The Toronto Blue Jays may have come out with a big win against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, but technical difficulties made it tough for fans watching from home to enjoy it.
Last night, a power outage before the game at Comerica Park led to several problems with the live feed. As a result, replay reviews were delayed until the late innings, radar gun readings were absent, and dugout iPads were unusable.
Both the Blue Jays and Tigers had to cope without real-time data, while fans at home experienced limited broadcasts throughout most of the game.
Sportsnet’s broadcast was not ready to start the game, with play-by-play announcers Dan Shulman and Joe Siddall forced to call several innings of the action via their cell phones because the outage affected their equipment.
As a guest on Sportsnet 590 on Friday, Shulman addressed the controversy, explaining that a freak accident cut the power.
“Let me say this, because I spend a little too much time on Twitter, some people are blaming the wrong forces here. There was some sort of underground explosion. A manhole cover flew up into the air in the general vicinity of the ballpark and severed some power lines.”
“We just tried to have fun with it. What could you do?”
Dan Shulman shares his perspective of last night’s power outage in Detroit with @BlakeMurphyODC. #TOTHECORE
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📻 https://t.co/tEtiRUWyip pic.twitter.com/m4l8fyi49I— Sportsnet 590 The FAN (@FAN590) May 24, 2024
Shulman was also quick to defend networks broadcasting the game.
“It knocked us off the air. It knocked the Tigers off the air. it has nothing to do with the Blue Jays or Rogers, or Sportsnet, or Bally Sports (…) It was a widespread thing.”
Despite the unforeseen circumstances, Toronto came away with a dominant 9-1 victory. As a result, some players were unbothered by the blackout.
“I think it helped us,” Blue Jays outfielder Daulton Varsho said, as per MLB Network’s Jon Morosi. “It goes back to old-school baseball.”
As for Shulman, the 57-year-old looks back on the slightly chaotic event as a unique experience.
“We just tried to have fun with it. What could you do?” he said, thanking his broadcast team. “It was an experience. As we drank a couple of beers after the game, we all laughed about it.”
The Jays will take on Detroit again today at 6:40 pm ET. Here’s hoping everything goes according to plan.
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