They did it again: Fox Sports screwed up yet again and chose to broadcast the Tampa Bay Rays game here in the Boston area.  Why?  I have no idea.  Perhaps it’s because I live near Boston, and since the Rays are in the Red Sox’s division, the coverage up here was tuned in to that team.  That’s the ONLY explanation I can think of.  But even that argument doesn’t hold water because apparently Fox broadcast the Cubs in Washington, D.C. area, which is very close to Baltimore, home of AL East team and division rival of said Sox.

Look, I’m happy for the Rays.  Theirs is a feel-good, improbable worst-to-first story that’s great for baseball.  But we’re talking about the Cubs here: one of the charter franchises of the National League, one with a storied past, with tradition, with a rabid, dedicated national fanbase.  Tampa?  They can’t even sell out their own stadium.  The way I see it, if the Rays’ OWN fans don’t care about the team (except when it’s for some wonky promotion for national TV), what makes the bigwigs at Fox Sports think that anyone else around the country cares about them?  If it’s truly about the numbers, then why didn’t Fox go with the Cubs broadcast nationwide?  They do it for overblown, overhyped Yankees/Red Sox regular-season matchups, so why not do it for a division-clinching game for another marquee MLB franchise?  Oh, that’s right: because FOX SUX.  It’s not like the 100-year thing for the Cubs hasn’t been covered tad nauseum this season.  There’s not a baseball fan (or perhaps even casual sports fan) who doesn’t know about the Cubs’ “curse” or World Series drought.  THAT is reason enough to broadcast the Cubs game over the Rays game.  If that’s not drama, I have no idea what is.

The Cubs are in the playoffs again, winning the NL Central title for the second time year in a row and third time in six years.  Thankfully, TBS has broadcast rights to the NLDS.  They’ll have their hands full covering all four series simultaneously, but I’m just glad it’s not Fox.  Unfortunately, Fox has rights to the LCS and WS coverage.  I can only hope that if when the Cubs make it to those rounds, Fox will send their “A” team to cover the games, even though I can’t stand Tim McCarver.  Joe Buck is an excellent play-by-play announcer, however, and because there’s no other playoff story bigger than the Cubs this year, Fox needs to wake up and smell the ivy.  Stop disrespecting Cub Country and give some other major market franchises NOT named the Red Sox and Yankees their proper due.