It’s one of sports’ greatest rivalries: the Boston Red Sox versus the New York Yankees.
The two historic franchises are squaring off in the Wild Card round on ESPN, but fans are already frustrated by the poor broadcast quality and audio issues.
The Red Sox stole Game 1 in the Bronx against the Yankees, as Aroldis Chapman escaped a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth to secure a dramatic 3-1 win.
However, as entertaining as the game was, the broadcast almost ruined it entirely.
It started in the very beginning, when a crackling noise echoed throughout the first inning and only grew louder as the game went on. When the Yankees got the last out of the first inning, the crackling was booming through the broadcast like an irritating and harsh white noise.
It was a popping noise that kept crackling over and over again anytime the crowd would make noise.
New York’s Anthony Volpe homered in the second, and by that point, the viewers at home had grown fed up with the faulty audio.
“This ESPN broadcast of Sox/Yanks is comically poor quality. Bitrate choppy and audio feed a mess. They don’t deserve MLB anymore,” one fan posted on X.
“Pretty remarkable we’re halfway through this game and ESPN still hasn’t fixed the miserable audio crackling. PLEASE FIX ESPN,” another fan chimed in.
“Congrats to ESPN MLB again for the worst audio imaginable,” one more added.
After frustrating fans for several innings, ESPN eventually managed to sort out the audio problems and iron out a smoother broadcast.
The bad news for the audience that suffered through the JV broadcast, ESPN holds exclusive rights to the entire Wild Card Series, so there’s no alternate broadcast when issues like these arise.
Viewers on cable, streaming services, and the ESPN app all experienced the same crackling audio.
Fortunately for fans, this is ESPN’s last year with Wild Card rights, as NBC is set to take over in 2026.
Game 2 of the series is set for Wednesday evening, with Game 3, if necessary, on Thursday.
The Red Sox and Yankees have faced each other in the playoffs 14 times, with the Yankees leading the series 9–5.
Historically, New York has had the upper hand in their infamous postseason encounters, but now they must win two games in a row to keep their season alive.
Boston will be looking to send their bitter rival home, while the rest of the country will just be hoping for a much cleaner broadcast with no audio issues.
