Los Angeles Angels announcers Wayne Randazzo and Mark Gubicza are not happy with Major League Baseball. And during the broadcast of Saturday’s game between the Angels and Boston Red Sox, they made their feelings known.
Halos first baseman Nolan Schanuel entered Saturday having reached base by hit, walk or hit by pitch, in every game of his MLB career. Through Friday, that streak was at 36 games, which was the third-longest streak in history. Only, that streak was nixed due to a scoring change from a play in a game a week earlier.
The Angels announced on Saturday that an apparent Schaunel hit on Saturday, March 30 against the Baltimore Orioles had been changed to an error. “As a result, Schanuel’s on-base streak to begin his career has been retroactively ended at 30 games and finishes at the third-longest streak all-time to begin an MLB career,” the team said on its Twitter/X page.
Randazzo was not happy with the decision. In detailing his frustration, he spoke of other significantly more negative issues going on in Major League Baseball, such as Shohei Ohtani’s gambling scandal, the Oakland Athletics stadium issues and the uniform problems.
“Negative story after negative story, scandal after scandal, a fiasco in Oakland. You have these ridiculous-looking jerseys. You have the MLBPA challenging the league about the pitch clock — today — because of constant pitcher injuries. Not to mention your global superstar is embroiled in a betting scandal. But on top of all of that, you have a young player, trying to make a name for himself, who has come up and reached base safely in every single game that he has played. And the league allows this scoring change to go on to end his streak, kill this story, a positive story that’s happening in Major League Baseball. It is an absurdity.”
Angels play-by-play man Wayne Randazzo goes nuclear on MLB. ⚾️🎙️🔥🔥🔥pic.twitter.com/D568fDsjZI
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 7, 2024
Gubicza agreed.
“When you think about it, all the positivity from all over the social media world,” he said. “How it impressed everybody. To start your career — he was just in college last year. He was still playing college baseball at this point. And to have that taken away, on a base hit. It was a base hit.”
Randazzo added “It wasn’t even really a borderline call” while Gubicza compared it to the NBA taking an assist and a triple-double away from LeBron James, also noting that would never happen.
For anyone who has not seen the play in question. It happened in the ninth inning of the second game of the season. The left-handed hitting Schanuel pulled a sharp grounder, which Baltimore first baseman Ryan Mountcastle made a diving stop on. Mountcastle threw the ball to Baltimore pitcher Mike Baumann, who was covering first. Baumann couldn’t quite secure the ball, though and it fell to the ground. With the scoring change, Baumann is assessed an error and Mountcastle gets an assist.
🚨CHANGE 15🚨
T9 the single for Nolan Schanuel has been changed to a dropped-catch error charged charged to Mike Baumann with an assist for Ryan Mountcastle.
Change 2 for BAL#RepTheHalo #Birdland pic.twitter.com/OGepUeIMZd
— MLB Scoring Changes (@ScoringChanges) April 6, 2024
If the argument is that Schanuel would have been out had Baumann caught the ball, that’s correct. However, errors usually aren’t charged when players fail to execute what would have been great plays. For example, an outfielder might get his glove on a ball when leaping to rob a home run. But even if he does, he’s usually not going to be charged an error if he can’t come down with the catch.
This is similar logic. Mountcastle made a great play. Baumann certainly could have caught the ball, but he was making a catch on the run with a runner right behind him. If an official scorer called that an error and then it wasn’t overturned, it would be one thing. But calling it a hit, then changing the ruling a week later just doesn’t make any sense.
Had the scoring change not taken place, the streak would now be at 37 games, as Schaunel drew a pair of walks in Saturday’s win over Boston.
Beyond the debate about whether it was a hit or error, Randazzo is on the money with the larger point. MLB has far bigger fish to fry.
[Photo Credit: Bally Sports West]
