Access to regular-season games over the years has been challenging for Dodgers fans, to put it lightly, since Time Warner Cable has held a monopoly on access to SportsNet LA, the station Dodger games are broadcast on, with most games being “blacked out” in their own backyard.

In January of 2013, the Dodgers agreed to a 25-year, $8.35 billion television deal with Time Warner Cable granting them exclusive marketing rights, which eventually led to the launch of SportsNet LA in 2014. Thus began the media drought for seven long years, where fans lived with limited access to their hometown team and no end in sight.

Surprisingly, in April of 2020, viewing options were expanded, thus allowing access to AT&T platforms, including DirecTV, to Los Angeles and outlying areas. Despite a truncated 60-game regular season, baseball fans around LA were finally able to watch their team from home.

Some would say that Southern California sports fans have been spoiled by their sports commentators such as Chick Hearn, Bob Miller, and, of course, the incomparable Vin Scully. MLB and NFL sportscaster Joe Davis, who took over when Hall of Fame Sports Broadcaster Vin Scully retired in 2016, and his other half in the booth, former Dodgers All-Star and 1988 Cy Young winner and World Series champion Orel Hershiser, announce home and away games for the Dodgers on television. Some fans prefer the radio route and tune in to AM570 to listen to Charley Steiner and Rick Monday call games as an alternative.

Enter the 2020 postseason…

This year’s postseason games will be carried on networks such as ESPN, TBS, and Fox. The challenge with this is that each comes with their own respective sportscasters with their own style of broadcasting. While some additional color commentary from former players can be entertaining, there has already been considerable grumbling throughout the Dodgers fanbase over the handling of the first round of postseason games not carried by SportsNet LA.

During the recent Dodgers vs. Brewers Wild Card Series, ESPN mic’d up and conducted live interviews while the game was actually in progress. Talk about a distraction. As a result, many fans took to social media to protest this disruption to the game.

In an already abbreviated season, teams need every advantage they can get, and many felt that these during-inning interviews were foolhardy and a distraction to the players to have to answer questions from a non-participant purely for the sake of television ratings.

This happened on a couple of occasions; once when Max Muncy was playing third base, and another when Kiké Hernandez was on second base. People watching at home could clearly see how distracted the interviewees were and many agreed that the questions being asked, especially during the (non-Sportsnet LA) regular-season series against the Houston Astros, were biased and less than productive.

Cut to Wednesday during Game-1 of the National League Wild Card Series between the eighth-seed Milwaukee Brewers and the number one-seeded Los Angeles Dodgers. The match was televised on ESPN and when the Dodgers were up to bat, the network cut to Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner for a during-inning interview, which again sent social media into a frenzy because this pivotal series meant the difference between the Dodgers advancing to the next round, or going home early for the second year in a row.

Add to this that some viewers were complaining about the lack of focus and weak commentary during the game itself, and you’ve got a sticky situation that will undoubtedly continue as the postseason moves forward, with games being televised on several different networks with many different broadcasters throughout October.

During his Game-2 pregame Zoom presser, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked if he was aware that Turner had been mic’d up for an in-game interview with ESPN the night before and how he felt about it.

“I got wind of it about an hour before the game,” Roberts responded. “Personally, I’m not a fan of it. I don’t know the arrangement and I learned late. Baseball is kind of evolving.”

As a follow-up, Roberts was asked if he would step in and tell his players not to do in-game interviews for the remainder of the postseason.

“That’s a decision Justin made, but I don’t see that happening with our guys going forward,” Roberts answered with conviction. “Going forward, I don’t want our guys to do that.”

Roberts acknowledged that the in-game Turner interview was clearly a distraction, but quickly added that Turner is one of those players who would be able to balance it. He then jokingly added that he wouldn’t mind if Christian Yelich – or any other opponent – wanted to do interviews during the games.

Judging by the (numerous) social media comments posted during and after Wednesday night’s game, it’s clear that many Dodgers fans agree with the skipper’s “going-forward” approach.

Since the Boys in Blue were able to shut out the Brewers 3-0 in Game-2 of the Wild Card Series on Thursday evening, they will advance to the best-of-five National League Division Series against their division-rival San Diego Padres.

Here’s to the team keeping their focus with (presumably) one less distraction to worry about.

Let’s go Dodgers!

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