ESPN tried its hardest not to show Shohei Ohtani's record-breaking Game 1 homer

The Los Angeles Dodgers' $700 million man was at it again on Tuesday night. After winning a World Series in Shohei Ohtani's first season in blue, the Dodgers take aim at a repeat, and that journey began with Game 1 against the Cincinnati Reds. While there's been plenty of intrigue about how much Ohtani will pitch this series – and in what role – the Japanese two-way star made his first imprint in the Wild Card round with his bat. Ohtani hit a leadoff home run to give the Dodgers an early edge.

The exit velocity of Ohtani's home run was over 117 MPH. Per Sarah Langs, that's the hardest-hit home run on a pitch of over 100 MPH in the statcast era. In typical Ohtani fashion, it occurred in the postseason, when the lights are brightest.

Unfortunately for some Dodgers and baseball fans, they didn't get a chance to watch the impactful blast live.

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Why some ESPN viewers missed Shohei Ohtani's home run

Because the Yankees-Red Sox game ran late, the start of Dodgers vs Reds was aired on ESPN2. This is fine and common practice in the broadcast industry. Fans of both teams were pleased as long as they had a station to watch the game on. However, the Worldwide Leader picked the worst possible time to move the game to its flagship – right before Ohtani hit his historic home run. As Dodgers fans prepared to watch Ohtani take some hacks, ESPN2 cut away to WNBA Countdown.

I have nothing against the WNBA nor ESPN's best practices. It is completely normal and just to switch back to their regularly-scheduled programming when ESPN was clear to show Dodgers-Reds thanks to their previous postseason matchup (Red Sox-Yankees) ending.

However, this is a case of absolutely brutal timing. ESPN has to know what Ohtani is capable of, and rather than moving the game over to its scheduled broadcast in the middle of an at-bat, why not do so during a commercial break?

ESPN's Wild Card series coverage is off to a disastrous start

Whether it be their questionable choice in announcers, a shorthanded Baseball Tonight crew, or technical errors in the middle of Yankees-Red Sox, it's been a rough postseason debut for ESPN. Missing Ohtani's home run wasn't about to go unnoticed since baseball fans are notoriously unhappy with ESPN and their perceived lack of coverage.

If ESPN has proven anything this postseason, it's that their divorce with MLB is justified. Rob Manfred took a gamble in turning down millions from ESPN – a pay cut in broadcast rights, mind you – to seek an alternative, but MLB deserves a broadcast partner that values and highlights its best players' accomplishments. Instead, ESPN2 cut away from baseball's best player right before a historic moment in favor of a WNBA talk show.

If that doesn't speak volumes about baseball's spot on the ESPN hierarchy, I don't know what does.