If you’re wondering why MLB grew disillusioned with ESPN, look no further than what played out on First Take Wednesday morning. One of the biggest shows on the network that once paid $550 million per year for baseball rights turned around and used that platform to complain that teams didn’t trot out their most expensive starters just to satisfy TV matchups in June.
Earlier this year, the two sides opted out of their television rights deal with some clear discontent on both sides. ESPN was seeking better value for its package, which contains the Home Run Derby, Sunday Night Baseball, and some playoff games. MLB and commissioner Rob Manfred aired frustrations publicly that the national pastime has had to play third fiddle behind football and basketball on the network.
There had been hope, however faint, that something might be salvaged between the two sides. But the clock keeps ticking, and reports suggesting Apple TV is the frontrunner to claim ESPN’s old rights only reinforce the idea that MLB’s relationship with the Worldwide Leader is on fumes.
And yet, even with a looming breakup, ESPN just posted its best Sunday Night Baseball numbers in six years. Two of the last three Sundays have delivered strong viewership. Unsurprisingly, that surge came when the Yankees, Mets, and Dodgers were involved, all brands that still move the needle.
But when watching Chris “Mad Dog” Russo bemoan the Mets and Yankees’ pitching decisions on ESPN’s airwaves, it was hard not to think of Rob Manfred’s comments about being treated disrespectfully, which were ironically enough made on Russo’s SiriusXM show.
“The Sunday night game with the Dodgers and the Yankees on Sunday night on ESPN, you know, it did 2.75 million? That’s the biggest rating they’ve had for a baseball game in the regular season in a very long time. That was on our channel,” Russo began.
“The Yankees did not pitch [Carlos] Rodón in that ballgame because, according to the Yankees, he ‘twitched’ something during the week. That was his day to pitch. He pitched last night (Tuesday). He looked like frickin’ Whitey Ford. So, the idea that the Yankees bypassed Rodón, and remember Rodón, last year in Game 2 against the Dodgers in the World Series… was absolutely awful. Bombs, home runs, couldn’t get out of the fourth inning. To me — and he’s fragile — the Yankees and Aaron Boone said, ‘You know what? We’re not going to pitch him here against the Dodgers because if he gets lit up, he’s off to a good start, it’s going to ruin their karma for him.'”
That drives Russo nuts, but it’s June. And 33-year-old Ryan Yarbrough held the Dodgers to one run over six innings. Two days later, Carlos Rodón gave up just one run across seven innings in a win over the Cleveland Guardians. The Yankees took both games. Maybe, just maybe, they knew what they were doing.
What also sends Russo into orbit is the Mets’ choosing not to start Kodai Senga against the Dodgers. Never mind that Senga already faced — and beat — L.A. on Sunday Night Baseball a few weeks back. He also pitched Saturday against the Rockies, which would’ve lined him up for Thursday. But the Mets activated Paul Blackburn off the IL, slotted him in, and pushed the rotation back a day. If not for injuries, New York was planning on utilizing a six-man rotation from the jump, partly to protect Senga.
But Russo says the hell with that.
“Baseball needs all these great matchups in the regular season that they can find,” Russo continued. “I know the Yankees won Sunday night, but nobody put the TV on to see Ryan Yarbrough pitch. Rodón is making $162 million; you gotta pitch him in the game. Senga is their best pitcher. The Mets-Dodgers, it’s the last game they’re going to play against each other this year. Remember, the Yankees only play the Dodgers once. These guys gotta pitch in these games! And it was the regular spot in the rotation!
“The Mets will say, ‘Well, it’s a six-man rotation.’ Nonsense. And the Yankees will say, ‘Well, you know what? We’ll save him for the Guardians.’ Nonsense. You gotta look at the big picture. This is the big picture. Yankees-Dodgers, Mets-Dodgers, is what gives the regular season a little juice. The Dodgers are the best team. Test yourself. Pitch your best pitchers on their normal day, even if they [inaudible] against the Dodger team. It drives me crazy that teams skip dangerous opponents to give them soft landing spots.”
Again, Senga already pitched — and won — versus the Dodgers. On ESPN’s airwaves, nonetheless.
Russo got Stephen A. Smith to agree with his strawman argument.
“Totally correct. I agree with you 100 percent,” he said. “This is why baseball is behind the curveball. And I don’t blame Rob Manfred. I like him as the commissioner, personally. I don’t blame him. I think it’s the latest piece of evidence that baseball, perpetual holders of traction, they lean on it so heavily, are always the last ones to the party. Did it ever occur to anybody that the Dodgers, who look absolutely invincible, actually have a worse record than the New York Mets right now? The New York Mets have a better record than the Los Angeles Dodgers.”
The Mets entered Wednesday with a 38-23 record. After beating the Mets in extra innings on Tuesday, the Dodgers are 37-24.
“The Yankees are in first place, despite the fact that Juan Soto departed for Queens from the Bronx,” Smith continued. “You have these compelling stories that would magnetize folks to baseball. And baseball, meaning the players and the managers, are the ones who get in the way of it themselves. This is what A-Rod has lamented to me on several occasions on the air and off the air, since he’s retired. The gravitational pull that Major League Baseball needs, they get in their own way, because they want to hold on to tradition and strategy and all this stuff, instead of paying attention to what the fans want. That’s their damn problem.”
Who cares about being careful with pitchers who have a history of arm issues? Screw ’em!
And that, right there, is why MLB appears to be content to be parting ways with ESPN.
You have league execs trying to protect the health of arms, navigate complex travel, and stretch rosters across 30 teams and seven months. Then you have ESPN, which gave its most visible megaphone to a screaming match about the gall of skipping a high-priced pitcher for one Sunday in June.
Russo wants the Yankees to throw Rodón into the fire because the Dodgers are in town. Never mind the bigger picture. Never mind Rodón’s injury history, playoff trauma, or early-season success. Forget strategy, rest, or pitching schedules. Just feed the stars to the lions and hope the TV numbers go up.
But they did without Rodón pitching. ESPN delivered its most-watched Sunday Night Baseball matchup since 2018, while the Yankees featured a 33-year-old journeyman who has pitched for five teams in three years, and threw six spotless innings on the mound.
Thanks to their pitching depth, the Mets have shown in their first five matchups against the Dodgers that they’ve closed the gap. They have plenty of quality starters beyond Senga, who threw just five regular-season innings in his second year in the majors. That’s why they’re being cautious.
MLB probably doesn’t want to be the punching bag that fills ESPN’s dead time between the NBA Finals and NFL training camps. Not anymore. So, if you’re still confused about why ESPN triggered the opt-out clause or why MLB might be happier with a more controlled Apple TV deal, just rewatch that segment.