The Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox are battling in a do-or-die Game 3 in the Wild Card Series on Thursday, and A's outfielder Ramon Laureano provided unique humor value in the third inning.
The ESPN telecast had Laureano, Oakland's center fielder, mic'd up for the start of the third. Before the commentators had a chance to really engage in conversation, White Sox outfielder Eloy Jimenez ripped one into the outfield gap.
Laureano chased the ball to the wall, hoping to have a play on Jimenez at second. But Jimenez cruised into second base with a stand-up double, prompting this NSFW reaction from the Athletics outfielder:
lmao mic'd up Ramon Laureano yells "he can FUCKIN run!" when Eloy Jimenez runs into second on a play 😂 pic.twitter.com/F91yhbNiDF
— The Rickey Henderson of Blogs (@RickeyBlog) October 1, 2020
As it turned out, Laureano was quite active during in inning in which the White Sox scratched across a couple runs to take a 3-0 lead over the Athletics.
The moment also prompted some backlash on Twitter, with beat writers wondering whether ESPN's decision to have players mic'd up in a winner-take-all game was prudent:
The postseason should be entertaining enough. I'm all for getting guys' personalities in front of larger audiences, but this looks embarrassing and desperate. https://t.co/ol3OBuvbjn
— Russell Dorsey (@Russ_Dorsey1) October 1, 2020
I’m a White Sox fan, but let that man do his job…
— Laurence Holmes (@LaurenceWHolmes) October 1, 2020
The thing is that Laureano is a willing participant and I dig that about him, but this ain’t the All-Star game.
— Laurence Holmes (@LaurenceWHolmes) October 1, 2020
Baseball in spring training and regular season should have mic'd up players. But you shouldn't have to rely on mic'd up players to keep people interested in postseason games. It is the postseason, is that enough?
— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) October 1, 2020
Indeed, it seems questionable to ask players to speak with commentators during the playoffs, when every pitch has significance.
It is possible Laureano's mic'd-up moment could lead to a larger call for telecasts to drop the idea later in October. The Athletics are hoping they'll still be alive then, but they have some work to do.
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