Playoff baseball brings a special kind of energy, and every single pitch feels like it could change everything. And for fans, it also gives them the opportunity to hear new voices as the familiar hometown announcers are replaced by a national crew. Sometimes, those voices become the biggest story of the night, and that’s exactly what happened during the third game of the American League Division Series between the Seattle Mariners and the Detroit Tigers on FS1.

The Mariners entered the postseason as the AL West champions and hosted the Detroit Tigers, who won their Wild Card series 2-1 against the Cleveland Guardians. After splitting two nail-biting games in Seattle, the series came to Detroit, and in a rain-delayed Game 3, the Mariners’ bats came alive and dominated the Tigers with an 8-4 victory to take a commanding 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.

But as the Mariners built their lead, fans started noticing something strange on the national broadcast. They felt the broadcast team of Adam Amin, Adam Wainwright, and A.J. Pierzynski sounded less thrilled and were disappointed that the Tigers were losing.

The feeling grew so strong that even Mariners pitcher Tayler Saucedo  tweeted, “Am I crazy or do these announcers sound pro Detroit and bummed they are losing?”

The comment sparked a massive debate online about the announcers’ neutrality, and the fans are far from happy about that.

Fans erupt over “biased” broadcast

Some fans were so turned off that they felt the entire FOX crew was a failure. “The commentators in the Tigers/Mariners ALDS are the worst.”

While many Mariners fans became convinced that the broadcast was telling a one-sided story and said, “This broadcast has been so tigers heavy all series.” This wasn’t just a feeling because the viewers pointed to real examples. The broadcast featured multiple interviews with Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, but with Seattle, they cut to commercials in the middle of Julio’s interview during the game. And then there’s a historical context, like fans know Adam Wainwright from the FOX broadcasting team is the same pitcher who beat the Tigers in the 2006 World Series.

And while the whole broadcasting crew took some heat, the former catcher A.J. Pierzynski’s aggressive style made him the main villain of the night. One fan remarked, “They were so much worse Saturday and Sunday. Pierzynski is the most biased “neutral” commentator I’ve ever heard.” Plus, FOX announcer Pierzynski has some history with the Mariners, as he made a strange, joking complaint about the team closing their stadium roof during a game.

The frustration was so high that one fan tagged the entire broadcast team on social media, accusing the whole FOX  broadcasting crew of openly rooting for the Tigers and comparing them with their beloved local announcer. “Tell me you are pulling for the Tigers and don’t like the Mariners even when you are supposed to be un biased as commentators. @adamamin @ajpierzynski12 Adam Wainwright… Sadness as a baseball fan. Aaron Goldsmith does a better job calling even plays and he’s employed by the Ms.”

Some fans felt so ignored and disrespected that they appealed to MLB for new announcers. “@MLB you guys really got to get commentators that are less biased. These @Mariners vs @tigers guys seem like Detroit homers. All they do is talk great about Detroit. 💩”

Finally, some critiques were not about bias. They gave a reality check by saying, “Hey I just learned from the FOX announcers on this broadcast that apparently they’re now outside of “Slam Range” and they can’t tie it up with 1 swing because a grand-slam is worth 4 and they need 5…. 🤦‍♂️”

Did you catch the game? What are your thoughts on the broadcasters’ alleged bias?