Tuesday night’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game came down to a thrilling finish – with Seattle Mariners superstar Julio Rodríguez at the plate in his home stadium, T-Mobile Park, with a chance to win the contest on one swing. Philadelphia Phillies closer Craig Kimbrel struggled to put Rodríguez away, ultimately walking him in an epic seven-pitch at-bat to put the winning runs on base. In the end, Kimbrel was able to strike out Cleveland Guardians infielder Jose Ramírez to seal the National League’s first All-Star Game victory in a decade. Dan Patrick was not entirely that interested.
“You had a little bit in the ninth inning,” Patrick said. “Here’s what happens sometimes – we look at the ninth inning and we go, ‘Man, that was an exciting All-Star Game.’ No it wasn’t.”
Todd Fritz, executive producer of The Dan Patrick Show, told Patrick before the start of the program that he was excited by watching the FOX Sports studio panel eat popcorn and cotton candy. Overall, the game was not that interesting for him, leading him to question what Ortiz was eating in the middle of the action.
“What am I going to watch – the [sacrifice] fly that made it 2-1 American League in the fifth inning or whatever it was?,” Fritz asked. “That didn’t do anything for me.”
Patrick surmised that Ortiz was requested by Derek Jeter to sit between him and Álex Rodríguez, citing tension over the years while they were teammates on the New York Yankees. During the postgame show, Ortiz donned a beekeeping mask and sprayed “Yankee repellent,” playing on the fact that he was a member of the team’s most staunch rival, the Boston Red Sox.
“If they were chugging beers, I would have been interested [in] that,” Patrick said.
While he was flipping around the channels, Patrick was struggling to find another program to watch. Because of the level of boredom the All-Star Game caused him to feel, he began watching the U.S. Senate hearings regarding the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf merger.
“It’s just not special,” Patrick said of the Midsummer Classic. “There’s certain things – you’re trying to put earrings on a pig or lipstick on a pig…. The All-Star Game lost its luster a long, long time ago.”
Patrick’s theory is, in part, supported by last year’s iteration of the contest reaching a record nadir in its viewership numbers. Last year’s numbers were indicative of a 10% decline in viewership (7.5 million viewers) and a 7% attenuation in ratings (4.2 share). Ratings for the 2023 All-Star Game continued the decline with an average of just under 7.1 million total viewers. Moreover, the T-Mobile Home Run Derby on ESPN garnered its lowest viewership marks since 2018.
