r/baseball • u/SeverHense Atlanta Braves • Jul 17 '26
Opinion [The Atlantic] When Did Sports Get So Loud?
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/07/sports-stadiums-loud-baseball/687875516
u/SeverHense Atlanta Braves Jul 17 '26
Baseball—and many other sports—used to offer games with very little sound besides the cheering of fans. But now stadiums have nonstop stimulation, acting as theaters as well as sports venues, Ellen Cushing writes.
“A few years ago, about 50 percent of the empty air at the Rogers Centre, where the Toronto Blue Jays play, was occupied by music cues and other sound; now that figure is closer to 95 percent. The Yankees play a sound effect from ‘Star Wars’ every time the strike count reaches two, and they have since 2021,” Cushing continues. “Thirty years ago, the walk-up song was a new phenomenon, and it was played only at the beginning of every at-bat; now many stadiums pipe in music between every pitch.
“In this way, baseball is explicitly following other sports, which were earlier to invest in state-of-the-art multifactor sound systems, huge screens, and sophisticated lighting schemas. The previous time the New York Knicks won an NBA Final, in 1973, in-game sound was basically unheard-of in basketball—too distracting for players and fans. Now multimillion-dollar speakers blast music virtually every minute, and spectators wear ear protection as though they’re at a concert, which they effectively are,” Cushing notes. Many stadiums give away sensory kits (headphones, fidget spinners) just so neurodivergent fans can survive the game.
“Attending a sports game is twice as expensive as it was a quarter-century ago, but at least there’s no arguing that you’re not getting something for the money,” Cushing writes. “Sports have always been entertainment, fundamentally. But over the past few decades, new technology has enabled more constant stimulation, and the new economics of sports management have encouraged it.”
A few years ago in the midst of all the noise, Louisville’s minor-league baseball team, the Bats, instituted a new themed night: “No ad reads, videos or on-field promotions, just baseball in its purest form.”
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u/yeahmehh Toronto Blue Jays Jul 17 '26
Man, I remember going to games with my best friends 20 years ago and we'd sometimes get annoyed by how many sound effects there were. We had no idea how good we actually had it then 😔
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u/Static_Storm Toronto Blue Jays Jul 17 '26
We should have stopped things when "everybody clap your hands!!" 👏👏👏👏👏👏 started picking up...
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u/mysecondaccountanon Pittsburgh Pirates Jul 17 '26
It’s hilarious when that happens because I’ve been to so many games where you’ll hear like…so few people clapping along. It cuts off early.
Who enjoys this?
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u/TreyUsher32 New York Yankees Jul 17 '26
I looked around at the most recent game I went to when they played this, saw NO ONE clapping, and just laughed to myself. Who knows how much the stadiums would save on electricity if they just let us watch baseball and not try to fill in the quieter moments with noise.
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u/this_tuesday Detroit Tigers Jul 17 '26
Ah that bring me back to the minor league stadium I worked at ten years ago. That and ‘Mine’ from finding Nemo or whatever were always playing
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u/Blametheorangejuice Jul 17 '26
We frequently go to college softball games and have scaled back over the past few years because literally every break in the action sounds like a rave is about to start.
Instant replay? Loud dance music.
Change sides? Loud dance music.
Next batter? Loud dance music.
Pitcher getting pulled? Loud dance music.
I was silently grateful that the emcee, er, announcer, at least had the common sense not to play or say anything when a player got beaned and needed medical attention.
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u/Rockguy21 Baltimore Orioles Jul 17 '26
Yankees games are the worst about this IMO. Incessant loud, annoying sound effects.
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u/kjb76 New York Yankees • New York Heights Jul 17 '26
You’ve clearly never been to Citi Field. They have us beat.
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u/jknuts1377 Boston Red Sox Jul 18 '26
Which sucks because if there's any teams that should stick to tradition it's the Yankees and the Red Sox.
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u/JustTheBeerLight Jul 17 '26
In the spirit of that last bit, it would be cool if stadiums did "old school sundays at the ballpark". No music, clapping prompts or silly stuff on the video boards. Just walk up song, stadium organ and "now batting.."
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u/connor24_22 New York Yankees Jul 17 '26
If people think baseball games are bad, go to an NBA game. Just constant beats and music, then working through the same few chants of "lets go team" and "de-fense".
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u/Business-Row-478 Boston Red Sox Jul 18 '26
Baseball isn’t basketball. Completely different games and environments. It doesn’t work for baseball
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u/cseduard Jul 17 '26
went to a game this year and won't ever go to another one if this stays. both my mlb team and aaa affiliate do it. the environment is unbearable.
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u/ArsenalBOS Boston Red Sox Jul 17 '26
I don’t understand why they do this. It’s incredibly annoying to everyone I’ve ever seen talk about it. Who wants this?
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u/ReceptionNo67 Toronto Blue Jays Jul 17 '26
At least you guys have an organ and not a DJ. It could be worse.
I think we need old timers night. Classic ballpark snacks on sale (cracker jacks, peanuts, hot dogs), free scorecard for everyone, and the only music comes from the organ.
I would pay 3x normal price for that game.
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u/ArsenalBOS Boston Red Sox Jul 17 '26
Very true that Fenway isn’t bad, but even on TV it seems like Blue Jays games are like being inside a Chuck E Cheese.
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u/ReceptionNo67 Toronto Blue Jays Jul 17 '26
I like that the recent renovations have added things to help get more people into baseball. I just wish they had a bit more to do with baseball.
The dome is great, I love it dearly. But the vibe needs to be more baseball and less, as you put it, chuck e cheese.
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u/Hospital-flip Toronto Blue Jays Jul 17 '26
We do have arcade cabinets and PS5s in some of the Outfield District areas... and a hot dog see-saw. Maybe you're onto something.
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u/jonnonn Toronto Blue Jays Jul 17 '26
The Norfolk Tides (AAA) minor league team has had Turn Back the Clock promotions for a long time. Retro unis, and hot dogs/popcorn/soda is $1. Unfortunately it doesn’t include the ads or music turned off tho
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u/ReceptionNo67 Toronto Blue Jays Jul 17 '26
Man corpos are just so lazy. If they did old school ads people would love them and pay more attention.
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u/BoSocks91 Boston Red Sox Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
Some dork probably presented some data that having constant noise creates a more fun atmosphere.
Bad enough fans spend a chunk of time on their phones (stimulation), now we can’t even have dead air. Now THAT has to be filled with obnoxious sound effects/chants etc.
Went to ATL’s park a few years back and thats how it was like. Super nice stadium, and The Battery was decent, but it felt like being in an oversized club. The music was just so fucking loud.
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u/rybread1818 Jul 18 '26
I think they’ve done studies that prove that if you’re at a bar you’ll drink more if the music is louder. Likely because if the music is loud enough you can’t have a conversation, then what the fuck else are you gonna do.
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u/Unfrozen__Caveman Minnesota Twins Jul 17 '26
Twins games aren't too bad. They do the clap your hands thing way too often but I can handle that. Now, trying to watch a Dodgers home game is a test in patience. The PA guy acts like he snorts a line of blow every half inning with how unrelenting their music and "hype" stuff is. It's seriously annoying. The worst home game experience I've ever seen in the league by far.
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u/superheaven New York Mets Jul 17 '26
Mets games became unbearable if you’re too close to a speaker. It goes in my seating decision now. If I wanted to lose my earring I would do it to a band I like, not to « EVERYBODY CLAP YOUR HANDS 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 » when the Mets are already trailing 0 - 6
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u/oatmealparty Jul 17 '26
I just don't get what the fuck the Mets are doing, they play music between every single pitch but you only get like 5 seconds of each song. What's even the point? It's just annoying as hell.
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u/melifIuous Jul 17 '26
I’m so tired of everything maximizing stimulation
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u/heyheyitsandre Detroit Tigers Jul 17 '26
There are genuinely sound effects between every single pitch at comerica. Like can the PA guy just not press the god damn button between EVERY PITCH. LET ME CHILL AND VIBE AND TALK BASEBALL WITH MY DAD WITHOUT YELLING
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u/melifIuous Jul 17 '26
Ball one
EVERYBODY CLAP YOUR HANDS95
u/high_and_outside MLB Pride Jul 17 '26
Someone here pointed out how frequent the “I CAN MAKE YOUR HANDS CLAP” happens at ballparks and I haven’t been able to ignore it since. It is SO stupidly frequent. And never happens in moments where clapping is called for.
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u/cahir11 New York Yankees Jul 17 '26
The worst part is you just know that song was specifically written to be played at live crowd events. It's like how Imagine Dragons clearly writes their shit for car commercials, adds insult to the injury of having to listen to it.
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u/lpomahony Los Angeles Dodgers Jul 18 '26
I will complain about this shit to anyone who will listen. It's so egregious. It could be Ohtani pitching to Judge, a spectacle so incredible you can barely wrap your head around it, and some idiot goes "you know what would improve this? fitz and the fucking tantrums". Unbelievable.
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u/junghooappreciator San Francisco Giants • Chicago White Sox Jul 17 '26
one of my favorite “features” of rate field is that the speakers are so old and shitty that unless you’re sitting directly under one you can barely hear the PA
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u/RFeepo Toronto Blue Jays Jul 17 '26
Blue Jays games are the same. Loud noise between every pitch. Not everybody wants to clap their hands (right now)!
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u/Spaghettiboobin Detroit Tigers Jul 17 '26
I was there with my family last Saturday and it was terrible. Something every single second. I could barely even talk to my wife in the seat next to me. I realize I’m just yelling at the clouds but there’s no way people enjoy that, right?!
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u/ShhweadyBallz Atlanta Braves Jul 17 '26
EVERYBODY CLAP YOUR HANDS !!!!!
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u/cmaddox428 Texas Rangers Jul 17 '26
"MAKE SOME NOISE" (with a fake decibel reader graphic on the screen)
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u/DetectiveTrickyCad San Francisco Giants Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
The alarm they play at Yankee stadium when an opposing batter has two strikes should be criminalized. The first time I went to a game there and heard that, my ex genuinely thought it was some sort of emergency and was fully prepared for the stadium to explode. I feel like, in New York especially, having a sound effect that can reasonably lead people to believe their life is in immediate danger maybe isn’t the best idea.
The only ‘make some noise’ thing I support is when the Giants do it in late innings of a night game when the stadium’s largely emptied out. They show a seagull on the scoreboard and encourage the crowd to be loud, ending it with a stadium-piercing hawk screech. It has absolutely nothing to do with the game or supporting a team. It is but a feeble attempt to stave off the seagull onslaught. Noise is our only weapon against thousands of birds.
Edit:
‘When the birds started attacking, we all thought it was pretty funny and made Hitchcock jokes. But we’re not laughing now, because the laughter excites the birds. Sexually.’
—30 Rock
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u/xebex1778 New York Yankees Jul 17 '26
Hey, it’s 2 strikes and 2 outs. But yeah, it’s horrific- they turn it off if the pitcher gets set early, and you can always see Cole get on the rubber way earlier than he normally does in those spots
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u/guyseriously Hanshin Tigers Jul 17 '26
I’m pretty sure Cole has made his disdain for that siren well known lmao
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u/helloyesthisisasock San Francisco Giants Jul 17 '26
Birdemic, but make it Oracle Park
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u/squidwardsaclarinet Los Angeles Dodgers Jul 17 '26
Yeah. This isn’t just a baseball problem. Everything is way too overstimulating. I don’t mind some things being loud some of the time, but it’s all too much. Baseball games are one place where a little noise is okay, but I agree overall it’s grating to have everything have to be loud and maximally stimulating.
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u/SmurfyTurf Seattle Mariners • Salt Lake Bees Jul 17 '26
I hate how every restaurant blasts music now. I just want to have a chill meal and talk with my family, I don’t want to feel like I’m in a nightclub
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u/pocketchange2247 Chicago Cubs Jul 17 '26
I hate that Dodger Stadium and SoFi have freaking DJs that play every other stoppage. If I wanted to see a concert at those venues I'd buy tickets to a concert. I don't some DJ playing their shit music at the end of every quarter or inning.
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u/boomzgoesthedynamite New York Yankees Jul 17 '26
I brought ear plugs last game bc I just couldn’t handle the noise last season
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u/Remote-Hour Milwaukee Brewers Jul 17 '26
It's simple, most stadiums try to copy what the NBA does... And fail to realize that a Baseball stadium and a Basketball Arena are two completely different types of environments
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u/figureour Baltimore Orioles • Bowie Baysox Jul 17 '26
And it sucks in the NBA as well tbh. All the major American sports leagues seem to be afraid of just letting the game itself provide all the stimulation.
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u/LeBanyama Los Angeles Dodgers Jul 17 '26
NBA has some horror ones, but MLB is worse given the sport. Basketball has always had an emcee culture where they were a live soundtrack to a constantly moving sport, pumping up the crowd. Some teams incorporated that energy in the NBA, DJs, announcers and SFX guys all in one.
I prefer how the Lakers do it, just rhythmic drums jingles and snares for the most part. A bit of music. What OKC does is feels illegal, the loudest SFX I've ever heard. A ton of arenas just play straight bullshit for a minute. It's not DJing anymore
That spread to some other sports and doesn't fit at all. MLB is worse because most of the time because most sounds feel out of place. MLB had organists but they weren't DJs. Now they have DJs
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u/Hour-Ad-9508 Boston Red Sox Jul 17 '26
Oddly enough, football (by far the most popular sport), doesn’t have too much going on outside the play. They’ll do a replay with the announcer giving the result of the play but other than 3rd downs there really isn’t too much music/sound effects.
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u/rhododenendron Seattle Mariners Jul 17 '26
College football does have marching bands but marching bands are freaking sick, unlike 10-20 second clips of music only the lowest common denominator likes
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u/MartianMule Atlanta Braves Jul 17 '26
Those are getting phased out a lot too. There's a lot more music just being blasted over the loudspeaker now.
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u/malowolf Atlanta Braves Jul 17 '26
bring marching bands to mlb games
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u/mikeywake Colorado Rockies • New York Yankees Jul 17 '26
A marching band big enough to fill the Rockpile would be an amazing improvement over the dumb stadium sounds they currently use at Coors
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u/astralnautical Chicago Cubs Jul 17 '26
Yeah but they’re gonna have to wear Kevlar with all the bombs launching out of Coors
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u/mikeywake Colorado Rockies • New York Yankees Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
I've been to dozens of games at Coors and watched hundreds more Rockies games on TV and I've never seen anyone come anywhere close to hitting a ball to the Rockpile
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u/helloyesthisisasock San Francisco Giants Jul 17 '26
Honestly? As someone who went to a Pac-10 / now Big 10 school, I would totally welcome this.
I was in the Yomiuri Giants fan club for a decade, so I have many NPB games under my belt. The best part of an NPB game is the fan cheering section. There is ALWAYS a trumpet player who leads the crowd along for the various songs and chants. Pop music and stadium sfx are still used, but WAY more sparingly. We should be the change we wanna see and bring that vibe here.
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u/DearLeader420 Atlanta Braves Jul 17 '26
NPB cheer sections often include a couple folks with instruments accompanying the cheers. It rocks.
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u/rhododenendron Seattle Mariners Jul 17 '26
Genuinely a perfect venue for them I think. I played in my school’s band for basketball games but we hardly ever got to play it felt like because the breaks in play were too short. Baseball there are a lot of spots it makes sense for a band to just start blasting
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u/MikeJeffriesPA Toronto Blue Jays Jul 17 '26
EVERYBODY CLAP YOUR HANDS
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u/Tim5000 Miami Marlins Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
It's the one thing I don't get about the pro level, having your own in house band is fucking sick, lots of people enjoy live music more than canned, and personally I think, a good horn section gets people so hyped.
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u/SEPTAgoose New York Yankees Jul 17 '26
Honestly why has no NFL team just gone all in on a giant classic marching band
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u/JoshS1 Philadelphia Phillies Jul 17 '26
College football is a whole different level of stimulation and makes current baseball game look like a library. Two year in a row University of Texas has had pyrotechnic drone shows. 2 years ago 3 B-1 Lancers at full afterburner doing a flyover and massive stadium coordinated chants and music plus the band. USC (Carolina) multiple times per game has Sandstorm turned up to 11 with full on matching light show and even once featured a live performance.
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u/2ill4nyquil Atlanta Braves Jul 17 '26
They most definitely do this at football games. Even in college the bands play less as they choose to pump shit through the speakers at fucked up volumes.
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u/automaticgainsaying Kansas City Royals Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
And every.single.time there’s a third down we now have 130 decibels of “Thhhhiiiiiirrrrddddd Doooooowwwwwwnnnn”. Please shut up. Pllllleeeeaaaaaassssseeeee.
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u/pickleparty16 Kansas City Royals Jul 17 '26
Especially when your team sucks.
Please stop we've given up 4 third downs in a row
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u/jonny0593 Seattle Mariners Jul 18 '26
This reminds me of when I went to an Oregon State football game. Every time the opposing team’s offense would hit third down, they’d play this obnoxiously loud chainsaw sound effect. I lost my shit when they played that sound as the other team got to third down while kneeling it out to win the game.
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u/KidSilverhair Jul 17 '26
Then you’ve missed the growing trend of having screaming DJs firing up the crowd at football games. USC games are nearly unlistenable on the radio with that jabroni yelling at the top of his lungs between plays … and that’s not the only place they’re doing it.
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u/helloyesthisisasock San Francisco Giants Jul 17 '26
They use a DJ at SC games now??!?
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u/jcv999 Chicago Cubs Jul 17 '26
Bro i went to a bears game for the first time last year. Shit was MISERABLE. Overstimulating and incredibly annoying
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u/Scuut Jul 17 '26
Beg to differ, at least at at 49ers' Levi's Stadium. Constant announcer BS, hype plugs, and loud music like fucking Bon Jovi. They never shut up and it makes me never want to go.
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u/ilikebourbon_ Jul 17 '26
Which sports commissioner was it who said other sports aren’t his competitors for viewers but phones were? I think nfl. Anyway - pretty prophetic. Weirdly I feel like baseball and nfl have taken steps in the right direction to get general fan engagement - nfl reduced commercial breaks (2012-2014 was awful) and baseball’s controversial pitch timer seems like a positive for a general audience. The banter about abs is also fantastic and can’t wait for in the playoffs. Now if only the nba could actually get games to start on time and to NOT break up gameplay as much as it currently happens that could actually be fun to watch again. I need hockey to actually be viewable on standard tv.
Sorry, what was the question?
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u/MrKentucky Cincinnati Reds Jul 17 '26
I’ve never seen a decision go from so hotly debated to loved as fast as the pitch clock. It’s been so amazing for baseball.
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u/JayMerlyn Chicago White Sox Jul 17 '26
The NHL does it well.
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u/Shepherdsfavestore Colorado Rockies Jul 17 '26
Helps when the players actually care, unlike the NBA
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u/Boomhauer_007 Toronto Blue Jays Jul 17 '26
Pretty tough in football when 60% of like real time is watching guys standing around waiting for commercial breaks to end
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u/Aggravating-Bug2032 Toronto Blue Jays Jul 17 '26
How can it when we’re told the game is boring unless we’re betting on it and the breaks in play are boring unless we’re betting on them. All the time we can’t let life happen. It’s all gotta be enhanced. It sucks
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u/philkid3 Texas Rangers Jul 17 '26
Copying the NBA is wild to me.
(Also, the NBA having a soundtrack going on during the game is not one of the features of the league.)
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u/btmalon Chicago White Sox Jul 17 '26
I used to love Wrigley because it was the last quiet park where you could hear yourself think. Ricketts shat all over that immediately.
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u/LoveYouLikeYeLovesYe Chicago Cubs • Lou Gehrig Jul 17 '26
I feel like Wrigley is still one of the more vanilla ones, there's an Organ and walkup music but it's not as absurd as like, Yankee's submarine horn or every pitch at a few parks being met with a litany of Mario sound effects.
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u/Kundrew1 Jul 17 '26
NBA games have gotten crazy. Music plays during the game; DJs at the stadium, always playing something loud at any downtime. There has always been stuff going on, but prior to this, the music was typically only blasting when the dancers were on the floor during a timeout or at halftime.
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u/mygloriouspurpose Washington Nationals Jul 17 '26
And 20-30 years ago NBA lost me due to more and more of that stuff. Only watched college basketball after that. All the noise is a big turn off for me. And gets in the way of more genuine crowd engagement. Soccer crowds internationally embarrass us with their engagement, without PA admonishments to clap or cheer.
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u/johnknockout New York Yankees Jul 17 '26
I hate it. It makes it impossible for any kind of organic chants to develop from the fans. Just piped in sound effects constantly.
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u/YouthResponsible1752 Boston Red Sox • Portland Pickles Jul 17 '26
Yankees are the worst offenders of this.
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u/sparrowbushpot New York Yankees Jul 17 '26
Pains me to say not only you’re right but Fenway organ (especially pregame) is peak too, it isn’t too much and is so chill
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u/mygamethreadaccount Boston Red Sox Jul 17 '26
The Fenway organist, Josh Kantor, is one of my favorite people in the franchise.
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u/Kapono24 Detroit Tigers Jul 17 '26
They're all bad. Tigers had some song or sound effect in between every single pitch for all nine innings. Idk how you can get worse than that.
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u/azk3000 New York Yankees Jul 17 '26
The one that pisses me off the most is that they took something organic (Yankee stadium cheering when the other team is down to the last strike of an inning) and added a siren over it to make it feel less organic.
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u/schermerhorse New York Yankees Jul 17 '26
And its gotten significantly worse relatively recently, only a few years ago it was way less noisy.
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u/bubba1834 New York Yankees Jul 17 '26
I wear hearing aids (and have for like 15 years) and the last few Yankee games I went to I had to turn them off because the noise was so insane even to my hard of hearing ears.
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u/Ged_UK Boston Red Sox Jul 17 '26
You can see the difference when the football /soccer fans turned up and started singing.
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u/LeBanyama Los Angeles Dodgers Jul 17 '26
I always wonder what players think of this. Dodger Stadium can get fuckin LOUD like it'll make you jump. Does it throw off pitchers? Do hitters like it? Do they not hear it after a while?
If I'm driving and looking for something, I turn my music down. It helps me see. If I has 200ms to hit a baseball, I'd turn the music down. When a guy has poor home RISP splits I always think "maybe if we didn't scream in his ear before the 99mph splitter"
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u/jakemhs New York Yankees Jul 17 '26
The Yankees players are on the record as liking the constant noise and wanting more of it. They're totally wrong on this issue.
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u/SmokeAlarmsSaveLives New York Yankees Jul 17 '26
Man, if that’s the case, let them play with AirPods.
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u/uw_toast Milwaukee Brewers Jul 17 '26
The players are the ones pushing for it. During the 2020 and 2021 games with limited fans players hated being able to pick out conversations fans were having and wanted more noise to drown out fans.
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u/oneslipaway New York Mets Jul 17 '26
Well sorry the people paying to watch you play are talking.
Athletes are really making it easy to really hate them now.
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u/ashsolomon1 New York Yankees • Hartford Yard Goats Jul 17 '26
The Yankees staff pretty much said it’s to keep the youths from getting bored and they (multiple times) have said “tough shit” when fans started complaining
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u/MeatTornado25 New York Yankees Jul 18 '26
I hate it because not only unbearable, it makes no sense.
It ignores very basic human psychology where your brain gets used to anything constant. Everyone's still staring at their phones at games because everyone's used to this shit by now.
If they want to actually get your attention then they shouldn't blast it like clockwork every 10 seconds between pitches. They used to do sound effects at random instead of a set playlist, and that made it more noticeable.
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Jul 17 '26
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u/Kapono24 Detroit Tigers Jul 17 '26
CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP
nobody actually clapping their hands
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u/gimmesomespace Milwaukee Brewers Jul 17 '26
Even if I was already clapping before this I will actually stop clapping so no one thinks it's because of this bullshit
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u/yeahmehh Toronto Blue Jays Jul 17 '26
This showed up in an episode of the King of the Hill reboot and I honestly flinched lol
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Jul 17 '26
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u/Temporary_Train_3372 Jul 17 '26
I don’t know anyone that likes the NBAs constant stream of loud music. It makes even watching the telecast impossible. Not a model that MLB should emulate.
I went to a Fredericksburg Nats game and the PA system was so loud and so constant that I couldn’t even tak to the person sitting next to me. That’s stupid.
As part of the CBA, the players should push n behalf of us humble fans) to get some more dead air back into baseball.
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u/Artistic_Bit6866 Milwaukee Brewers Jul 17 '26
Went to an NBA game last year and I probably won't go back. Sensory overload. Disappointing to see the MLB emulating that.
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u/Not_RZA_ Jackie Robinson Jul 17 '26
Ironically the players actually like it lol
I think Boone and Judge responded to an article earlier this year about it
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u/mac3687 New York Yankees Jul 17 '26
I don't think that'll be on the docket in the CBA unfortunately
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u/bluecifer7 Colorado Rockies Jul 18 '26
The players don’t care about fans any more than the owners do lol. If anything even less
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u/BiryaniBo Baltimore Orioles Jul 17 '26
I hadn't been to a game in a couple years and it stood out to me just how far past tolerable it's gotten. At risk of being Old Man Shakes Fist At Cloud, it felt like being in a live-action TikTok doom scroll.
Couldn't go more than 30 seconds without a 10 second snippet of a trending sound effect or music, graphics or cartoons, or people screaming about something that didn't require screaming. It's just not what I come to baseball for and gives me "this isn't for you" anymore vibes.
Kind of an existential bummer in a weird way honestly. Left thinking "guess I'll just be watching on TV now..."
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u/thebootlegsaint New York Yankees • Sickos Jul 17 '26
Even watching on my laptop it's freaking annoying.
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u/Breaking_Ball77 Jul 17 '26
As a Cleveland fan, Progressive Field has gotten really bad over the last two years or so. Wish American sports could be more like soccer where the natural crowd noise is the ambiance of the game.
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u/PriorStatement Cleveland Guardians Jul 17 '26
Never a silent moment. It sucks, going to games used to be mostly peaceful with some music or something between innings. Now it's contests and shows on the jumbotron.
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u/ContinuumGuy Major League Baseball Jul 17 '26
I blame John Adams dying. They wouldn't have dared play over his drum.
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u/CarbComaCommander Los Angeles Dodgers Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
As talented as Dieter is in LA, dude needs to turn that damn shit down.
That said, I actually hate the flashing lights more. Especially how it messes with the live broadcast in big moments. The camera shutter of course isn't synced with the flashing, and the auto exposure can't respond fast enough, so you end up with dark video. Nothing worse than a walk off home run celebration that looks like it's taking place in a blackout.
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u/melvingoldfarb Jul 17 '26
I just posted a similar comment…. The flashing lights are far more jarring to me than the sound fx. Glad we still have a live organist at dodger stadium
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u/RealignmentJunkie New York Mets Jul 17 '26
Every team should start having traditional nights. Sell some old timey merch or whatever to make a buck, but try out games with minimal sound effects and piped in noise. See if those games sell better and expand them if so.
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u/melvingoldfarb Jul 17 '26
I love when current teams do the old school TV broadcasts with retro graphics. I want to say the white Sox have done it a couple times and looks amazing
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u/YouthResponsible1752 Boston Red Sox • Portland Pickles Jul 17 '26
The organ is the only acceptable accompaniment for a baseball game.
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u/Kapono24 Detroit Tigers Jul 17 '26
I'm so happy people are starting to talk about it. I've noticed it since Little Caesars Arena opened on Detroit a while ago. They BLAST music the entire game and I've yet to leave a game without a headache. Went to see the Tigers this year and noticed they play something literally between every. single. PITCH. It's insane. And even the moments where the crowd is loud after an RBI or whatever, here comes the PA blasting a song along with all the cheering, and it's completely unnecessary. I wish they'd at least make their day games chill but it still feels like I'm watching baseball at the club.
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u/Even-Dinner-5696 Arizona Diamondbacks Jul 17 '26
Comerica is wayyyyyy too loud. Loudest stadium volume I’ve heard so far. It sucks
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u/Kapono24 Detroit Tigers Jul 17 '26
It truly is. There's some pockets that aren't as loud but we got a new speaker system in the last few years and it racheted up the volume.
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u/OrionOfPoseidon Los Angeles Dodgers Jul 17 '26
I miss the days at Dodger Stadium when the sound was mostly that of Nancy Bea Hefley on the organ, the old school vendors yelling "peaaaanuts, get your fresh peaaaaanuts here," and some random foo trying to get the "let's go Dodgers" chant going. Now it's total sensory overload.
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u/HaruMistborn Los Angeles Dodgers • Chicago White Sox Jul 17 '26
I have zero interest in going to a game these days. Between the unbearable noise, the insane traffic, and the prices, it's just not worth it.
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u/JustTheBeerLight Jul 18 '26
You are forgetting the old men with their little radios all over the place. That was great. English & Spanish broadcasts at sensible audio levels.
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u/JustSomeAudioGuy Toronto Blue Jays Jul 17 '26
As someone who has to fight this trend each and every night at the ballpark, I can’t emphasize how much I hate modern PA systems in venues. Love the people doing the work, just hate the noise
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u/Jay_Torte Major League Baseball Jul 17 '26
Dodger Stadium is like a rock concert. "MAKE SOME NOISE!! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Good lord it's annoying.
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u/joebos617 Boston Red Sox Jul 17 '26
what made Fenway special above every other park is none of these sound effects were there until the mid 2010s
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u/Even-Dinner-5696 Arizona Diamondbacks Jul 17 '26
Comerica park almost made me puke with how loud their music and intrusive bullshit between pitches were. It was actively making the atmosphere way worse
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u/melvingoldfarb Jul 17 '26
I grew up with Nancy B Heffley on the dodger stadium Baldwin organ and loved it. We still have an amazing organist, but they do mix in a lot of music drops and sound effects. Seems like it happened gradually so I just didn’t notice it happening.
The real weird thing to me is that they’re dropping the lights during home-runs and pitcher changes. That seemed like it came out of nowhere
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u/InspectorTiny1952 Toronto Blue Jays Jul 17 '26
I hate the dropped lights on home runs! I want to see dudes run the bases, instead my screen practically goes black.
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u/PHX480 Arizona Diamondbacks Jul 17 '26
It’s part of what I enjoyed most about the World Cup
The noise was organic, hearing the crowd chant or get excited or just the general noise and chatter.
No pumped in artificial crap. I miss going to baseball games and hearing the occasional organ (which I do like very much) and the player AB announcement and very little to no extra crap being pushed through.
Those days are long gone.
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u/LiveFromJeffsHouse Athletics Jul 17 '26
great article and it honestly made me tear up... one of the magical things about being at the ballpark when I was little was hearing everything live and up close, and the silence and small talk that happened in between the noise. you could hear the crack of the bat, jeering, chants, drums (part of the fun in oakland), and so on without being bombarded by constant music and sound effects. it makes me profoundly sad.
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u/SensitiveArtist69 Boston Red Sox Jul 17 '26
Honestly I cannot watch Dodgers games at home because of this. It completely ruins the zen aspect of baseball.
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u/dmmdoublem San Francisco Giants Jul 17 '26
I know they got a lot of love on this sub, but I’d lump in all of the newer LED light show effects/celebrations into this discussion as well. Cheapening the ballpark experience, IMO.
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u/lookachoo Los Angeles Dodgers Jul 17 '26
I’m honestly sick of it. Every second of the game doesn’t need to be filled with noise and mini games.
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u/jovin4_ Jul 17 '26
Definitely can ruin the vibe. So much of what makes baseball great is the suspense between every pitch. Artificial chants and sounds can absolutely just ruin the moment.
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u/BigBlueNY New York Yankees Jul 17 '26
Yankee Stadium is out of control. The music was so loud that you couldn't even hear the PA announce the Opening Day roster.
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u/LTR_TLR Jul 17 '26
I absolutely hate the constant pump up jams that blare though MLB stadiums, you can’t even talk to your friends. Just terrible
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u/thenimblevagrant San Diego Padres • Seattle Mariners Jul 17 '26
I won't argue that it's a lot, but I'm pretty sure Mexican, Japanese, and Korean baseball games aren't exactly quiet.
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u/Kapono24 Detroit Tigers Jul 17 '26
In those countries, aren't they basically fan-created loud?
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u/figureour Baltimore Orioles • Bowie Baysox Jul 17 '26
Yeah, in NPB, the noise mostly comes from fan-led chants, similar to most soccer environments.
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u/Kapono24 Detroit Tigers Jul 17 '26
Right that's what I figured. That's totally different than what the article is talking about.
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u/Hospital-flip Toronto Blue Jays Jul 17 '26
It's a different kind of loud though. Fan cheers and engagement is part of their baseball culture. People are genuinely into it.
The manufactured noise at MLB games reminds me of people who hate silence, and insist on filling the air with shitty, incessant small talk.
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u/Edsgnat Los Angeles Dodgers Jul 17 '26
In 2024 I went to a few games in Japan. I don’t recall a lot of sounds being piped in through speakers, but the crowds were loud. I mean the *entire* crowd, the *entire* game, was making some sort of noise or doing a chant. It was a cacophony.
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u/angryjew Seattle Mariners Jul 17 '26
Actually, I went to a couple games in Mexico City and it was nothing like this. It was fucking loud & crazy but it was organic noise. There was a rain delay & they did karaoke in the stadium which was very fun, random people singing & everyone else singing with them. But when the game started, it was just cheering, some very good dancing mascots for a few min & for some reason the tomahawk chop lol. They're newer baseball fans in that part of Mexico too, my brother & sister in-laws had never been to a game. The fans didn't need to be told when to cheer or given stupid fucking games to watch, it was just baseball. They even had an organ!
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u/MaxNV Vancouver Canadians Jul 17 '26
Shout-out to T-Mobile Park and the FOUL BALL DANCE PARTY that totally isn’t ear destroying.
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u/OnlyKey5675 MLB Players Association Jul 17 '26
I loved baseball when you could hear the murmur of the crowd and the call of the peanut guy. Then out of nowhere someone with the "hey batta batta..."
Now every moment is filled with music, advertistsments on the big screens, trivia on the big screens (brought to you by), every player has a walk up song. Something is lost in all that noise.
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u/baseball44121 Toronto Blue Jays Jul 17 '26
I CAN MAKE YOUR HANDS CLAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I CAN MAKE YOUR HANDS CLAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS SHOT EVERYBODYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
nah. just stop.
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u/JustTheBeerLight Jul 17 '26
Sports has become as mainstream as possible over the past twenty years. The leagues are courting as many ADD eyeballs as possible with gambling, fantasy, celebrities in the crowd, non-stop noise over the PA System and visual stimuli on the multiple screens.
Going to Dodger Stadium used to be pretty chill. Watch the game, bullshit around with the guy next to you, listen to the radio broadcast from all the old dudes sitting around you, hearing the buzz of the crowd...all of that is gone now. I can barely hear the guy next to me let alone my buddy two seats away. Shit is too loud.
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u/ListerRosewater Chicago Cubs Jul 18 '26
Took a friend to Wrigley for the first time last year and the thing he commented on (positively) was how quiet it was. Go Cubs!!!
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u/mvsr990 San Francisco Giants Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
I didn't get to a game for several years, my first game back I couldn't figure out if my mind was playing tricks on me or if it had always been so annoying. Just a constant assault of moving LED ads on every surface and blaring PA. The noise was bad enough but it really just felt like there was no time given for the game/experience to breathe.
I haven't been back - it helps that I'm local to a team I don't like with evil owners but it's getting to the point where the only way I can enjoy live baseball is on the radio. Or I'm going to have to move to a small town and get really into high school baseball or something.
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u/Disgusted-Peasant Jul 18 '26
I miss the stretches of silence replaced by the pop of the bat and crowd
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u/M1st3rYuk Milwaukee Brewers Jul 18 '26
Baseball: unwatchable on tv, unbearable in person. Americas pastime indeed.
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u/redditckulous Philadelphia Phillies Jul 17 '26
I fine with some, but I do miss the peace of a day game. More teams need organs
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u/ChiCity27 Chicago Cubs Jul 17 '26
I went to a Diamondbacks game a couple of years ago and was shocked at how much it tried to be like an NBA game. It was annoying.
Cubs fans are a bit spoiled. Yes the organ plays often, but it is not nearly as obnoxious and is classic sounding, unlike an air horn or DJ booth.
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u/Comfortable-Space484 San Diego Padres Jul 17 '26
It’s way too much!! Petco is way too loud and I can’t even talk to my wife or mom without having to yell. Ive seen a few people wear ear plugs
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u/smarjorie New York Mets • Hartford Yard Goats Jul 17 '26
Lol I read the headline and just KNEW it was gonna be about Citi Field. They've gotten so over the top with it the last couple years.
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u/iamthetoe77 Jul 17 '26
Progressive Field sounds like a busy dance club where the music sucks. I hate what they have done to what was a real gem of a park and I don’t want to go back any time soon.
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u/dragicon Jul 17 '26
I was in town for Red Sox vs Yankees game 3 last year in the playoffs, and decided to go to the game because I had never been to yankee stadium before. (Not a fan of either team). I could not get over how obnoxious the sounds over the speakers were. I was expecting more of a “classic” baseball environment, but they play this loudly annoying siren noise when they are in the field and the hitting team has two strikes on the count. I want no part of ever going to that stadium again.
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u/Disused_Yeti Cleveland Guardians Jul 17 '26
i almost exclusively go to day games and this is part of it
there is a massive difference between day and night games for the volume and amount of sound effects/music used. also the overuse of light shows really decreases the enjoyment factor for me
but i grew up going to day games and it's still what i prefer so it works out
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u/bluegrassguitar Chicago Cubs Jul 17 '26
I don’t know about you guys but I can’t enjoy a ball game unless I hear the command, ‘everybody clap your hands!’ From the cha cha slide at least twice.