Major League Baseball has proven to be terrible at a lot of things, including making its star players more marketable and more fun to watch for casual fans. Mike Trout, for instance, should be an even bigger star than he is, not just when he’s hitting golf balls to the moon at Topgolf.
While Rob Manfred has totally whiffed on punishing players for cheating their way to a championship, he could get a big win for the league with one, maybe not-so-simple move – make big-name players with fun personalities get mic’d up for some games during the regular season.
We learned again on Monday just how fun that can be, as Cubs stars Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo basically put on their own show while mic’d up against the Angels in a spring training game in Arizona.
The two players had fun going back and forth with conversations while in the field but the best moments came when they were at the plate.
Bryant, during one at bat, had fun pretending he was afraid of an incoming pitch by saying “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God…” before fouling it down the left field line. He then joked about how tired he was while running back to the batter’s box to resume his at-bat.
Rizzo took things to another level during a long at-bat when he took a fun shot at the Houston Astros while trying to guess which pitch he would be seeing next.
I’m sure players wouldn’t want to do this during games that matter, but NFL players do it every week in games that are much more dangerous than baseball games, so it should be something that can be done.
Baseball is a long season, with long games that can really become quite boring. What better way to make things interesting than to bring fans into the game by hearing mic’d up players as it happens? I didn’t care at all about the Cubs-Angels game on Monday but I stuck around to see what the players would do next.
I’m guessing more people would do that, too, during the season.
Baseball is in the middle of one of its worst PR moments in league history, as the cheating Astros are getting all the headlines.
Mic’d-up players could be just what it takes to make more people interested in a game that could use some fun reasons to watch.
Fun and MLB haven’t really gone together all that often recently. This could change that.
Monday’s biggest winner: Trevor Bauer.
The Cincinnati Reds pitcher took sign-stealing to a whole new level as he actually told a hitter on Monday which pitch was coming. This was a fun wrinkle that I didn’t see happening and I love it.
Quick hits: What Brady really said… Never stop, Trae Young… Zion’s jersey swap gaffe… And more!
– Now we know for sure what Tom Brady said during that sideline moment in Syracuse over the weekend.
– Trae Young should never stop nutmegging defenders.
– Did Zion Williamson really not give Javale McGee his jersey during a postgame jersey swap on Sunday night?
– LeBron James and other NBA players continue to make weird mistakes on in-bounds passes.
– Is Tony Romo worth all that money CBS gave him? Here’s a fun debate between Charles Curtis and Steven Ruiz.
