… AND IF SO, HOW DOES IT EFFECT THE COVERAGE OF THE DODGERS?
There are several sites that I routinely check daily (or several times per day) for coverage of the Dodgers – TrueBlueLA, Dodgers.com, Dodgers Insider, LADodgerTalk (of course), the ESPN.com Dodgers team page, and others. I also check out national sports news sites to see how the national sports press is covering the Dodgers, but am frequently confronted with no national news about my team at all. I suspect that the national sports media doesn’t care much about my Dodgers.
To check out my hypothesis about how the nation’s sports media covers baseball and how that coverage effects coverage of the Dodgers, I started by looking at ESPN.com’s MLB page on 7/16. Here are the top stories:
- Coverage of Yankees/Red Sox game
- Coverage of Cubs’ victory over Orioles after obtaining Jose Quintana
- Coverage of A’s plans to rebuild
- Coverage of Nationals in light of new bullpen acquisition.
Of the 54 stories listed on ESPN’s MLB page, 2 covered the Dodgers – one about Rich Hill in light of Sunday’s performance (was it for real?) and the weekly power ranking listing the Dodgers #1.
23 were about the Yankees or Red Sox. 5 covered the Cubs.
So then I looked at CBS Sports and Fox Sports. CBS Sports had 18 stories on baseball on its MLB page – none about the Dodgers.
Fox Sports had 29 baseball stories on its MLB page – none about the Dodgers.
Mind you the Dodgers had just swept the Marlins. The games were played in Miami meaning the 3 hour west coast time delay which allegedly affects sports coverage of west coast teams didn’t apply. The Dodgers had just won 9 in a row; 29 out of 33. The team is 1st in W-L percentage, 1st in run differential. They are 3rd in OPS, 1st in team ERA (by nearly ½ run/game) 1st in WHIP, 2nd in strikeouts. They are on pace for 111 wins this season – yet nearly no national coverage.
(By the way – the best team in baseball had no one voted to start in the All Star Game – funny how lack of coverage might affect fan voting?)
So, given the recent lack of coverage of the best team in baseball, I looked back at some old research on the same subject.
- In an article in the Orange County Register 9/9/10, the author noted that in 2010, the Yankees ranked 2nd, the Rays 3rd, the Marlins 5th in Webgems (the defensive highlights shown on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight). The Dodgers were 25th, the Padres 26th, the Giants 27th and the Angels were 30th.
- In an article in Baseball Continuum 5/10/12, the author listed the teams with the most appearances in Sunday Night Baseball between 2007 and 2011. They were:
- Yankees
- Red Sox
- Cubs and Cardinals (tied)
- Mets
- Phillies
The Dodgers were 7th, Braves 8th, Angels 9th and Tigers 10th.
In another article covering the same subject between 2005 and 2014, the Yankees appeared on Sunday Night Baseball 51 times – 10.3%. The Dodgers were the top west coast team – 7.1%. Two teams (the Mariners and Blue Jays) hadn’t appeared a single time in a decade. The Marlins D-Backs, Rockies and Twins had appeared once. Pittsburgh played twice, but only in 2014 after making the playoffs in 2013. Oh – and by the way, although the Yankees were shown most often, Fenway Park was the stadium where the most games were hosted on Sunday Night Baseball and the Sox were shown 2nd most. Of the 248 Sunday Night Baseball games televised in the decade in question, 31 of them featured the Red Sox playing the Yankees (12.5%).
So – is there an east coast bias when it comes to baseball coverage? Of course there is. The Dodgers are lined up to be the best team (regular season) in years and one of the top in the expansion era – but not many people outside of LA are likely to know it. We’ll continue to get stories about Aaron Judge and the Cubs going for it, but the Dodgers will largely be left out of the discussion.
— Written by DodgerRick
This Post is From the One and Only DodgerRick!
Discussion (82)
Disagree, not disagreeable
On TV coverage: how about winning a championship before complaining about TV coverage? So far we are division champs along with 5 other teams. That’s it.
They are saying JD Martinez is going to the Dbacks!
Tony Gwynn was’nt exactly a runway model, but boy could he rake.. A couple years ago, the Dodgers had a pinch hitter we all called “Mas Tortillas Por Favor”… Lord he could he hit and with power…
Was the aforementioned neccesary??? Probably not, but I feel better now…
The Lakers Exciting, you betcha!!! Being a ND, Dodger and a Laker I have/must practice patience…
I like the versatility of Taylor at LF and 2B and Forsythe at 2B and 3B therefore I might prefer McCutchen in RF in place of Puig if McC is obtained. That would mean Puig to Pittsburgh.
For what it’s worth, the Dodgers games against the Giants on July 30th, and against the Mets on August 6th , both originally afternoon games, have been moved to ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.
I think that I remember Rivero having nasty stuff when I saw him earlier this year. If I’m right, he would be a welcome addition to the back-end of the Dodgers pen. And because he’s young and controllable, surrendering some young talent becomes a bit more palatable. And if there’s a way to get McCutchen without gutting the farm system, I’m all for it. Besides, I trust that FAZ knows what they’re doing.
If you are feeling down, a number to ponder
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2.01 – Max Scherzer’s MLB-leading ERA in 19 starts this season
2.01 – Clayton Kershaw’s ERA over his last 170 starts
Taylor
Corey
Turner
Cody
Forsythe
Joc
Grandal
Puig
Utley DH
Kershaw
Hawkeye,
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We like Chicago. Love to eat at Ditka’s and there are lots of fun things to do there…. she just doesn’t want baseball this year and I’m OK with that.
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Cincinnati is an awesome venue. You can stay downtown and walk to the stadium. Lots of good food there too.
The truth of the matter is we all have rabbit ears when it comes to our favorite teams. The guys on SiriusXM and the MLB Network have given both a lot of time and love to the Dodgers. The reporters out east are probably giving more to the Nats because one they’re local and two they go to bed by the time the Dodgers are winning games. I assume the same is the case out West for the Dodgers. I for one am okay if we fly under the radar to a World Series.
I forgot to mention the Lakers winning the Vegas Summer League last night without Lonzo Ball. Kyle Kuzma won MVP of the Championship Game with 31 points and Ball won the MVP of the tournament. They will be young but exciting to watch this year and Ball has a big shot at ROY. If healthy he will play a ton of minutes and pile up the triple doubles. His defense is underrated too, blocks a lot of shots.
Rivero is under team control until 2021 & Kenley is signed through 2021 as well.
That would give us potentially a lock down 8/9 innings partnership for the years ahead which is very tempting.
Thanks to DodgerRick for an interesting topic today. I have long admired East Coast Dodger Fans, would hate to see Dodger Games start at 10PM, to be honest, I don’t always make it through the 7PM starts before catching a few ZZZs, 10PM starts would really be a burden. Also a big Thanks to Mark for this great site. It’s nice to be living in 2017 and be able to access a site like this, instead of having to rely of East Coast/ESPN FAKE NEWS!!
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I know I would want to vomit listening to those Easterners bragging about the:
.516 winning Yankees
.553 winning Red Sox
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instead of the
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.688 winning Los Angeles Dodgers.
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Long live the alternative media!!!!!
Would the Pirates have interest in Forsythe? They are in possible need of a 3B since Kang is most likely not coming back and Freese has been struggling as of late. Also, I see that the Red Sox are looking for a 3B – could that open up a 3-way trade?
Per SI: “The Red Sox are scouting Josh Harrison and David Freese of the Pirates, Mets infielders T.J. Rivera and Asdrubal Cabrera and Eduardo Nunez of the Giants in search of third baseman. (Michael Silverman, Boston Herald).”
So how about this?
* Dodgers get Rivero and Cutch – they send Pittsburgh Verdugo and Alvarez
* Dodgers send Forsythe to Boston since they want a 3B
* Boston sends a prospect(s) back to Pittsburgh
Sorry for dreaming, but it’s fun to be an internet GM!!
Rick
Most fans on the west coast probably rather not have the Dodgers broadcasted on ESPN, because of their announcers and their broadcaster’s bias, against the Dodgers.
And in the post season, that bias gets even worse!
We will really find out this year, because all we heard all year last year, was about the Cubs, and their curse of the billy goat.
Rick another good job by you, sorry I didn’t read more carefully to know you wrote this at first!
If you are stuck watching the East Coast Media. You probably haven’t heard this.
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On the mend
Grant Dayton pitched a scoreless eighth inning for Rancho Cucamonga, inducing a ground out, a pop out, and a strikeout. It was the second rehab game for Dayton, who also pitched an inning in the Arizona Rookie League on Saturday. Dayton was placed on the disabled list on July 6 with neck stiffness.
Yes to Felipe Rivero !!!
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Verdugo and Calhoun but not Alvarez.
If we send them a stud OF for Rivero they would need to free up some space, right? Enter McCutchen? What would that package look like to land both?
Maybe someone needs to start an ESPN Competitor on the West Coast. ESPN fired the Dodgers beat write (Doug Padilla) a few weeks ago along with most of their baseball analysts . Up until then, they had lost of info on the Dodgers – now it’s practically zip!
Well written Rick. Good job of finding a new topic as well.
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I have been living on the east coast for the last 7 years and have yet to bump into someone who has an interest in the Dodgers.
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As a 18, 19, and 20 year old I worked summers in Yosemite and had to bare with newspapers that were not their final copy and therefore would not have final game coverage of the Dodgers. No Internet so I was a day late in getting Dodger news.
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I used to have XM radio and their MLB station was 80% Yankee coverage.
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While in NH I have either subscribed to Extra Innings or MLB.com and watch all Dodger games either live or within a day of the game and can fast forward as often as I want. Those networks and this site and other Dodger blogs do a better job than anything I ever had access to when living in Southern California.
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Red Sox fans here bemoan the late start and late end of games played on the west coast.
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This is the year when the Dodgers start forcing the east coast networks to cover them and do so for a long string of years.
It would be nice to have a good LHRP. However, we do not need to make a trade to win the WS. If a trade is made, it will be on FAZ’s terms.
Get this – from an AP story:
“The NL West leaders start a two-game series at the White Sox on Tuesday with a nine-game winning streak and baseball’s best record at 64-29 (.688). They have won 29 of their past 33 games (.879).
That’s some surge. Or not.
”We’ve been pretty good all year,” third baseman Justin Turner said. ”To say it’s a five-week thing I don’t think is fair to the team.”
If the Dodgers play .879 ball the rest of the year, they would finish with 125 wins. Don’t tell them they won’t.
”Clayton’s quote about, ‘Are we on a hot streak, or is this just who we are?’ – I never really thought about it that way, but I’m starting to think maybe this is just who we are,” unbeaten left-hander Alex Wood said with a laugh. ”We have a different guy doing it every night, whether it’s pitching or one of the guys in the lineup. It has been incredible.”
Both great points AC and Dodgerrick, I guess I am just a little frustrated about the lack of national coverage. These guys deserve way more coverage than they are getting, I guess we will have to see how it plays out. But despite what the douchbag said about FAZ on the previous comments, yeah, I love those dudes, and it aint ass kissing, it’s pure results. For the first time in 10 years, we have hope, and I mean alot of it, for years and years to come. I totally get it and pure props to Colleti for hanging on to and not trading Joc, Cory and Cody and a bunch of other below the radar guys. FAZ is just building on what he set up. And just like FAZ, Ned made some mistakes, like the endless contracts to Kemp and Dre, along with Jason Scmidt, and my personal favorite, Brandon League. Being a GM is a thankless job, but the current front office is not afraid to screw up, and with that, get guys off the scrap heap like Toles, Taylor, Morrow, etc. Gotta go big sometimes or go home.
http://www.chatsports.com/los-angeles-dodgers/a/dodgers-trade-rumors-los-angeles-trying-land-felipe-rivero-34585
Simply put its the Eastern Sports Propaganda Network I personally would just as soon not have the Dodgers on Sunday night baseball. You just know they would be I New York and have an all night flight to San Diego, San Francisco or some other west coast town.
Funny how you guys brought this up, i have been searching MLB, FOX, and ESPN, for the last week, not a damn thing about the Dodgers, Ken Rosenthal has no recent articles at all about them. Think about it guys, this is a team that has won 9 in a row, is absolutely on FIRE, and…. nothing. If this was the Yankees, Red Sox, or Cubs you would be hearing about the coronation of the next dynasty, how the players on some of those teams are locks for the Hall of Fame. Where is a story about how much the depth factor and the farm system has spawned a new age of thinking in the baseball world, or how Roberts is one of the top 3 managers in the game. But let’s get real, the rings do the talking. As much as I hate the Giants(Down to my baseball soul), they rode the current group to 3 titles, and I know they suck right now and the window has closed, but I would take those damn rings in a Vin Scully minute just to suck for a few more years after. Damn I want a ring.
I completely agree. All you have to do is look at ESPN Sunday night baseball games. Best team in baseball and how many times have the Dodgers been on? Even when they do broadcast the Dodgers, the announcers want to all about other things. I am really happy they do not broadcast Dodger games. They just make me mad.
I completely agree. All you have to do is look at ESPN Sunday night baseball games. Best thing team in baseball and how many times have the Dodgers been on? Even when they do broadcast the Dodgers, the announcers want to all about other things. I am really happy they do not broadcast Dodger games. They just make me mad.
Mark
I bet your thoughts about how hard it was for you to get Dodger info in NY, back when, gave you this idea.
Just the fact that most people in the east are not up when the west coast team’s play at home, has to be part of the bias.
On the MLB Channel, they have mentioned the Dodgers in there news every morning.
And Quick Pitch has began there broadcasts, with the excerpts of all the Dodger games, in the last week, and that is on the MLB Channel too.
There is a bias…but the time difference plays a large part in it. Whenever I have to go to the East coast, it’s all about East and Midwest teams. I don’t find out how the West coast teams fared until the next morning.But I don’t let the bias bother me too much. It is what it is. What they don’t know won’t hurt them…until the Dodgers romp in the playoffs.
Let’s sue the bastards!
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Class action, I tell you!