MLB Tonight will also be back on a nightly basis, with a one hour show serving as a buffer between two blocks of the Intentional Talk/Clubhouse Confidential combo, and a three hour show airing in primetime as it usually does during the season.
Comments are closed.