Stephen A. Smith tells Fox to do better by MLB: ‘Invest in the sport’

ESPN might not want to invest in Major League Baseball anymore, but Stephen A. Smith thinks Fox should be investing more.

The MLB season began this week in Tokyo, headlined by Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers, but Fox didn’t appear compelled to prioritize the event. Fox has faced backlash for opting to broadcast the MLB Tokyo Series in Japan between the Dodgers and Chicago Cubs remotely, with Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo and Stephen A. Smith joining the choir of critics Wednesday morning on ESPN’s First Take.

“If you’re the partner of the sport and they open up the season in Tokyo with Ohtani, you gotta be there with them. And the partner in this case, Fox was not. They kept the broadcasters here…that’s not the way to do it.” – Chris Russo pic.twitter.com/JQ91vU3yNq

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 19, 2025

“If you’re the partner of the sport and they open up the season in Tokyo with Ohtani, you gotta be there with them,” Russo said. “And the partner in this case, Fox was not. They kept the broadcasters here and everybody else was in Tokyo. That’s not the way to do it…Remote play-by-play? That’s a joke.”

Russo is right, remote play-by-play is never as good as when the announcers are on site and it was dissappointing to see Fox go this route for MLB’s season opener. Fox had Jason Benetti and A.J. Pierzynski on the call for Game 1 of the MLB Tokyo Series, with Adam Amin handing play-by-play responsibilities for Game 2. Benetti also has NCAA Tournament responsibilities for Westwood One this week, while Amin is traveling with the Chicago Bulls on their West Coast trip. But that was no excuse for Russo, and Smith agreed.

“I totally agree with you, one thousand percent,” Smith said. “If you’re gonna invest in the sport, invest in the sport. The biggest star in the sport is there on his home turf, you’ve got to be there. You’ve got to be there, no question about it.”

It’s notable to hear Smith has relented to calling Ohtani the biggest star in the sport, after previously questioning how he could achieve that status with the use of an interpreter. But it’s also interesting to hear ESPN personalities telling Fox to invest more in MLB.

ESPN recently opted out of the final three seasons of its contract with MLB, after reportedly seeking to cut its rights fee to the league from $550 million to $200 million. Following the opt out decision, a memo obtained by The Athletic’s Evan Drellich also revealed commissioner Rob Manfred took issue with ESPN’s shrinking subscriber base and minimal coverage of the league.

While First Take did cover MLB’s opening series enough to call out Fox, the sport is a rare topic on ESPN’s flagship debate show. Smith and Russo aren’t behind ESPN’s decision to invest less in MLB. But telling a rival network to invest more in MLB, from a network that is actively making headlines for wanting to invest less, is ironic.