The greatest rivalry in baseball (as most of the mainstream media would have you believe), is back again in 2015 and being pushed through the roof by almost every sports media outlet possible. Giants and Dodgers? No. Cubs and Cardinals? Nope. A’s and Angels? Wrong again. It’s the Yankees and Red Sox of course!
Unless you have been living under a rock for the better part of this century, you already know this. The medias constant love affair with the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox is not only annoying, but its also bad for baseball as a whole.
Let me be clear. The Yankees and Red Sox bring in a great deal of money and fanfare to MLB. That’s a good thing. However, with the constant exposure to both teams, their performance, and everything that surrounds them, the other 28 teams in MLB tend to get lost in the shuffle.
For example, the Yankees and Red Sox will be displayed on 31 more national broadcast for the rest of the regular season (NYY 19 times, BOS 12). The defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants will be on just nine national broadcasts. Does that make sense to anyone else?
The Red Sox are 2nd to last in the AL East, and the Giants are 3.5 games from 1st place in the NL West. What exactly is more exciting about watching a losing team in prime time than a team that actually might have a chance to make the postseason? Of course, it’s still relatively early, and anything can happen, but you get my point.
In their defense, most sports outlets do try and cover most other MLB teams fairly, but it always seems like the main focus is on the Red Sox and Yankees. This is happening for a reason. It’s ESPNs fault.
ESPN has been pumping the Red Sox and Yankees since the turn of this century. It makes sense, New York and Boston are part of a megalopolis that is literally hours away from ESPN headquarters. Their franchises have also been very successful.
Years ago the Yankees were buying up every free agent they could, and winning championship after championship. George Steinbrenner was always being watched, and anything he did was making news on ESPN. If Steinbrenner picked up his cell phone in public, ESPN beat writers would be chomping at the bit to know who he was talking to and what about. Flash forward 13 years later, ESPN is breaking away from coverage of a possible no-hitter to Derek Jeter’s farewell tour so the audience can watch him stretch before a game. Utterly ridiculous, but true.
Now consider the 2004 Red Sox, and all of the coverage and attention that they received. Yes, it was a big deal that Boston finally won a championship after an 86 year draught. The way they did it was an even better story. However, this propelled the Red Sox to Yankee level stardom and ESPN fell in love with them.
Baseball Tonight, turned into an hour of what’s happening with the Yankees and Red Sox followed by a less important attempt to cover other teams in the league. ESPN News started tracking Brian Cashman and Theo Epstein like Jimmy McNulty and Lester Freamon would track Marlow Stanfield on The Wire.
Again, I’m not trying to diminish the success of the Red Sox and Yankees franchise. What I’m trying to get across is that there are other teams in the league that deserve an equal amount of coverage. Smaller market teams are more exciting to watch than ESPN discussing A-Rod’s place in history as he’s chewing bubble-gum in the dugout.
Only focusing on these two particular teams is a lousy way of promoting everything else that baseball has to offer. Smaller market teams are full of exciting players that need as much attention as players on the Yankees or Red Sox. Anything less is a disservice to the game and the 28 other teams in the league.
matthewsprayberry
I am a huge fan of my wife, my wonderful daughter, baseball, old school wrasslin', movies, and friends. Dislikes? The killing off of Quicksilver (Oops…too soon?), People who don't tip, Reality TV, and Daredevils new costume (I'm sorry it just looks stupid).
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