It looks like TBS’ MLB score bug is again annoying baseball viewers. During the 2016 postseason, TBS’ giant score bug drew a lot of complaints and criticism (they’d actually rolled it out on their regular season coverage that year, but few commented on it until the larger-audience playoff games). Now, they’ve gone to something even smaller than the 2015 one they used (again, it looks like they did this earlier this year, but it drew widespread attention during Wednesday’s NL wild card game), and people are upset. You can see the three side-by-side above (2017 at left, 2016 in the middle, 2015 at right). Here it is below via clippit, where it looks a lot better and is not cutoff as many people experienced it last night.
The 2017 version is obviously much smaller than 2016’s, but it looks less wide than 2015’s as well. And the change in location is notable too; 2015’s was much more centered to avoid it getting cut off on certain displays, while this one is aligned much further left. That sparked some complaints Wednesday from viewers who couldn’t see the score at all:
Shout out to that new TBS scorebug. I can almost see part of it on my 4:3 TV at work. Great stuff guys! pic.twitter.com/vmao56DV8F
— Jeff Collier (@JeffDCollier) October 5, 2017
Others had the team logos at left cut off. And that was far from the only criticism:
https://twitter.com/mikecaffreyIC/status/915735697075593217
Last year, the TBS score bug was too big. This year, it's too small. Even four feet away in HD. #NLWildCard
— Kyle Miller (@KyleMiller89) October 5, 2017
I like a tiny score bug so you can see more of the game, but boy did TBS take it too far
— Kyle (@KyleMcHenry) October 5, 2017
Never thought I'd need a pair of binoculars while sitting on my couch. That score bug is TINY #TBS. #NLWildCard
— The Great Hambino (@hambinoporter) October 5, 2017
Does TBS think everyone has 70” TVs? This score bug blows.
— Matt Bair (@salsrage) October 5, 2017
Some expressed their frustrations through GIFs:
https://twitter.com/manecci/status/915734204427702273
Looking at the TBS score bug pic.twitter.com/7qxRHRg7Ev
— Jumpman (@kingajeezy) October 5, 2017
The TBS score bug: pic.twitter.com/BVp3eLBC61
— Gus (@WashedUpTweeter) October 5, 2017
It’s interesting to see TBS go to such a small score bug, as much of the conversation around last year’s was about possible reasons to make it bigger (viewing on phones and tablets, plus aging viewers). It’s curious that they’d go the other way this year, and perhaps the perhaps the Goldilocksian “this one’s just right!” move would be to go back to the 2015 middle ground. In any case, the decision on the size and location of this year’s score bug certainly hasn’t stopped the criticism. If anything, it may have intensified it.
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.