OT: MLB/ESPN Sunday Night Schedule

Submitted by formerlyanonymous on
  • April 4 - Opening Night: NY Yankees at Boston (ESPN2)
  • April 11 - St. Louis Cardinals at Milwaukee Brewers
  • April 18 - NY Mets at St. Louis Cardinals
  • April 25 - Atlanta Braves at NY Mets
  • May 2 - NY Mets at Philadelphia Phillies
  • May 9 - NY Yankees at Boston Red Sox
  • May 16 - Philadelphia Phillies at Milwaukee Brewers
  • May 23 - NY Yankees at NY Mets
  • May 30 - Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins (ESPN2)
  • June 6-27 - TBD
  • July 4 - Kansas City Royals at LA Angels
  • July 11 - Chicago Cubs at LA Dodgers
  • July 18 - Philadelphia Phillies at Chicago Cubs (6pm)

Let's examine the details:

  • That's two Yankees vs Red Sox games
  • That's six games featuring NY teams, one of those includes both
  • That's three Phillies games.
  • 8 of the 12 games feature a team from the Eastern Divisions (7 feature Central Division teams, a measly 3 feature Western Division teams)
  • That's only 12 teams out of a possible 24 participants, meaning 18 teams aren't shown.
  • I highly doubt that June will be the "separate but equal" month that features more than 2-3 of those other 18 teams.

[enter more useless bitching about being a fan of a small market team here...]

FreetheFabFive

January 26th, 2010 at 4:08 PM ^

I'm a Tigers and Giants fan (recent convert to all SF teams) and I can't believe the Giants aren't getting any national love even though they host back to back Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum. Plus Pablo Sandoval is one of the most underrated players and has the best nickname (Kung-Fu Panda) ever!

Oh well, like the poster above you said, MLB.TV for the win!

umjgheitma

January 26th, 2010 at 4:01 PM ^

were above .500 in a decent sized media market? I'm gonna go ahead and guess around 10. So 12 teams represented is how I would go about when scheduling what I want to air on national television. Especially when my salary is based upon what advertising revenue is produced during this time slot and that directly coincides with ratings.

formerlyanonymous

January 26th, 2010 at 4:09 PM ^

Teams on that list that didn't have winning seasons last year:

  • Milwaukee... twice
  • NY Mets... thrice
  • Kansas City

Teams that had winning records that didn't make the list:

  • Detroit
  • Florida
  • Colorado
  • San Fransisco
  • Seattle
  • Tampa Bay

While I can see skipping Colorado or Florida for ratings purpose, and probably Tampa Bay or Seattle, but it seems odd to skip on the other two.

BlueVoix

January 26th, 2010 at 4:11 PM ^

Additionally, when you're talking about Sunday night games for baseball, the east coast/midwest bias makes some scheduling sense. Watching a team play at the Mariners that isn't a team I actively root for and having the game go until 1 a.m. CST or EST is not high on my list of things to do.

BlueVoix

January 26th, 2010 at 5:01 PM ^

Right, and to be honest, I'd watch a game if it starts at 5, 7, or 9 (the joys of being young and time flexible and all), but I can see some suit making the argument that a game starting at 5 in San Francisco would alienate many fans that are sitting down to Sunday dinner. Or something along those lines. Not that it is right or anything, but people will make things up to fit their agenda.

umjgheitma

January 26th, 2010 at 4:14 PM ^

Maybe they're thinking Grienke will be on another Cy Young tear. Otherwise I have no clue why they would be on SNB. They couldn't even win at the end of the season with Zack going like 9 innings of 2-run ball, such a shame. Should be a crime to waste talent like that, like Hanley Ramirez on the Marlins (although they have more promise than the Royals).

FGB

January 26th, 2010 at 4:30 PM ^

when your team is on Sunday Night Baseball anyway, since it means you have to listen to Joe Morgan, or Steve Phillips (at least there is some plus for scandal mongering).

If only someone could work knowing-how-to-win into OPS+...