The Major League Baseball season kicked off Wednesday night with the New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants. The first time the Opening game of the season was broadcast the night before in quite some time (besides the Tokoyo series). The Game was streamed on Netflix, and they paid a ton of money for the rights to this game, and it looked like there was a lot of production going into it. It is tough to do something like this in the sport of baseball because baseball fans want their home announcers to call the first game of the season, but that is the way of the future. The event-style game is going to be more attractive to streaming services and networks down the line.
Scorebug
Netflix did quite a job. Now that does not mean I loved it, but it does not mean I hated it either. Once I got past watching a sporting event on Netflix that was made a spectacle, it actually was not terrible, but they have some kinks to work out. The score bug did not emphasize the right aspects. The score and logos were too big, while the count (which was a massive downside), players, and pitch count were too small. It was not there to help you tell the story of the game, which is how a baseball score bug is supposed to be. It needed some adjusting. Visually, it was appealing, but it was not functional.
Grade: D+
Announcers
For the first game of the season that is nationally televised, MLB has brought in two local color announcers to pair with the National Play-By-Play announcer. This is an okay strategy, but ultimately like the already formed pairings rather than random announcers paired together. Matt Vasgersian was the lead play-by-play announcer for Netflix, and they used a member of each fan base’s lore. Hunter Pence was used for the Giants’ fans, and Yankees fans were able to listen to C.C. Sabathia. I thought this was a really nice booth. Now, I don’t know if this would be a great booth constant, but for a one-time thing, I thought that it was a great use. All were professional and impartial, which is great. This is especially for a national broadcast. These announcers did not take away from the game at all.
Grade: B-
In-Game Antics
Now, I am not trying to sound like an old man screaming, “Get off my lawn!”, but I was not a fan of the use of so many antics in-game. I have gotten used to in-game player interviews as well as the in-game manager interviews, but when it takes away from the broadcasting of the game itself, that causes a massive issue for me. The entire pre-game show talked about the Automatic Ball and Strike System, or ABS. This is the new feature in Major League Baseball where teams can challenge a pitch call immediately after a pitch is called a ball or a strike. This was an exciting thing for baseball fans to see, and clearly, the broadcast thought so, too. Unfortunately, the first one was poorly timed. The ABS Challenge in MLB history, by Yankees Shortstop Jose Caballero, was missed due to an unimportant interview with new Giants Manager Tony Vitello. Now, who could have known the first one would have come then, but Netflix did not dot their “I”s and cross their “T”s. They should have been very careful until the first one was done.
Other antics like Bert Kreischer in McCovey Cove were fine. Now, I am personally a fan of his, but I did not need it to be taking over a whole inning. This is not Bert’s fault, and he didn’t take away from the game, but the way that they showed him was not great. Missing the scorebug for in-game antics is a massive issue. Other things that I think baseball in general needs to move away from are the mid-pitch Umpire Camera; I think it is a terrible LIVE viewing experience. Baseball fans have not been trained to view a game this way, and I do not like that live. It makes for a great replay,y though, but terrible for a live experience.
Grade: F
Pre & Post Game
The Pre and post-game show can be summed up very simply. It was not nearly as good as some of the other shows, and it was not due to a lack of talent, but more due to a lack of chemistry. If this is the same four-person show over time, I think it could work. Barry Bonds unsurprisingly did talk about himself the entire time, but that is besides the point. It needs work and reps, so I will not belabor that point. Jameis Winston was fun with the hot dogs, but overall, it was just a show that tried a little too hard. I am actually really excited to see what Netflix can do with and for baseball because I think they tried really hard, and they can do cool things for the game. I am on board with Netflix hosting major MLB events and hope that they get a bit more input from baseball people and turn down the “noise” just a bit, but kudos to them for trying some things. They just need to have a more baseball-like show next time. I am willing to give Netflix a legitimate shot.
Grade: C
