Cliff Floyd needed help saying lines, and Katie Nolan was making fun of his struggles. Stephen Nelson kept announcing players' names wrong and then laughing about it. To his credit, he did own up to it at least. The entire broadcast felt incredibly slanted towards the Cubs or just nonsense. Each of them struggled to say words or names such as "Mesquite High School", "Disseminated", or even "drives". Also, I've never heard a ball hit "fast", I've heard "hard" or "strong", but never fast. Thought that was an interesting way to describe a ball hit off the bat.
When Christian Walker was walking up to an at-bat, the announcers felt they needed to point out how Walker just gives them "country vibes" and almost missed the fact that he got a run-scoring hit. I know one thing and it's that these announcers made me miss Steve and Bob so much. Bally Sports would do well learning some from Apple when it comes to cameras and information.
There were some positives to the broadcasts. The Camerawork was excellent and way better than Bally Sports Arizona. Plus, while the information on the screen could get to be too excessive, a lot of it was cool and interesting like the %chance of a player hitting into a double play or HR.
Two parts I really enjoyed were Gonzo saying that the best acquisition the Dbacks made in the off-season was getting Brent Strom to be the team's pitching coach. I loved that. Then, I'm hoping it's true, the announcers attributed a quote to Strom saying "Give me 48 hours with Mark" to get Melancon right after some struggles in the 9th inning by the Shark.
I know one thing, I won't be missing Cliffy, Katie, or Stephen. I sincerely hope this is the last Apple Game for the Diamondbacks this year. I will be enjoying the Legend's Races that occur at the Diamondbacks games.
Don't just take my word for it. Look at these tweets.
Cameras, score ticker, and other visuals are pretty nice. Commentators...they don’t even seem interested in the game.
— Sunny Moon (@SunnyMo80111370) May 14, 2022
Also these broadcasters seem like they have no idea who is even on these teams. It’s like they were told before hand “hey, you’re broadcasting a DBacks VS Cubs game, all we remember about them is Jason Heyward, Ian Happ, Ketel Marte and I think a dude named Dylan Varsho?”
— Brett Lee Johnson (@brett_johnson44) May 14, 2022
Ok the broadcasters just asked if D-Backs fans having their phones with lights on was something new. They’ve been doing that for YEARS. Even I know that and I’m not a D-Backs fan. Yikes. https://t.co/ubOWFPg0TI
— Adam Ruehmer (@heydudeimadam) May 14, 2022
The Apple TV announcers are awkward, unprepared and baseball ignorant. It's embarrassing and distracting. That comment about the lady hypothetically peeing in the swimming pool?
— Heather Rozzo (@Cali_Attorney) May 14, 2022
It is terrible. The announcers have ZERO emotion.
— Alan Simpson (@Dbacks_fam4) May 14, 2022
At least the Diamondbacks proved that they could win against a strong team like the Cubs. 4-3 was the score of the win with a season-high 12 hits. Mark Melancon gets back on track with a Save. The team is 15-7 since April 20th. Not bad at all. Thank God the Dbacks aren't on Apple TV+ next week though.