MLB fans are tire of TBS' scorebug making it look like there's always a runner on second base. Screen grab: TBS
MLBTNT SportsBy Ben Axelrod on

Like most sports fans in their mid-30s, I’ve been watching baseball on and off for the better part of the last 25 years. And in that quarter-century, I’ve learned to train myself to know that when a scorebug displays one base a different color than the other two, it typically means that a runner is on it.

So when I sacrilegiously had to miss an inning of my beloved Cleveland Guardians’ American League Division Series matchup against the Detroit Tigers last week, I was relieved when I returned to my television to find the Guards at-bat with a runner already in scoring position. Why else, of course, would TBS’ scorebug have second base so visibly lit up — white, even — compared to the dark gray tones of first and third base?

Yet as I scanned the field, I couldn’t find Steven Kwan, José Ramírez or (somehow) Brayan Rocchio standing behind Tigers ace Tarik Skubal. In fact, there appeared to be a clear discrepancy between what TBS’ scorebug was telling me and what was actually happening on the field itself.

It wasn’t until Detroit DH Justyn-Henry Malloy reached first base on a single — and later second following a Matt Vierling walk — in the top of the third that I realized there wasn’t a discrepancy at all, at least not as far as TBS was concerned. Rather, TBS has inexplicably opted to use a bright shade of yellow to indicate a baserunner, which is fine — preferable, even. But it didn’t make the decision to make second base a significantly brighter shade than the other two bases when no one is on it any less bizarre.

I made a mental note not to fall for the brighter shaded empty second base moving forward, but by Saturday’s winner-take-all Game 5, I’d had enough. So like any frustrated millennial, I took to social media to voice my displeasure, fully expecting blowback from followers who would be quick to tell me that second base wasn’t actually that much brighter, that I had a bad television or that I should just focus on the game itself.

But in a rarity (especially for me), my post was met with almost unanimous approval. Not only that, but there were other complaints about the TBS scorebug, particularly that it rarely displays the name of the batter, as most baseball scorebugs typically do.

The complaints really ramped up on Monday as the Guardians faced the New York Yankees in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. Ultimately, Guardians, Yankees and neutral baseball fans all seem to agree that there’s no reason for TBS’ scorebug to go against how we’ve all been trained to read it throughout our lives following the sport.

As we’ve seen as recently as last week, creating coherent scorebugs can be tricky in any sport, as they require cramming a lot of information into a little space without detracting from the game itself. But at minimum, a baseball scorebug should be able to tell you who’s batting and how many runners are on base — both of which TBS’ fails to be effective in doing.

About Ben Axelrod

Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.

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