As Aaron Judge makes his final approach to statistical glory, everyone wants a piece of the New York Yankees. And while it’s understandable that baseball’s national TV partners are licking their chops at the prospect of televising the 6ft 7in Magistrate’s date with history, the honor rightly goes to YES Network .
As such, here is a modest proposal, which will not include an exhortation to devour Irish babies. On Friday night, before Apple TV begins airing a Yankees-Red Sox showdown that could prove to be a defining moment for baseball and anyone watching, the Bombers should be the judges. In what would work as a cheer from the Bronx directed at the digital intruder, the Yanks could opt to send Judge back to the bench for one night, robbing Apple of a chance to steal television thunder.
While that’s admittedly an extremely mean-spirited move, there’s actually a good baseball-like reason for pulling the bat out of Judge’s mighty meat hooks: the Yankees roster kingpin didn’t have a good day of rest since August 3. Since then he has been responsible for approximately everything of team production – his batting average is 20% higher than the guy directly behind him – there’s no harm in giving Judge a break before the playoffs start.
After justifying this entirely hypothetical move with a Big Gulp-stirring chaff save call, it’s hard to underestimate how satisfying such a move could be for the Yankees’ home network. Since Apple’s seven-year, $595 million deal to secure the Friday night baseball package was first announced in March, the tech company has been a stone in YES’s shoe. Even though two of the four Apple games that would otherwise have aired on YES were less than memorable (no one is going to lose sleep over losing a Royals or Tigers game), the gaming giant’s end-of-innings deal tech with MLB has caught the RSN on its heels.
Simply put, YES had set itself a schedule that ensured it would release enough games to meet the guarantees it gives its distributors every year, and the sudden insertion of Apple into the mix means that RSN could miss his target by a game or two. As evidenced by the make-goods that have been spat out by RSNs in the wake of 2020’s lengthy COVID hiatus, falling short can be a costly proposition. (Through Wednesday night, YES has aired 117 Yankees games, and with just 13 games remaining in the regular season and Fox, ESPN and TBS all locked for upcoming national dates, the hometown channel will go to the wire.)
A similar arrangement between baseball and Peacock also prompted a twinkle in the ass, though YES only lost one game – a June 5 Tigers-Yankees duo – to NBC’s digital sibling. Yet each game removed from the YES roster makes it harder to satisfy RSN’s carry deals, and the Peacock deal came just a day before the Yankees played their season opener. It is difficult to plan for the unexpected when you are 24 hours from the opening day.
For what it’s worth, Amazon Prime Video’s pickup of 21 exclusive Yankees games doesn’t affect YES’s seasonal tally in any way, as the streamer (and 15% shareholder of YES) simply replaced local station WPIX-11 in as steward of this smaller bundle.
For what it’s worth, we’re in no way suggesting that YES shares our jaded worldview. The argument is ours and ours alone, but there is a point to be made here beyond the mere joy of invoking chaos. Apple is spending a lot of money on its foray into big sports – on an annual basis the gadget maker will shell out more than $55 million in rights fees while spending another $30 million on advertising – but somebody had to defend the fans and the embattled RSN model.
Baseball, after all, is a localized phenomenon, with much of the heavy lifting on the fan-service front being done at regional sports networks. In the New York market, YES’s Yankees coverage regularly outperforms all four broadcast affiliates, and until Wednesday night’s outing against the Pirates, which peaked at 756,000 viewers, the network’s ratings for 2022 are at an 11-year high, up 24% from the same period a year earlier. If so many Americans identify as baseball fans, it’s because they’re able to follow the action most nights via the local RSN feed, and because older enthusiasts are simply never going to care. of streaming, every game exclusive to one of the exaggerated services is a game that won’t be seen by the people who make up most of the sport’s base.
On a more prosaic note, the thought of Apple TV’s Katie Nolan calling Judge’s historic circuit is crazy for Yankees fanatics – and not for the usual “ugh, there’s a lady in the booth” reasons that are thrown into the stinking regions of the cesspool online. She is from Boston, to cry hot tears! And yes, parochialism works both ways. Imagine Phil Rizzuto calling David Ortiz’ last game or Dave Roberts stealing second base in Game 4 of the ALCS. Yeah, I thought so.
As it stands, Yankees fans probably can’t expect more than a handful of YES games to come, as ESPN takes its cuts on Sept. 25 and TBS and Fox follow soon after. And ESPN still has the chance to snatch another game from the local outlet before the Yankees’ final series against the Rangers rolls around. The odds are in favor of an outsider going down in history, but TV has always been fair game. But for Judge to eclipse Roger Maris on the Ted Lasso platform—a show on soccerno less – is unbearable.
Bench him, Boone, if only for the night. Judge could use the long-awaited break, and your friends at YES would most likely appreciate the gesture, even if the move doesn’t prepare the RSN for its own date with history. Would such a ploy irritate the commish? Most likely. Would that wow the 46,537 fans who will pass through the turnstiles tonight in an attempt to see the big guy trot around the infield? Oh, you bet. But life is short and brutal, and not fair at all, and what is a night of dashed hopes compared to the sweet intoxication of malevolent revenge?
The hammer falls. This provocation is postponed.
