MLB on Apple TV

The MLB games broadcast on Apple TV+ have gotten their fair share of attention. From conversations about the (lack of) accuracy of the in-game odds shown in the corner, to the clarity and quality of the broadcast itself with the clean graphics Apple uses, the conversations are mostly right on. Visually speaking, the games are beautiful with the highest video quality and the best on-screen graphics. The on-screen odds are puzzling and seemingly very inaccurate, though the use of them is a huge interactive and visual addition to MLB broadcasts.

However, most conversations get one thing very wrong, and that’s the conversations about the dialogue from the broadcast teams. True, the dialogue is often mind-boggling and downright amateurish, which is what is driving these conversations; however, this dialogue is spot on.

First, Apple knows their core audience and knows that most people that currently have Apple TV+ are, generally speaking, probably not baseball fans or frequent baseball game viewers.

Second, these broadcasts are a huge boon to drawing casual and even non-fans to the game.

The positives frequently cited around broadcast quality and clean, informative, graphics start the broadcast for these casual and non-fans off with a visually stimulating experience. The dialogue then serves mostly as a catalyst for enhancing the viewing experience for these casual and non-fan viewers. While regular fans and frequent MLB viewers watch these games and roll their eyes and blow up at the absurdity of the broadcasters asking for clarification around what determines a fair/foul ball. As one of the comments on reddit stated, “It is like the commentators are learning baseball! I do not need the game and my team explained to me!”

This sentiment has been steady around the Apple TV broadcasts week after week with most of the dialogue around the broadcasts focused on the lack of knowledge or around what seems to be mismatched excitement for the on-field events with one group saying the commentators are getting too excited over routine plays and another group saying they aren’t getting excited enough about big plays.

All these points just go to show that the MLB fan isn’t the core audience for these games. I already followed most of the Apple TV broadcast teams on twitter and am familiar with their MLB knowledge and know that they aren’t just learning about the game and even I was puzzled by some of the dialogue at first, thinking, “what, I know they know that, why are they asking such a dumb question?” Then it hit me, the question is designed to create dialogue about the game to the casual fan or the non-fan that doesn’t know these things about baseball.

As I’ve watched more of these broadcasts week after week (I’ve watched every Apple TV game so far), this has stood out more and more to me. These broadcasts are phenomenal in that they are really providing excellent educational dialogue for new and emerging fans of baseball.

This is what MLB needs more of. These gimmicks like eXtra Inning Placed Runners (XIPR), 3-batter minimums, banning the shift, aren’t going to drive interest for new fans and increase viewership, but interesting and educational dialogue, and excitement around seemingly routine events that encourage understanding of things we existing fans take for granted will drive that interest. As will introducing the game to new audiences, such as the core Apple TV customer. This is one of the few marketing wins for MLB in terms of driving interest in the game from among new and younger fan bases. And I now enjoy listening to these broadcasts even more and get excited by the dialogue that I initially found puzzling and think these broadcast teams are doing great job of bringing the game to new audiences in a very approachable way, while also simultaneously introducing them to more analytical concepts and approaches to the game.