ESPN networks will take division series games from odd array of stations that caused viewer confusion.
By MARC TOPKIN
Published August 15, 2003
BOSTON - Baseball fans won't have to search their cable systems for division series games this fall.
MLB announced an agreement Thursday that makes ESPN and ESPN2 the cable television home for division series games through 2006. In previous years, games have been spread out among less popular and harder-to-find cable networks such as FX, Fox Family and ABC Family, resulting in numerous complaints.
ESPN will show nine to 14 division series games including, for the first time, three prime-time games. In future years ESPN will show eight to 13, including two prime-time games. Fox Sports, which holds the over-the-air rights, will show the remaining division series games as well as the League Championship Series and World Series.
"I really felt badly because that is a wonderful week for baseball," commissioner Bud Selig said. "In some ways it is the most exciting. And we get besieged in our offices with "We can't find the games.' Now we're on ESPN and Fox, where people watch our games all year long. So we've eliminated the confusion."
The announcement, and the awarding of the 2005 All-Star Game to Detroit, were the only tidbits of news as the owners wrapped up a quarterly meeting.
Selig wouldn't discuss the status of the Glazers' stalled bid to buy the Dodgers, except to say he is a stickler for enforcing baseball's rules and, "The Dodgers are one of our great franchises, and it's very, very important that they have as solid ownership as possible."
And he wouldn't discuss the Pete Rose situation, except to lambaste baseballprospectus.com for posting a story saying MLB and Rose had signed an agreement for reinstatement next season.
"That is about as irresponsible a bit of journalism as I have seen in my career," Selig said. "I don't know how people can justify that. I know the story, I know the subject, I know what hasn't happened. I know all the things. When I first heard it I thought it was some kind of joke. ...
"When people create stories where they just create fiction, pure fiction, that is indefensible and disgraceful."
The owners took no action on the status of the Montreal Expos, except to say they still are working toward an unofficial Sept. 1 deadline of finding a permanent home while also considering another temporary setup for 2004.
Expos president Tony Tavares said he thought it was at least "50-50" the team, which is being operated by MLB, would return to Montreal next season, and close to 100 percent that the team would play all its home games at one site. Other temporary options include Monterrey, Mexico, and San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the team is playing 22 of its 81 home games this season.
"The process here is to get it done right, not to get it done fast," Selig said.
A draft of the 2004 schedule was to be distributed to teams today but may be delayed. MLB president Bob DuPuy had surgery to repair a torn right quadriceps muscle after falling on the hotel steps Wednesday night.
