Enough Already with the Yanks-BoSox Rivalry
It’s all but certain that ESPN will bring the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry to television every chance it gets in 2007. The history between the two teams is compelling, and apparently so are the TV ratings when the two clubs are on the field together.
The preoccupation with the Yankees and Red Sox draws attention away from other legitimate contenders and playoff races, Brian Murphy of the St. Paul Pioneer Press wrote on Saturday. He’s right. Much of the drama in the American League this season may be generated in the AL Central, where Detroit, Chicago, Minnesota and Cleveland should battle all season long for supremacy.
Maybe those teams aren’t especially sexy. Murphy noted that there hasn’t been a history of deep-seated rivalry between any of these clubs, though ill will between Cleveland and Chicago in the late-1990s and Chicago and Minnesota more recently has largely gone unnoticed at the national level.
In terms of TV coverage in 2007, we'll see if it matters that the AL's last two World Series participants have come from the Central. The division may lack the glamour of the AL East, but Murphy pointed out that the division held its own on the field last season:
“Detroit, Minnesota and the Chicago White Sox won 90 or more games. What's more, the MVP (Justin Morneau), Cy Young Award winner (Johan Santana), batting champion (Joe Mauer), Rookie of the Year (Justin Verlander) and Manager of the Year (Jim Leyland) all were members of the Central gang.”
Maybe the media need to dig deeper for the storylines in the AL Central. Murphy highlighted a few that have been front-and-center in this rough-and-tumble division:
“What else would you expect from a division that includes piranhas in Minnesota, Pronk the pro wrestling fanatic in Cleveland, a Marlboro-toking manager in Motown and A.J. Pierzynski, the radioactive motor mouth of the Windy City?”
Leyland’s addiction and Pierzynski’s gift for gab behind the plate are well known. But the exploits of Pronk -- Cleveland slugger Travis Hafner, reportedly nicknamed for being half-project and half-donkey when he came up -- have been lost on many baseball fans. His 149 extra-base hits the last two seasons are more than the totals accumulated by Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Miguel Tejada, Andruw Jones, David Wright, Vladimir Guerrero, Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye. Oh, and the piranhas are the largely faceless go-for-blood Twins, so named by White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.
Although the Central may be where the action is, don’t be surprised if the division winner posts fewer wins than the AL East champion. With 44 percent of the schedule made up of games within a team’s division, the four AL Central powers will be beating up on one another. At the same time, the Yankees and Red Sox will spend a significant portion of their seasons facing the lowly Orioles and Devil Rays.
Comments
Three teams win 90 or more wins certainly qualifies for title billing.
Posted by: Walter Lis | April 3, 2007 1:54 PM
Did I miss something or did not the hated Yankees run away with the AL East last year; a division that also boasted two teams with 86 or more victories in Toronto (remember them) and Boston in a down year. Sure the Yanks get a break with a larger share of games against Baltimore and Tampa Bay, but they also fared pretty well against the three AL Central "juggernauts" winning 12 of the 19 games played. And last time I checked, the AL Central still had the Triple A Kansas City Royals as a member.
Like it or not, the Yankees and Red Sox are competetive and continue to have a nationwide appeal. And ESPN wouldn't televise their games if the $$$ were not there.
Posted by: Chick Evanstonian | April 5, 2007 6:22 PM
Yes, the dollars are there. That's guaranteed with much of New York and New England tuned in. One can argue that the ratings and dollars sometimes matter more than the pennant races when it comes to ESPN's national coverage. And there's a catch-22 in terms of national attention going to races and rivalries in other divisions. More people are familiar with the NY-Boston rivalry, and that will continue to be the case if national TV coverage seldom promotes the storylines and intensity of games between Chicago and Minnesota, or other division rivals. It's hard to argue against the star power of the Yankees and Red Sox. Down the stretch last September, however, there was far more drama in the AL Central, NL Central and NL West. I do enjoy seeing New York and Boston play, but there has been some bad blood between Minnesota and Chicago in recent years and I doubt many baseball fans around the country are even aware of it. That could change. Minnesota, Cleveland and Detroit are young teams that seem to be developing more star power with the emergence of talented prospects such as Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore, Josh Barfield, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Jeremy Bonderman and Justin Verlander.
Posted by: TH | April 6, 2007 3:24 AM
It may take a while for "Pronk" and the other prospects mentioned to have the one-name marquee appeal of Manny, A-Rod, Jeter, Big Papi, Godzilla and now Dice-K. Or even to reach the status of Sox and Yanks "role players" like Damon, Giambi, Abreu, Rivera, Drew, Papelbon, and Varitek. A talent like Robinson Cano, if he was a member of one of the AL Central contenders, would be considered a budding superstar.
That said, I think one possible way to improve national league-wide attention would be for MLB to return to a balanced schedule; at a minimum, fans of teams from all 3 divisions will become more familiar with the entire league and the race for Wild Card spot will be a fair fight.
Posted by: Chick Evanstonian | April 6, 2007 4:47 PM