MLB.TV is great. You can watch any baseball game at any time. Well, except for blackouts, but let’s not go down that road. Even if you have only watched a few games, you quickly realize there are only a few commercials shown during the breaks between innings. I thought it would be fun to rank, from worst to first, the commercials with some added commentary. I’m sure I’ve missed some so let me know in the comments!
10. Imagine Dragons “Natural” Singing Lips Amazon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYgZ7CPuTAM
This ad is one that was played towards the end of last season. I am glad it did not return this season. First of all, Imagine Dragons? Really, Amazon? You are trying to promote your music service and you go with Imagine Dragons. Interesting choice. Also, the green stuff on the upper lip, is that a mustache? Or Moss? What is that?! Such a bad ad, especially hearing it during every half-inning.
9. Snapple – Watermelon Lemonade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XCI97srTTQ
The Snapple commercial gets a 10 out of 10 for creepiness factor. Seriously, the face and voice of that watermelon is nightmare-inducing. I’m not sure what is going on here. Are the lemon and watermelon trying to say their flavor is more overpowering? Confusing and creepy…not a good combo.
8. Gillette Skinguard Fireman Commercial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRe_UyxtK1g
I’m not a guy, but is shaving really a daunting task? The commercial also states that firefighters need to shave every day. Is that why they went with a bald guy? He says it has a fence in the middle. What the heck is a fence in the middle? Also, why on earth is he shaving in his uniform? No one does that. This is a weird one for sure.
7. Virginia Lottery – X times the Fun
Seeing as this is a Virginia Lottery ad, I bet most of you have not had the ‘privlege’ of seeing it. Consider having hit the lottery for not seeing it. During every half inning, they play this commercial back-to-back, and then the 10 times the fun commercial. Fun times are had by all. Kudos to the clothes designer on these ads. The suits match the color of the lotto tickets. Nice touch. Sad note: I know every single word to both of these ads. “Oh, I’m feeling this!” “Five Times the Fun!”
6. Outback Steakhouse – Bloom There It Is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPMFqkjozOE
This ad is the type of ad I dislike. Loud announcer. Loud music. Bad looking food. Just obnoxious. How can I concentrate on what I want to be doing during half innings, which is checking my Twitter feed? Also, I’m thinking this would be a great walkup song for Chaim Bloom, the Tampa Bay Rays Vice President of Baseball Operations.
5. Youtube TV
Usually, I do not mind adds where no one is talking. But what is up with the whistle? Is this a football ad? I’m watching baseball. Wrong choice MLB.TV.
4. Let the Kids Play 2.0
A follow up to the first Let the Kids Play ad. Good but not as good as the first one. I love how Alex Bregman is the first one to break the ice and say something cocky. I should have listened to Christian Yelich. He told us he was going to hit 50 home runs this year. The man does not lie.
3. Statcast AI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzvdrWQ–pM
Now, this is a commercial I can totally get behind. Look at all of those numbers on the screen. I am surprised AWS and Statcast went with the stolen base side of Statcast. Steals are down around the league. I would have used launch angle and barrels if I wanted to promote Statcast to people who watch the game today. I really want to know why a Yankees vs Rays game from September 2014 was used. Antoan Richardson pinch ran for Francisco Cervelli in the seventh and swiped a bag off Brandon Gomes. Interesting to look at the lineups for this game.
2. Oakley – It’s Okay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYZs0hIr2y8
I actually love these Oakley commercials. Everyone has there obsessions and it is okay. I think we need Trevor Bauer chucking the ball over the centerfield wall in their next one. You’re welcome, Oakley.
1. Let the Kids Play
Not much to say here. Perfect commercial. More bat flips, bat licking, and pitchers strutting off the mound, PLEASE.
I like the Amazon one where they “will cakkalate the odds of a successful stolen base” to give you new insight into the game. Wow, new insight into the game?? How thoughtful…
This year in Canada we havnt been getting any commercials. Just a nice and eerily silent wait screen between innings. While its mainly good to not have ads all the time, it does feel weird when it just goes silent for 2-4 minutes. In past years we would get 2 or 3 commercials that would play almost every single break which was absolutely terrible. It was also always so sad that wed get these replays of past events in the MLB before the commercial break ended (Ichiro hitting #3000, JBJ making a diving catch) but they only had 15 of them that just repeated for 2 or 3 years, come on MLB you could get 15 fun looking replays every day. *Brag time* We dont have any blackouts on MLB.TV…at least in Toronto not sure about other parts of this large mostly empty land mass.
Weird. I’m in Ontario, Canada, and I get a very small rotation of commercials and both old and new MLB moments on my MLB.TV. Lately I’ve seen those QuickBooks commercials with Danny DeVito on a near constant loop. I was never a huge DeVito fan (aside from his brilliant tour de force as the Penguin in Batman Returns) but these ads are making me hate him on a massive scale. Enough is enough!
Okay! I hate Bounty paper towels! The commercial where the father steps on a Leggo piece and screams “Ahhhhhhh!!!” drives me nutty!
Shelly, I love this article. Every time the Gillette ad comes on I wonder why they choose to have this big doofus 30 year old with braces telling us how scary it is to shave. They certainly didn’t pass on the opportunity to remind us all that they are a Boston based company(they never do), but seriously, couldn’t they have found a less annoying person for this? Also, I understand the desire to play up the “hero fireman” angle. Believe me we all get it. That’s the lazy emotional touchpoint equivalent to having a cussing grandma in a movie. Love you on Dynasty’s Child(and everything else you do).
The commercial that drove my husband and I crazy was the Bounty commercial with the father stepping on a Leggo piece with juice in his hand and screaming “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!” I literally at times just walked out of the room! I will never, ever buy Bounty paper towel just for that reason alone!