In the bottom of the 7th inning in a pivotal Game 4 of a (up to that point, at least) tight World Series, Jorge Soler crushes a line drive to left field. The baseball leaves the bat at 107 miles per hour and travels just over Yordan Alvarez's outstretched glove and into the Houston bullpen to give the Braves a 3-2 lead over the Astros. Joe Buck gives his customary call on the FOX telecast: "Back at the wall...it is gone!"

Truist Park is going absolutely bananas. Dansby Swanson, who homered the batter before to tie the game, jumps up and down, screams, and looks as if he might burst a blood vessel in his head. This might be the biggest swing of the World Series, with Soler's home runs in Games 1 and 6 comprising the other candidates. The FOX broadcast team of Buck and Hall of Fame pitcher John Smotlz are silent for 35 full seconds after Buck's call, wisely letting the celebration on the field and in the stands be the focus of the broadcast. Smoltz breaks the silence, hardly any emotion in his voice:

Alvarez went into that fence almost full speed and he crushed that fence trying to get that home run. Of course, not being out there or knowing these dimensions...but he gave every effort he had to catch that ball. I mean he is flying into this right here and catches the knee on the padding...just missed the baseball.

After another pause, Joe Buck remarks that Alvarez will stay in the game and then attempts to shift to the implications of the back-to-back homers.

Really FOX and Major League Baseball? Really? In the most exciting moment of the premier event of the baseball season, your lead analyst has all the enthusiasm of a doctor who is breaking the grim news to the family of a patient that they could not save their loved one. There was discourse on Twitter that Smoltz, an Atlanta Braves franchise icon, overcorrected himself so as not to seem as if he had a rooting interest in the proceedings. And you make think it nitpicky to dissect this one moment in FOX's hours of World Series coverage. But this is the norm in Major League Baseball broadcasts. Joe Buck isn't Vin Scully, but he's at the least perfect serviceable (I'm sure many will disagree). And if you watch a lot of baseball broadcasts you will be familiar with the dynamic of the play-by-play broadcasters struggling to overcome the negative commentary of the retired player or manager that shares the booth with them. The Braves television broadcasts are a notable exception. But bigger fish to fry.

It's no secret that MLB is struggling to attract younger viewers, especially compared to the NFL and NBA. The 2021 World series broadcast had the second lowest viewership of all time, ahead last year's pandemic-affected broadcast. Watching this year's playoff coverage, two glaring issues stood out. Not the pitching changes or the shifts or lack of compelling storylines or players only trying to hit home runs. The inherent strategy and natural drama of postseason baseball are alive and well. By and large, the broadcasts are so boring. And the games are way way too long. You really can't expect the casual sports fan to sit through 4-plus hours of banal drivel when that fan could just as easily rewatch their favorite sitcom on Food City's new streaming app. Just kidding about the Food City app. But it's not too much of a stretch.

Seriously, who is making these broadcast personnel decisions and what are they getting out of it? These men (and they are always men) bring absolutely nothing to the table other than the odd comment that sounds smart but actually isn't if you think about it more than two seconds. Pick one: John Smoltz, Buck Showalter, Alex Rodriguez, Jack Morris, Tom Glavine, Al Leiter, Jim Kaat. How many fans who don't watch baseball every day would say any of these broadcasters make their viewing experience more fun or engaging?

My first thought when I turned on MLB Network to watch Game 2 of the AL Division Series between the White Sox and Astros was something like "Wow. This broadcast could be a disaster." Bob Costas has been a very fine sports broadcaster for decades. But beside him were a former player and a former manager: Jim Kaat and Buck Showalter. The average age of these three men is 72 years old. In the first inning, Showalter was remarking on the natural talent of Cuban-born Yoan Moncada, lamenting that when he was managing he wondered where he could get "one of these." Kaat laughed and chimed in: "Get a 40-acre field full of them." So two old white guys casually talked about a player of color as if he was livestock. Kaat unsurprisingly apologized later in the broadcast. It's not quite Thom Brennaman level, but these kind of remarks are a symptom of the larger issue: baseball needs to rethink its entire broadcast formula. If you tailor your broadcast towards old white men, why do you expect anyone else to watch?

Then there are just oddities in broadcasting that will drive you mad if you think about them too long, whether it's Brian Anderson repeatedly calling Eddie Rosario "one of the fastest players in the league" during TBS's NLCS coverage, Ron Darling seemingly exclaiming "Yes!" when Cody Bellinger hit a game-tying home run in the same series, or Alex Rodriguez's assertion that leading by an even number of runs is preferable to leading by an odd number of runs. Seriously guys, what are we doing here?

How does Major League Baseball and the major networks begin to correct this problem? They could start by making proactive hires: analysts who actually like baseball (i.e. Jeff Francoeur). And add more diversity! More women! More people of color! More people born after 1955! And there are good broadcasters out there. My favorites include Jon Sciambi, Sarah Langs, Doug Glanville, Dan Schulman, and more. ESPN's Statcast broadcasts are infinitely more fun that their main broadcast. And the commitment by a couple networks to have all women broadcast teams is certainly a step in the right direction.

And yes, before you ask, I listened to Ben Ingram and Joe Simpson on the Braves Radio Network rather than listen to the FOX broadcast. Except the one game I watched with friends and was unable to sync up the two. Half the group left or went to bed before the end of the game.

P.S. A pitch clock would also be a big help.