Memo To Sportsnet, Re: Baseball Playoffs

Let me start off by saying how much I enjoy Sportsnet's coverage of the MLB playoffs. Having one network that broadcasts all of the games, and all in HD, is fantastic, and greatly appreciated by this Canadian baseball fanatic! And the segments between innings with Greg Zahn and others are often enjoyable and insightful.

About the only bone I have to pick with their coverage this year has come up when one game overlaps another, as happened tonight. The 7:00 p.m. Indians/Red Sox game ran late, and so there were about forty minutes during which both it, and the 10:00 p.m. Rockies/Diamondbacks games were underway. Now, in most cases, staying with the earlier game - as Sportsnet did tonight - is the only reasonable choice you have, since you've got viewers invested in it and you don't want to piss them off by jumping over to the new game that's just starting up. However, I don't think that's a blanket statement that can be applied in every instance.

The early game tonight, for example, was 10-3 for Boston in the 8th inning, when the Arizona/Colorado Game 2 had its first pitch. Aside from the most hopelessly-optimistic Cleveland fans and the faintest-of-heart Boston supporters, nobody in their right mind expected any outcome in the nearly-complete contest except for a Red Sox victory. Even if Cleveland loaded the bases in the 9th - as they in fact did - and followed that up with a grand slam - which they didn't - the lead would still have been 3! Could the Indians have come back? Yes, of course they could've, as the whole "you get to play until the final out is made" setup of baseball totally allows for big comebacks (much moreso than in timed games, as we have in the other three major professional sports leagues). But huge rallies, like from a 7-run late-inning hole, are still rare. In most regular seasons, for example, you might have a handful of them (the Jays turned a lot of heads this year when they overcame a 5-run deficit in the bottom of the 9th) but the MLB season consists of 2,430 games (81 home games times 30 teams) whereas the playoffs have, at most, 41 games (4 best-of-five LDS series, 2 best-of-seven LCS series and 1 best-of-seven World Series). Therefore the chances of an historic comeback in the post-season are pretty low.

All of which means: dump the blowout already and switch to the new game when it starts! Worst case, the lopsided abandoned game suddenly gets interesting, and you temporarily switch back to it for a few minutes! That's what I, as a baseball fan, expect to see! It's what I would do if I were in charge of what game was being shown.

Now, for all I know, maybe part of the deal that Sportsnet made with TBS and Fox in the U.S. requires them to stay with any game they show, until completion. If that's the case, then never mind (but maybe try to get a better deal next time!)

And again, I completely appreciate that something like this is the worst thing I can find to complain about so far with this year's baseball broadcasts!