Fox Tells World Series Announcers to Mention the Dodgers Every Four Minutes

MILWAUKEE — Fox Sports has told its World Series broadcast crew to mention the Los Angeles Dodgers at least once every four minutes during the Tampa Bay Rays–Milwaukee Brewers series, according to an internal memo titled “Keeping Viewers Who Think This Might Be a Different Game.”

The series opens Friday night at American Family Field between two markets with a combined 3.24 million TV households, the smallest pairing since 2006. Under the memo, camera operators must also find at least one fan in a Yankees cap per half-inning, and play-by-play may describe any Brewers double as “the kind of swing that would play in Los Angeles.”

“People don’t change the channel if they think the Dodgers could come on at any minute,” said Pam Overnight, 57, a ratings consultant whose firm, Couch Metrics, advised on the plan. “We’re not lying. We’re just never confirming they’re not in the dugout.”

The graphics department has been asked to stop showing payrolls after learning the two teams’ combined $241.8 million is less than what seven clubs spend on their own, including the Dodgers, Mets and Yankees. Instead, salaries will appear in “Dodgers dollars,” a unit in which the entire Rays roster costs about one long relief appearance.

Brewers starter Jacob Misiorowski, who threw a record 66 pitches at 100 mph or faster in a single start this year, will have each fastball compared on screen to “an L.A. guy you’ve heard of.”

“We waited since 1982,” said Dolores Kubiak, 71, who has tended bar on National Avenue since before the Brewers’ last trip to the World Series. “They can say Dodgers all night. We’ll be busy.”

In a follow-up memo, Fox said announcers may mention the Brewers and Rays by name only if the series goes seven games, “and only in the ninth.”