ESPN is hosting Major League Baseball’s Home Run Derby Monday night, but you wouldn’t know it by watching Get up Or First take that morning.
The days of MLB being a hot topic on ESPN are long gone, but when the network is about to air one of the league’s major events, it would be in their best interest to convince fans to care. And with the Home Run Derby on ESPN, Get up And First take didn’t seem to care.
MLB got a spot in the ticker, and there were a few commercials promoting the event between 8 a.m. and noon ET on ESPN. Get up! treated its audience to a baseball-related highlight by showing Mr. Met falling off the stage during the Lumineers concert at Citi Field. Host Peter Schrager closed the show by noting that the Home Run Derby would air at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
But a segment on MLB or the Home Run Derby? No. Even on ESPN.com, the MLB scores page lists Monday as a dark day with no events.
It is necessary to make a segment on LeBron James or the Dallas Cowboys? Get up And First take are your predominant destinations. But with ESPN broadcasting the Home Run Derby at night, they couldn’t think of anything?
ESPN was very intense football on Monday morning Get up And First take. So you don’t want to force Dan Orlovsky to break the Derby, fine. Surely you can find someone who can read a list of the top 5 Home Run Derby performances, give us a compilation of a Chris Berman yelling “Back, back, back, back, gone!” or ask Karl Ravech if he thinks Cal Raleigh can hit 70 homers.
Do something to make the Home Run Derby look like an event that ESPN cares about, without having to put the NFL aside.
Instead, ESPN left it up to The Pat McAfee Show to remind the public that they had the Derby on Monday night. As MLB topics disappeared Get up And First takeMcAfee’s show aired live from the Derby website in Atlanta, where he interviewed Rob Manfred, CC Sabathia and Aaron Judge during the ESPN segment. McAfee also interviewed Shohei Ohtani during his show’s YouTube hour, after hosting All-Star Media Day on MLB Network.
This may have been an attempt by ESPN to downplay the importance of MLB, following its report. revive discussions on media rights last month. But it also seems to be doing itself a disservice by treating the Derby like an insignificant event when it airs on their network.
To their credit, ESPN had Sports center broadcast from Atlanta Monday afternoon. And we don’t say Get up Or First take should have been there, just pretend to acknowledge the existence of the Derby.
