1. When you air four Major League Baseball playoff games in one day, you are bound to have some screwups and some bad luck.
ESPN was a victim of this Tuesday night when the network had to transition from the Red Sox-Yankees game to the Reds-Dodgers game.
With Boston and New York running long on ESPN, the Cincinnati-Los Angeles game began on ESPN2.
When the Red Sox finished off the Yankees (thanks to New York’s obsession with analytics and data), the Reds-Dodgers game moved from ESPN2 to ESPN. This had to be done in a timely fashion because Game 5 of the Fever-Aces series was scheduled to air on ESPN2.
So ESPN2 bailed out of Reds-Dodgers as fast as they could, with that game immediately shifting to ESPN.
The only problem was that the switch came one second before Shohei Ohtani hit a leadoff dinger.
This did not sit well with many viewers.
ESPN really cut to WNBA coverage just before Shohei Ohtani hit a home run. Unbelievable, staggering incompetence! 😭 pic.twitter.com/jVr96nUpGz
— outbreezy (@outbreezyWC) October 1, 2025
ESPN is a disgrace. Game was airing on ESPN2 since the first game ran long, and they cut away from the game for WNBA countdown **literally one second before Ohtani homered**
— Jeff Spiegel (@JeffSpiegel) October 1, 2025
Why the hell would @espn cut to the WNBA right before a Shohei Ohtani postseason HR!? pic.twitter.com/LIsrFnbkmB
— Antonio Curiel (@TonyTaters16) October 1, 2025
c'mon @espn
— Dave Lowe (@DaveLowedown) October 1, 2025
could you not switch coverage at the end of the inning? You cut coverage on ESPN2 over to ESPN right before Ohtani hit a dinger. Forcing viewers to switch channels in the middle of an AB? You basically caused viewers to miss the HR
I was watching the ESPN 2 stream and it cuts out RIGHT before Ohtani smashed that laser beam over the right field wall 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/jUxsnzpS4n
— ∞ The Infinite Dodger ∞ (@InfiniteDodger) October 1, 2025
just missed the Ohtani Home Run cuz ESPN wants to change the channel at the wrong time
— fluflammer (@dontcrapout) October 1, 2025
I can’t destroy ESPN for this. It’s not like the network knew Ohtani was going to hit a home run. If he hit a ground ball to second, nobody would care. I think the transition was definitely sloppy and the network easily could’ve stayed with the next pitch in the at-bat. But this was just bad luck and bad timing more than anything.
2. Sunday night’s Packers-Cowboys 40–40 tie became the third-most watched game of the season.
Week 2’s Eagles-Chiefs game drew 33.8 million for Fox.
The Thursday night season opener between the Cowboys and Eagles pulled in 28.3 million viewers for NBC.
Sunday’s Green Bay-Dallas tie drew 26.9 million viewers for NBC.
3. I will watch this game on Sunday just for the uniforms and helmets. Those are probably the two greatest old-school helmets of all time. And the Bucs’ creamsicle unis are the best ever.
Two of the best vintage uniforms in the game face off against each other on Sunday when the @Buccaneers take on the @Seahawks 👀
— NFL (@NFL) October 1, 2025
TBvsSEA– Sunday 4:05pm ET on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXnxV pic.twitter.com/VjHudi3man
4. With Joe Davis and Adam Amin calling the MLB playoffs this weekend, Fox’s broadcast crews will look a little different.
Jason Benetti will work with Greg Olsen on the Cowboys-Jets game.
Chris Myers and Marks Sanchez will be on the call for Raiders-Colts.
Eric Collins, who many of you know as the Charlotte Hornets’ play-by-play guy, will call his first NFL game for Fox, working with Mark Schlereth on Dolphins-Panthers.
The A crew of Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady will call Commanders-Chargers.
5. This is as good as it gets (or as bad as it gets actually) when it comes to breaking down game film.
You literally cannot make this up:
— GhettoGronk (@TheGhettoGronk) September 30, 2025
- Broncos rush only 3
- Bengals use 4 players to block 1 guy
- Both tackles get beat instantly for a sack pic.twitter.com/xg9O5Pfmyc
6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with ESPN and Amazon Prime’s Kirk Herbstreit.
Herbstreit talks about what College GameDay has been like without Lee Corso, the popularity of the show’s field-goal contest segment, Pat McAfee volunteering Herbstreit to donate money to the contest winners without clearing it with Herbstreit first, McAfee’s viral dive in a speedo on a recent GameDay episode and what Nick Saban brings to GameDay.
In addition, Herbstreit breaks down his crazy schedule with Thursday Night Football, College GameDay and ABC’s top game of the week, explains his issues with college football’s schedule, and reveals where he stands on the Tush Push.
Following Herbstreit, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we discuss my appearance on a Bill Simmons Reddit page, our weekly gambling outcomes, baseball implementing the ABS challenge system, the NFL Today’s throwback edition featuring Brent Musburger, Sal having to go to a 50th birthday party during a big football day and much more.
You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.
You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Chris Berman started working at ESPN 46 years ago today. This seems like a great time for some vintage Boomer. Here is the first NFL Primetime from 1987.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as ESPN Got Burned by an Unfortunate Piece of Timing.
