Most days on FS1, it’s as if Major League Baseball doesn’t exist.
Despite its parent company owning rights to the World Series and a hefty package of MLB games, the daytime studio show lineup on the network treats baseball like it’s played on another planet.
That mandate was driven by some combination of its original leader Jamie Horowitz and audience trends, but it finally changed this week when First Things First broadcast live from Yankee Stadium for Game 4 of the World Series.
All it took was a historic matchup in the show’s backyard for one of FS1’s biggest shows to embrace the sport. With postseason viewership up and the bicoastal legacy series on the brink, as Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees look to come back on Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers, FTF remembered the MLB exists.
The sport, which usually can only be found in the form of highlights on FTF during anchor Kevin Wildes’ “Weird and Wonderful” segment, took center stage. FTF hosted both Fox game analyst John Smoltz and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts for interviews, debated how to pitch to Freddie Freeman, and even got into some good, old-fashioned legacy talk on Ohtani vs. Judge.
.@getnickwright explains why Shohei Ohtani’s legacy would be sealed with a WS win:
“People will be like he got them over the top even if he wasn’t great in the actual World Series. That’s the key to this year.” pic.twitter.com/8ZjKMtgeMA
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) October 29, 2024
There has always been a strange disconnect between Fox Sports and its talent and FS1. Outside of Colin Cowherd and The Herd, Fox game and studio analysts rarely appear on FS1 shows. The sports on Fox airwaves don’t necessarily set the news cycles on the cable network.
If it sounds strange, that’s because it is. FS1 launched without much oversight or a concrete plan beyond “compete with ESPN on daytime sports talk,” which led to some rough sledding and constant turnover. Horowitz came from the world of debate shows in Bristol, and brought with him the idea that NFL and NBA talk were king, especially centered on big cities and legacy teams.
Horowitz brought specific data showing that at ESPN, the audience tuned out more frequently and earlier in segments when hosts talked about baseball compared to the other sports. Maybe FS1 is finally moving on from that conventional wisdom.
This marks the first time since FS1 launched in 2016 that the Yankees have hosted a World Series game and the first non-pandemic season where the Dodgers did. Hopefully for baseball fans and anyone tired of hearing about Aaron Rodgers and Jerry Jones, this can be a trend rather than a one-off.
It’s not like baseball is difficult to mold onto the rhythms of sports studio shows. Find a struggling former MVP and question if he’s washed, point out the good and bad of a streaking team, and lift up, or rip down the biggest stars.
FS1 is far from the only sports network that ignores MLB in 2024. But given their company’s partnership with the sport and stable of talent who can talk about it passionately, it’s a waste not to do more of what FTF showed this week in the Bronx.
