Proof of FOX's East Coast Baseball Bias

[stevejrogers]

September 23rd. Races coming down to the wire, and what is the National Game of The Week on Fox?

Mets at Nationals!

Huh? Mets should have their postseason slot clinched within the next few days, and Washington has long since been eliminated from postseason contention

Did Fox think that the Giants and Redskins were playing that Saturday?

Very strange selection, though apropos of how the networks have handled sports in recent years, go for the big market/big national story (Red Sox/Cubs and the long suffering fandoms) rather than the current moment

[MFS62]

Maybe they feel that game will mark the return of Pedro Martinez, who they must feel is a national draw.
Or, they're betting that the Mets may not have clinched it by then.

Later

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

They pick the matchup that they think will make them the most money.

I wouldn't call it an East Coast bias. Instead, it's just an indication that they're looking to make a profit. They're not journalists covering the biggest story. They're broadcasters showing the event that will bring in the biggest audience.

[seawolf17]

Hate to be a noodge, but let's look at the other options that day:

Seattle at Chicago Sox 1:20 PM FOX
Washington at NY Mets 1:20 PM FOX
Florida at Philadelphia 1:20 PM FOX
LA Angels at Oakland 4:05 PM FOX
Boston at Toronto 4:07 PM
Minnesota at Baltimore 4:35 PM
Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati 6:10 PM
San Francisco at Milwaukee 7:05 PM
St. Louis at Houston 7:05 PM
Detroit at Kansas City 7:10 PM
NY Yankees at Tampa Bay 7:15 PM
Cleveland at Texas 8:05 PM
Atlanta at Colorado 8:05 PM
Pittsburgh at San Diego 10:05 PM
Arizona at LA Dodgers 10:10 PM

Gotta have a 1:00 game, so let's rule out the non-Eastern time zone games, because you're not going to start a game at 10 am in San Diego. That leaves us:

Seattle at Chicago Sox 1:20 PM FOX
Washington at NY Mets 1:20 PM FOX
Florida at Philadelphia 1:20 PM FOX
Boston at Toronto 4:07 PM
Minnesota at Baltimore 4:35 PM
Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati 6:10 PM
NY Yankees at Tampa Bay 7:15 PM

Not a single one of those games has any postseason buzz at all. Seattle, Washington, Toronto, Boston, Baltimore, the Cubs, and Tampa have all been eliminated since mid-July. That leaves Florida/Philly, but Florida doesn't have any fans and Philly's going to be long dead by then.

Keeping only teams with some postseason life, that leaves us:

Seattle at Chicago Sox 1:20 PM FOX
Washington at NY Mets 1:20 PM FOX
Minnesota at Baltimore 4:35 PM
Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati 6:10 PM
NY Yankees at Tampa Bay 7:15 PM

Considering that the Cubs suck and that the Reds have nobody named "Griffey" that anyone's ever heard of, that game's out. Minnesota and Baltimore have a combined population smaller than East Flatbush, so they're out. That leaves Seattle/Chicago, Mets/Nats, and Yanks/Rays. FOX already has two of those, and if they were showing the Yankees, the "East Coast Bias" wankers would wank even louder.

So it seems like a logical choice to me.

[metirish]

Gary was complaining the other night how the Sunday night game is yanks/sox and how it should be the Dodgers V Padres,I agree.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

The other thing to consider is that FOX knows that the Mets will be in the playoffs, and showcasing them beforehand helps them promote their postseason coverage.

I don't know if there really are fans who only start watching as playoff time approaches, but if they do exist this will be their first chance to see David Wright and Jose Reyes.

[Guest vtmet]

What I love is ESPN's Yankee bias...Friday night should be when the Mets clinch...Yanks have turned the Red Sox into the Bad News Bears and virtually eliminated them...yet, eventhough the game will be blacked-out in NY and New England, ESPN chooses this as their game tomorrow night...every single time that the Yanks/Sox have met this season on a night that ESPN owns, they have been on ESPN...yet they get blacked-out everytime and ESPNNews is on for 3 hours straight instead...

[Guest vtmet]

metirish wrote: Gary was complaining the other night how the Sunday night game is yanks/sox and how it should be the Dodgers V Padres,I agree.

why don't they have an East coast game and a West coast game? 3 hour difference could make both coasts happy...but apparently only the NFL have figured that tough concept out...