Mike Silva's New York Baseball Digest » Blog Archive » Goodbye Baseball Tonight

Goodbye Baseball Tonight


By Mike Silva ~ April 7th, 2009. Filed under: Mike Silva, Sports Entertainment.

When the MLB Network launched in January my initial thought was what becomes of ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight”. Opening Day 2009 answered that question: See ya! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

MLB, who I criticized earlier today for their punitive blackout policy, has hit the proverbial homer with their network. A baseball fan will have no reason to turn the dial at any point throughout this season. You will get all the key highlights, analysis, and commentary (some if it funny) from the crew at MLB.

ESPN became a giant because they were the best, and only, game in town for so long. Even in the heat of summer you had to wait till midnight, after SportsCenter, to get baseball coverage. When you did the highlights were in small snippets, nothing like what the MLB network has put together. I turned off ESPN a long time ago, this ensures that I will have no need to turn them back on.

So while ESPN focuses on being “edgy”, another network is working hard to put a quality product on the air. I will turn the channel to DirecTV 213 and watch the crew at MLB. That is what happens when you put together a mature show that is content driven. Pleasing the baseball fan is not very hard if you focus on the one thing that is important to them: the game.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com
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2 Responses to Goodbye Baseball Tonight

  1. James K.
    April 7th, 2009 at 7:01 pm

    Agree 100% that MLB Network > Baseball Tonight. But it’s like saying the Reds are better than the Pirates.

    MLB Network would’ve been smart to hire some analysts who could bring a different perspective than the “You can’t give you opinion on the game if you didn’t play pro ball” mentality of Harold Reynolds, Sean Casey, Barry Larkin, etc.. Dare I say, maybe some guys who know about advanced stats. MLB Network is great for cut-ins, highlights, etc., but the analysis is only slightly better than at Baseball Tonight, thus far atleast.

  2. Ben
    April 7th, 2009 at 8:00 pm

    I don’t get MLB Network and I think a decent number of cable networks don’t provide it. MLB has to fix that.

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