Mark Carlson on Fox Sports Credit: Fox Sports
By Sean Keeley on

The rules analyst has become a critical component in NFL and college football broadcasting. Having an expert and former referee on hand to explain the inner workings of a penalty call or break down why a decision was made is helpful for neophyte audiences that don’t have the rulebook memorized.

While baseball is as much a game of nuanced and arcane rules, if not more so than football, Fox’s usage of a rules analyst during Game 7 of the 2025 World Series didn’t exactly do much to justify the need.

Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani took to the mound for the do-or-die series finale, and viewers likely noticed that the two-way player was being given extra time to warm up between innings. Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider certainly noticed and seemed confused as well.

Fox announcer Joe Davis brought in Mark Carlson, a 27-year MLB umpire, to offer insight, as their rules expert, on why the officials were letting that happen.

“Shohei’s obviously a unique player, that he’s a two-way player,” said Carlson. “And as a pitcher, if he ends the ending at bat on base or on deck, he gets the discretion of the umpires to allow him to have the appropriate time to pitch.”

“I think he’s taking advantage of it, though, Mark,” responded analyst John Smoltz. “I mean, obviously, this is not the National League rules. I mean, I get it. He wasn’t running the bases. But is there a point where you think that he might be taking advantage of it?”

“You know, I mean, this is the World Series,” added Carlson. “You don’t want to take the potential of a pitcher being injured and rushing and getting back out there. I understand that there are time limits and stuff, but I think because it is the World Series, you take the proactive approach to let him have the opportunity to get his proper warmups.”

So basically, Fox brought in the rules analyst so that he could say, “I dunno, just seems like the nice thing to do.” We didn’t learn anything about any specific rules. Even Smoltz didn’t seem convinced there was enough reason for Ohtani to be given extra time.

Carlson’s toothless appearance didn’t add much to the broadcast and annoyed many viewers, including those in the sports media space.

Unfortunately, one issue that often comes up with rules analysts is that they’re either still active umpires or too defensive about umpires, so they’re unwilling to call honest balls and strikes. That’s usually how you end up with something like this. The odds that Carlson was going to be anything other than deferential to what the umps in this game were doing were slim to none.

We’d hope that Fox considers bringing in someone with more distance who is willing to be firmer and more direct next time.

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

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