The Toronto Blue Jays finished their 20th straight year without reaching the playoffs, though 2013 is disappointing because the team had great potential on paper, the AL East was headed toward upheaval, and baseball gave a 5th team a chance to pretend they are in the playoffs.
But the 2013 Blue Jays were able to snap another long streak in the team's history. For the first time since 2000, a Toronto Blue Jays game appeared on Fox television.
Now for the technicalities involved. The only reason why Fox showed the game was that Tampa Bay was in the hunt for the playoffs. The announcers were the Tampa Bay regular broadcast team; the game went to Florida only, except for the western panhandle. The game wasn't carried on primary Fox affiliates in Tallahassee and Orlando due to college football coverage.
Buffalo didn't carry the game. The Western New York city is the major U.S. market near Toronto and home of the Triple A baseball team. To be fair, Pittsburgh and Cleveland were also on the Fox schedule, and both teams made the playoffs. Also, broadcasting the Fox signal into Toronto might have been an issue since Rogers Sportsnet was carrying the game on cable. Still, a Blue Jays fan without cable in the Toronto-Hamilton-Buffalo area would have been thrilled to get the game, even with Tampa announcers.
Canadian cable viewers could have watched the Fox feed if Fox stations in Boston, Detroit, or Seattle would have carried the game. The Fox stations in Boston and Detroit had the Cleveland-Minnesota game, so that audience did get the Blue Jays game during the rain delay.
According to members in the 506 Forum, this was Toronto's third appearance on Fox, citing a game against Baltimore in SkyDome in 1996 and in Cleveland in 2000, both on the last September of the season. That 2000 weekend also saw Montréal and the New York Mets on Fox. So yes, Bill Clinton was president and Jean Chretien was prime minister the last time a Canadian based MLB team was on Fox.
Fox's argument is pretty weak for not showing the team in some regional form. Western New York would be an obvious market for the team. A Toronto telecast could draw well in Seattle, Boston, and northeastern New England. And those markets, along with the opposing team market, would be reasons to send a crew that wouldn't literally work for the opposing team.
The Blue Jays need to make an argument that they deserve to be on Fox. The obvious market is limited, but a lackluster on-field performance doesn't encourage Fox or TBS or the MLB Network to carry the team other than the team they are playing (e.g., TBS showing the Blue Jays against the Yankees or Red Sox).
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A current Blue Jays player is going to the playoffs … as an in-studio analyst. Mark DeRosa is in the TBS studio, starting last night and running through Thursday.
Former Toronto manager John Farrell, essentially poached by Boston, is going to the playoffs in 2013 with the resurgent Boston Red Sox team.
Rogers Sportsnet and its ever growing properties will carry the MLB postseason in Canada.
Another story you should look into is the last time that the Blue Jays were on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. Correct me if I am wrong, but to my knowledge a broadcast has never been produced north of the border in the entire history of the program.
Posted by: Leroy | October 23, 2013 at 12:36 PM
I do know the Blue Jays have been on ESPN during the week, even in Toronto. Chris Berman made a joke about this during his infamous codeine monologue.
As for Sunday Night Baseball itself, I would have thought the team would have been in Toronto in the early 1990s. But certainly not in recent memory.
While cable has to worry about ratings, the numbers are smaller versus a Fox regional game.
It's an excellent question. I'll see what I can find.
Posted by: Chad | October 23, 2013 at 02:05 PM