Angels announcer Wayne Randazzo ripped into MLB on Saturday night for a scoring change that ended Nolan Schanuel’s on-base streak.
Schanuel had reached base in all 36 MLB games he’s played, a streak dating back to last season.
The league, though, retroactively made a scoring change from the Angels’ game against the Orioles on March 30.
In the ninth inning of that game, Schanuel reached first base on an infield single to keep the streak alive.
But MLB ruled that Baltimore reliever Mike Baumann committed an error on the play, so Schanuel’s streak retroactively ended at 30.
He reached base again Saturday night against the Boston Red Sox, which would have extended the streak to 37 games.
The MLB record for an on-base streak to start a career is 38, set by the Yankees’ Truck Hannah in 1918.
Randazzo, a former Mets radio announcer, was clearly frustrated with the league.
Not only was he made about Schanuel’s streak, but also other things he feels the league should be focusing on.
“Negative story after negative story, scandal after scandal,” Randazzo said. “A fiasco in Oakland. You have these ridiculous-looking jerseys. You have the MLBPA challenging the league about the pitch clock — today — because of constant pitcher injuries. Not to mention your global superstar is embroiled in a betting scandal. But on top of all of that, you have a young player, trying to make a name for himself, who has come up and reached base safely in every single game that he has played. And the league allows this scoring change to go on to end his streak, kill this story, a positive story that’s happening in Major League Baseball. It is an absurdity.”
Analyst Mark Gubicza agreed.
“When you think about it, all the positivity from all over the social media world,” Gubicza said. “How it impressed everybody. To start your career — he was just in college last year. He was still playing college baseball at this point. And to have that taken away, on a base hit. It was a base hit.”
Gubicza added it would be like the NBA taking an assist and a triple-double away from LeBron James, which, he noted, would never happen.
