Even though the Texas Rangers’ improbable journey to become World Series champions was filled with intriguing storylines, ESPN’s First Take chose to give it as little attention as possible.
With their 5-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, the Rangers secured their first-ever World Series. Making the World Series even more remarkable was the fact throughout the playoffs, the Rangers somehow managed a perfect 11-0 record on the road.
Across all sports that play in playoff series, going undefeated in away games en route to a championship is unprecedented — especially considering the fact that the Rangers played the reigning champion Houston Astros in the previous round.
The championship also further the cemented the legacies of shortstop Corey Seager, who’s now a two-time World Series MVP at just 29 years old; and manager Bruce Bochy, now a four-time champion as a manager with more than 2,000 career wins.
Naturally, First Take opened its show with a breakdown of the NBA game between the Lakers and Clippers.
In fact, the show’s only dedicated MLB discussion came around 25 minutes into the show. MLB analyst Tim Kurkjian was brought on for the segment, which lasted a little less than seven minutes.
That was it for the duration of the two-hour show.
Others took note of the lack of Rangers coverage.
Stephen A. Smith has addressed this criticism in the past. On an episode of The Stephen A.
Despite these concerns, First Take will likely continue to be a show focused on football and basketball while occasionally throwing a bone to other sports.
Watch above via ESPN