Mike Vorel: Mariners' TV fiasco was more than a channel change for frustrated fans

“The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.” — Terence Mann, “Field of Dreams,” 1989

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Baseball is impervious to time.

Technology is not.

So I feel for Mariners fans whose sacred rituals have been caught in the crossfire, as streaming subscriptions and channel changes disrupt decades-old routines. All most want is to watch the Mariners the same way they always have — same time, same channel, same familiar voices narrating their summer nights. With Dave Niehaus and Rick Rizzs, or Fox Sports Northwest and ROOT Sports, comes a degree of comfort. We cling to the peace of our predictable routines. For six months, maybe seven, first pitch isn’t hard to find. Baseball will be there.

But it wasn’t that way on opening day.

That’s thanks, in large part, to the rapid deterioration of regional sports networks, whose business models were broken as cords got cut. The Mariners shuttered ROOT Sports — formerly Prime Sports and Northwest Cable Sports — following the 2025 season. FanDuel Networks (which operated RSNs for eight MLB teams) and NBC Sports Chicago suffered similar fates.

As a result, 14 teams turned over their local telecasts to MLB to start the season.

Which is why said season started with a mad scramble.

Because MLB waited until 5:09 a.m. PT on opening day to announce where games for those 14 teams could be found, as it negotiated with providers for every precious penny. It prioritized revenue over communication and clarity for its frustrated fans.

Those channels weren’t immediately listed on cable guides, causing more confusion, while others were informed they must pay $20 more per month to add Mariners.TV. Some were told their provider wouldn’t air games at all until March 31. Hours were lost in an infuriating loop of phone calls with provider help lines.

Plus, let’s say you somehow bypassed that bog, stumbling upon Channel 1261 on Comcast/Xfinity or 414 on Charter/Spectrum in Seattle. Let’s say, around 7 p.m., a black abyss suddenly bestowed baseball. Let’s say you watched the Mariners lose without losing your mind.

The frustration for fans didn’t end there.

Friday’s game was broadcast on Apple TV, which offers subscriptions starting at $12.99 per month.

Saturday’s game was broadcast on Mariners.TV, which offers subscriptions starting at $19.99 per month.

Sunday’s game was broadcast on Peacock, which offers subscriptions starting at $10.99 per month.

This is the byproduct of A) an increased national demand for Mariners baseball, and B) the continued splintering of MLB broadcast rights. National games will be split among three streaming services (Peacock, Apple TV+ and Netflix), three cable channels (ESPN, FS1 and TBS) and three over-the-air networks (ABC, NBC and Fox) in 2026. (The Mariners will also air 10 games for free on KING 5, a welcome reprieve.)

Sure, there are free trials and bundle packages and shared passwords. But finding (and paying for) Mariners baseball has never been harder.

The timing, too, is obviously atrocious — as the Mariners embark on their most anticipated season in recent memory. The team would have preferred for ROOT Sports NW, in which it purchased a majority stake in 2013, to continue printing money. The river of revenue from regional sports networks was long used by benefiting teams to lure big fish in free agency. Undoubtedly, the Mariners didn’t want to inconvenience or alienate their most fervent fans by making this move. But now, there’s a desert where the river once ran.

So, again, I feel for Mariners fans. MLB deserves a boatload of blame for keeping fans in the dark as opening day crept uncomfortably closer. The Mariners, too, could have been more transparent throughout the process. But the biggest villain is not an out-of-touch commissioner or a customer care rep. It’s the unstoppable steamrolling, the passage of time.

Baseball, of course, has been resilient. Even in an era of bat flips and pitch clocks and ball-strike challenges, where hot dogs fall from parachutes and salmon run free, it’s still nine innings and 27 outs. It’s still sunflower seeds and grand salamis. You may not agree with every way the game has evolved. You may not love the analytics. But scrape away the changes, and it’s still the same game.

The same can’t be said about sports consumption.

And given that MLB’s national media rights expire (again) after the 2028 season, the changes will keep coming. The steamrolling won’t stop any time soon.

Not everyone will be affected in the same way. For younger fans, a smartphone — and its apps — are an extension of their arms. I’m 35, and I watched Monday’s Mariners game on my phone in the dugout of an intramural kickball game. (That’s possibly the most millennial sentence ever written or read.) I appreciate that Mariners baseball is no longer helplessly tethered to a television. But I know so many others don’t see (or watch) it that way.

For years, most had cable, which meant most had the Mariners. You weren’t required to solve a riddle to protect your routine. You didn’t have to guess where to watch the game. There was a daily dependability that continues to fade.

Ultimately, I suspect fans who want to find the Mariners will find the Mariners. But I appreciate that this is more than a channel change.