1. I fully understand that the Major League Baseball schedule release is never going to be a big deal since there are 162 regular-season games, interleague play is no longer special and because baseball is a regional, not a national, sport.

However, that doesn’t mean baseball should go out of its way to completely bury its schedule release. Did anybody even know the 2026 schedule was going to be announced on Tuesday?

This was how commissioner Rob Manfred decided to release next season’s schedule.

Thrilling.

This is a patten with baseball. This is a sport that holds its Hall of Fame ceremony WHILE A FULL SLATE OF GAMES ARE BEING PLAYED AT THE SAME EXACT TIME!

This is a sport that releases its postseason awards at 6 p.m. ET, not exactly a prime timeslot to maximize viewers.

This is a sport that allows Fox to put the League Championship Series on FS1.

So, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that MLB just quietly released its 2026 schedule on a random Tuesday afternoon.

I’m not saying baseball should have a three-hour schedule release show, a la the NFL. But a little promotion might be good.

Baseball’s main television partner is Fox. How about having Fox air a half-hour show to announce some of the schedule highlights, such as Opening Day and holidays like the 4th of July and Memorial Day?

Fox aired the Red Sox-Yankees game nationally last Thursday. That pregame show would’ve been a much better time to release the schedule than 1 p.m. ET on a Tuesday.

2. One of the big narratives around Tom Brady’s rookie season as Fox’s lead NFL analyst was that Brady was hurt by not being able to be in production meetings with each team because of his minority ownership stake in the Raiders.

According to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, that rule is no more. Marchand reports that the NFL will now let Brady attend production meeting with the coaches and players this season.

3. I was blown away by this post for one simple reason: How on earth is Mike Greenberg 58 years old? The guy could pass for 40, easily.

4. This guy drinking a gallon of milk at Tuesday’s Phillies-Mets game was probably a planned stunt, but I sure hope it wasn’t. If it is legit, I need to know how he was able to sneak a gallon of milk into Citi Field.

5. It’s time for YOU to pay for NBC’s acquisition of the NBA. I ask this question with all seriousness and would love to hear from you guys. If you are not an NBA fan, why on earth would anyone pay $17 a month for Peacock?

6. The latest SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast is half “Traina Thoughts” and half mailbag, with WFAN’s Sal Licata joining me for the entire show.

Topics discussed include the onslaught of sports docuseries, ESPN’s new direct-to-consumer app and its best feature, preseason NFL magazines and the perils of MLB betting.

In the mailbag segment, we tackle questions about the possibility of a woman becoming a full-time NFL game analyst, UFC leaving ESPN for Paramount, Howard Stern’s future on SiriusXM, ESPN buying MLB.tv, ESPN’s plan for its direct-to-consumer product, Russell Wilson vs. Jaxson Dart, the pinnacle of HBO’s Hard Knocks, Cris Collinsworth’s future with NBC, MLB realignment, my aversion to flying and whether Sal has recently called 911.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 77th birthday to WWE legend Sgt. Slaughter. In my opinion, Slaughter had one of the best heel turns ever. This was old-school wrestling at its best.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.


This article was originally published on www.si.com as How Can Major League Baseball Be So Awful at Marketing?.