Fox Sports Exec Producer Brad Zager said that the net has "given serious consideration to having a former umpire in the booth" for Fox/FS1's MLB postseason coverage, according to Richard Deitsch of THE ATHLETIC. Zager said, "We have actually talked to former umpires about that role." However, he added an officiating issue "comes up a lot more times during an NFL Sunday than a national baseball game." Zager: "Baseball most of the time is very clear cut -- catch, no catch, safe, out, home run or not a home run." Zager said that he "understood that many viewers watching Game 6 of the World Series would have liked insight from a former umpire" for the play involving Nationals SS Trea Turner. Zager: "Until we figure out that full workflow of communication with Major League Baseball and the umpires, we are in that position of, I don't know what a rules analyst would have been able to add in that situation outside of what Joe (Buck), John (Smoltz), Ken [Rosenthal] and Tom [Verducci] knew, which was what was called on the field, the result of the call, and that it was not a reviewable play" (THEATHLETIC.com, 11/4).
CONTEXT CLUES: In Boston, Chad Finn wrote MLB has "critical fundamental issues it needs to address, and with greater urgency than it already has." One is that the games are "way too long." However, declining ratings are not a "serious" issue when kept "in context." Compared to "virtually every other television program other than a standard NFL game, baseball broadcasts are doing well." Ratings, "especially for big games, remain the envy of every network and outlet that doesn't have the good fortune of airing an NFL game opposite it" (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/3).
