The Kansas City Royals were up 3-2 in the American League Championship Series and leading the Toronto Blue Jays for most of Friday night’s Game 6, and that led someone at Fox to perhaps get a little too trigger-happy about promoting their potential World Series matchup with the New York Mets. Here’s the graphic Fox aired with Kansas City at bat in the bottom of the seventh:
For those of you asking. Yes they did. pic.twitter.com/zVLNPK0DnY
— Ken Fang — Very Asian (@fangsbites) October 24, 2015
Fox’s move sparked plenty of outrage from Toronto fans on Twitter, and Blue Jays’ right-fielder Jose Bautista then hit a two-run home run to knot the score at three before the game went into a rain delay. During the delay, Fox play-by-play announcer Joe Buck discussed the mistake while the screen showed a graphic promoting Game 7 if necessary.
“I know earlier in the game, we had a graphic pop up that was supposed to say Kansas City/Toronto against the Mets in the World Series,” Buck said. “Well, we look ahead to if there is a Game Seven, it would be the Blue Jays and the Royals. Evidently that graphic was loaded in front of the other one. So now everyone will scream ‘The fix is in! Of course they want Kansas City!’ and all that other stuff, but I don’t think, for conspiracy theorists, it’s any more complicated than hitting the wrong button and having the wrong, as we call it, an elevator, pop up in the graphics truck. So, there you go.”
Conspiracy theories aside, though, you can bet some at Fox probably are hoping this ends in a Royals victory now; not for any ratings purpose, but so that graphic doesn’t go down in history with “Dewey Defeats Truman” and “Wolverines Defeat Spartans.” If they’re right, though, perhaps they have a DeLorean, even if Back To The Future Day has already come and gone.
