With the MLB season opening tonight in Chicago, and in full force tomorrow across the league, we’re here to break down the nine biggest media questions for the upcoming campaign.
1) Will ESPN stick with their K-Zone all year?
Last week, ESPN announced that on all of their broadcasts this year, they’d have the K-Zone up during all at bats – directly over the catchers glove in the middle of the screen. A lot of the early feedback we’ve received from our readers during Spring Training telecasts has been vehemently negative towards the constant K-Zone. Will ESPN stick with their plan all year once the season begins and more viewers see what they’re doing? I don’t imagine they’d be changing their plans, but if the negativity grows too strong, ESPN might be forced to make a change.
2) Can Fox’s top broadcast team improve in year two?
Saying that there was room for improvement in Fox’s new top MLB team of Joe Buck, Harold Reynolds, and Tom Verducci may be an understatement. There were plenty of bumps along the way for Buck, Reynolds, and Verducci, and their chemistry has to get better in year two…right? The trio seemed awkward together at times, and prolonged spells of talking by either of the analysts left the other one out in the cold. In year two, Fox needs their top team to show some form of improvement, or risk opening themselves up to even more criticism.
3) Will TBS be able to differentiate itself at all?
It wasn’t a good year for TBS’s MLB coverage, with the exception of the brilliant Pedro Martinez during the Postseason. Turner’s top crew of Ernie Johnson, Ron Darling, and Cal Ripken never seemed right together, and while Johnson is a fantastic studio host, he seemed almost out of his element calling baseball in the booth. Meanwhile, #2 play by play man Brian Anderson was fantastic once again, but we only heard him for three games during the Postseason. Simply put, Turner needs to do better this year when their package of games start in the second half. Those games simply don’t feel like appointment viewing, and TBS needs to make them stand out from the pack.
4) How’s Game 162 going to work?
This year, MLB is syncing all first pitches on the final day of the season, similar to the final day of the Premier League season. While it’s a fantastic idea on paper, will it actually end up working the way MLB wants it to? If there’s a battle for a playoff spot or a seeding, will teams go all-in to try and improve their position, or simply roll the dice and try to put themselves in a better position for the playoffs? Will players chasing milestones rest, or play and try and “earn” their ERA or batting average crown? Furthermore, how will the networks cover it? It’s an NFL Sunday, so ESPN and Fox will likely be consumed with pigskin. Both networks are also airing MLS games that night, so it’s not as if they’ll be able to dedicate significant resources to coverage after the games conclude. Will MLB Network be alone in caring about the last day of the regular season?
5) Which analyst will step up and become a star this year?
We’ve seen plenty of analysts turn themselves into hot commodities in recent years. Terry Francona, Nomar Garciaparra, Orel Hershiser, Gabe Kapler, and John Smoltz have all excelled once making the jump to TV, but only Smoltz is still a regular on national television as the other have moved on to either jobs at local RSNs or within the game itself. New analysts seemingly join the fray each year, so who will become the next great MLB analyst? If I had to pick one analyst from each network, I’d go with MLB Network’s Carlos Pena, ESPN’s Dallas Braden, and Fox’s C.J. Nitkowski (including him might be cheating because he’s already fantastic, but oh well).
6) Can Fox Sports 1’s ratings turn around?
Last year, Fox Sports 1 didn’t exactly draw massive ratings for their MLB games. In fact, it was downright embarrassing at times, kind of like the ratings for some of their Big East basketball games this winter. I don’t think there’s really any surefire way to draw more eyeballs to their non-exclusive Saturday games, but it’ll be interesting to see whether or not another year in the consciousness of sports fans will bring more casual viewers in for games they might not have an emotional attachment to.
7) Is the SportsNet LA carriage war going to end?
We’re now more than a year into the saga of SportsNet LA, and tw0-thirds of the Los Angeles metro area still can’t watch the Dodgers on local TV. With Vin Scully entering his 66th year behind the mic for LA and the Dodgers looking like one of the best teams in baseball, can both sides put negative feeling behind them and get *something* done to allow local fans to tune in? I’m actually cautiously optimistic about a deal getting done this season – especially if the Comcast/Time Warner merger is finally approved.
8) Will any other teams hit the local rights fees jackpot?
There aren’t many teams left that haven’t cashed in on their local rights. The Diamondbacks struck gold earlier this year, but they’re one of the last remaining holdouts. The Reds, Tigers, Royals, Brewers, Pirates, Cardinals, and Rays all have their rights coming up for renewal in the next five years, and all could be primed for financial windfalls thanks to strong local ratings. Of those seven teams, I’d assume the Cardinals and Reds get done sometime this year to become the first NL Central teams to really cash in on the cable bubble that looks like it won’t be bursting quite yet.
9) How much longer are we going to deal with blackouts?
God, MLB’s local blackout rule is terrible. Residents of areas hundreds of miles away from an MLB team are blacked out of team games on MLB.tv and Extra Innings because the team’s RSN has arbitrarily divvied up a local viewing area without rhyme or reason. The poor Iowa fans that get blacked out of six teams games despite getting none of those six teams on local television get all of my pity. How much longer is this going to go on? MLB is getting challenged in the courts on the legality of their blackouts and times have to change eventually…right? Well, at least the Fox national games don’t come with massive blackout windows anymore.
10) When are we going to get in-market local streaming?
I saved the most important question for last – the future of local, in-market streaming for MLB teams. A deal won’t be done by Opening Day, but progress has been made. As someone who gets four RSNs on my cable package, I’d ideally like to watch more than one of those games at once on a second screen. Of course, I can’t right now, because MLB.tv blacks those four teams out and MLB is still going back and forth with the RSNs about how to stream games locally. MLB is inserting provisions for in-market streaming in new TV deals with carriers, so something has to get done soon…right?
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