The MLB Postseason got underway last night and what a slate of games it was.
Away teams won the day, capturing 3 of 4 matchups, but the Padres prevented a clean sweep with a 4-0 victory over the Braves in the nightcap, setting us up for another great day. It’s hard to not enjoy the playoffs but it sure seems like the MLB is doing its best to annoy fans who’ve taken to the internet en masse to let their voice be heard.
Here are fans’ biggest gripes with this MLB postseason:
Day Games
Mid-afternoon postseason games are nothing new but it seems they’ve been questioned this year more than most and it’s easy to understand why. If you’re team is playing at 1:00 ET, at best it’s in the second half of your work day and at worst (in the Pacific Time Zone) it starts at 10:0am. That pretty much excludes the entire working class and student demographics from being able to watch or attend. To make matters worse, the start time is announced just two days prior, which doesn’t give a lot of planning time.
They’re reasoning is to provide the most amount of viewing times to bring in the most amount of eyeballs but it really seems like the league is putting profit maximization over the satisfaction of some fanbases.
I SAID YES!!!!!! 💍🥂🥳🎉 i asked myself if i thought mlb should stop having playoff games in the middle of the work day
— kevin (@sourspringer) October 2, 2024
POSTSEASON BASEBALL SHOULD NOT START AT 1:32pm.
These matinee day games during the playoffs are one of the most completely stupid things that MLB does each October.
You will never convince me otherwise. https://t.co/oQShD7ypOg
— Aaron (@ahogcards) September 30, 2024
Who the FUCK scheduled the playoff games in the middle of the day?! I want names @MLB. Why are you so against people watching the games??
— detroit tigers baby (@dtigsb) September 30, 2024
HOUSTONIANS WORK.
Its the middle of October, not a lot of sick days to go to 3 straight day games.
Sucks the MLB is making a team with a significantly better night game record and post season pedigree be the early games during a work week.
Ridiculous even. https://t.co/lXO4hQwsec— Cougar Dave! (@UHClayborn33) October 2, 2024
Maybe MLB will see the half full crowd in Houston and realize that scheduling day playoff games two days in advance is dumb as hell
— Nathan Bryson (@nbryson625) October 1, 2024
No Local Broadcast Options
This is by far the biggest issue for me…
What makes baseball so magical is the localization of it all. Each team has their own announcers and broadcasts games within their region, creating a more personalized viewing experience for their fans. While I’m certainly biased, the Phillies broadcast duo of Tom McCarthy and John Kruk is incredible and the fact that we will miss out on their stories and hilarious commentary, not to mention emotional connection to the Phillies, is a tragedy.
Here’s an example of the passion we’re missing by not having local broadcasts of postseason games.
I get why networks want to scoop up the games for national broadcast but at least give the local guys the ability to broadcast it too.
Let people who care about the teams announce the games instead of two schmucks who are trying to appeal to everyone all the time all at once, and in turn appealing to no one:
every single baseball fan: i would like my local commentators to do the postseason
mlb and espn: no :) here is some guy who does not like either team— bay ✨ (@pale_atlantis) October 1, 2024
These national tv broadcasts for MLB playoffs are so brutal
— tyler n (@ty_naunton) October 1, 2024
Has @MLB ever actually polled viewers to find out how many people actually like listening to the ESPN bozos instead of their respective local broadcasts? My guess is no because they don't want to know (and don't want us to know). But this shit is really, truly brutal. #postseason
— Ben Deutsch (@BenLikesMovies) October 1, 2024
The fact that we don't get to hear John Kruk and Tom McCarthy call Phillies postseason games is a tragedy.
Baseball needs to fix this immediately, no one like national broadcasts. They're like top 40 music, the only goal is to be broadly digestible, therefore bland https://t.co/GVS6AXBaFM
— Andrew Mies (@andrew_mies) October 1, 2024
@MLB please allow local announcers to broadcast playoff games.
Not listening to @DonOrsillo and Mudgrant was a sub par experience
Local announcers bring unmatched energy and passion that can’t be replaced even with the best broadcasters because of the season long emotional tie…
— Angry Pads Fan (@angrypadresfan) October 2, 2024
🤮🤢
I'm going all caps here.
WE NEED MLB TO LET LOCAL BROADCAST TEAMS DO THEIR OWN STUFF IN THE POST SEASON EARLY ROUNDS.
ESPN baseball sucks from a broadcast perspective in every single way possible.
I'll watch the game on my app before giving ESPN ratings.
ESPN is…
— Adam DeCicco (@AdamDeCicco) September 27, 2024
Ads on Helmets
This is one that makes me realize there’s an angry old man emerging inside me…
Does it actually matter if there’s a logo on the batting helmets? No, it doesn’t. Soccer, the NHL, and the NBA already do this, NASCAR is basically just racing billboards at this point, heck the MLB rolled out jersey patch ads already, but still, there’s just something so hideous about a logo ruining a pristine jersey or helmet.
Are they not already making an insane amount of money? Did you really need that check from Strauss, a German (not even from the US!) workwear company? No, they absolutely did not.
If you need even more proof that people hate this, my “Hate” comment on Jomboy’s Instagram post about it has close to 8,000 likes, so the repulsion is real.
I’m boycotting the Strauss company out of principle. I don’t even know what that company is or what they do, but I’m never purchasing anything because they ruined helmets in the playoffs.
— Frank-Paul Santangelo Jr. (@fp_jr) October 1, 2024
My God, get that fucking Strauss logo off those helmets ASAP. They do not belong in moments like this. Ruining our beautiful game smh.. https://t.co/NBwou64z1f
— E (@EasyE65) October 2, 2024
Strauss: Don’t know who these German ding dongs are or what they even make, but when I find out – I’ll make sure never to buy a damn thing from them because of these terrible playoff helmet logos. @StraussWorkwear pic.twitter.com/Jyt7ozd3mu
— Leroy SLC (@LeroySLC) October 1, 2024
This is hideous and just amateur hour garbage. Another terrible decision by Manfred. https://t.co/b5VwGlau5z
— Stirrups Now! (@uniformcritic) October 1, 2024
Rob Manfred really said, “How can I upset the fans more than I already have?” https://t.co/tf0jLwR1ss
— Chris Beamguard (@ChrisBeamguard) October 2, 2024
Why does the MLB do such stupid looking stuff https://t.co/Eu00vuF5EC
— alex (@corbaaa14) October 2, 2024
