For the Oakland Athletics and their fans Sunday’s game against the Seattle Mariners was more than the final game of the regular season. It was also the final time the A’s would represent Oakland, the city they’ve called home since 1968.
Any fans who tuned into the postgame show on NBC Sports California hoping to see one final recap were sorely disappointed. Because, as host Brodie Brazil said during the intro to the postgame show, it was prerecorded.
“After 57 seasons and more than 9,000 baseball games, the A’s have played their last contest representing the city of Oakland. It happened today right there in Seattle. Full disclosure, this is postgame live. However, it’s prerecorded. We had some studio conflicts. So we don’t even know the result of today’s baseball game. Just being fair, if we don’t reference something that just happened, the reason why is because this show is being recorded.”
While both the A’s and Mariners were long out of playoff contention, a postgame show for the final game of the season is a chance for diehard fans to get every second possible out of the season. This is particularly true in Oakland’s case, given the real finality of the game.
The game that was not recapped was a good one. Seattle held a 6-0 lead at the end of the fifth inning. But the A’s scored two in the seventh and two more in the ninth to close the gap to 6-4. Oakland’s Kyle McCann and Max Schuemann both represented the tying run in their at-bats but reliever Troy Taylor struck both men out to give the Mariners a 6-4 win, ending the game and season for both teams.
Given that the 2024 MLB schedule was set well before the end of the 2023 season, the A’s have known that Sunday would be the finale for more than a year. Knowing that, it’s hard to understand how studio availability became an issue.
Instead of highlights from the game, the postgame show featured highlights from earlier in 2024, as well as previous seasons. As the show neared its end, a choked-up Brazil paid tribute to co-host Dave Stewart.
As part of the show, Brodie Brazil and Dave Stewart honored each other with emotional, touching tributes.
Brazil went first. pic.twitter.com/P0BHl6IsDa
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 30, 2024
Stewart, who like Brazil, is also ending his time with the network, then honored his co-host, as well.
Stewart followed. pic.twitter.com/N15glRedVO
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 30, 2024
Full credit to Brazil and Stewart for making the absolute most out of the situation. MLB’s regular season will conclude on Monday with a doubleheader between the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves. The outcomes of those games will decide the National League’s two final Wild Card spots.
We’re guessing those postgame shows will be filmed and aired after the games conclude.
[Photo Credit: NBC Sports California]
