The Phanatic was mic’d up during last night’s broadcast. He danced, Nick Castellanos homered, and some fans were confused.
During his six minutes on the air, the Phillies’ famously non-verbal mascot managed to offer wisdom along his usual antics — and possibly brought a bit of luck to the home team.
Players being mic’d up has become a fixture on ESPN Major League Baseball broadcasts. But last night marked the first time the network had mic’d up a mascot.
During the bottom of the third inning, the Phillie Phanatic joined ESPN’s booth of Karl Ravech, David Cone, and Eduardo Pérez to be asked a series of hard-hitting questions, including who his favorite Phillies player is and his role in the now infamous Citizens Bank Park cheating scandal.
During the six-minute segment, Nick Castellanos, who has a history of interrupting broadcasts with big hits, belted his 13th home run of the season.
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The Phillies’ official X account even captioned their post, “That’ll make it a 4-0 ballgame,” in reference to the origins of the Castellanos home run meme, when former Cincinnati Reds broadcaster Thom Brennaman was awkwardly forced to stop his on-air apology to call a Castellanos home run after getting caught saying a slur over the air.
After Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper hit back-to-back blasts in the first inning, Castellanos continued the Phillies’ onslaught against Red Sox righty Lucas Giolito, giving the Phillies three home runs before the end of the third inning. Fans of the Phanatic were prepared with a sign reading, “There’s only 1 Green Monster for us.”
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And just before ESPN went to break, viewers were given the opportunity to see the multitalented Phanatic perform an interpretive dance of an umpire’s catcher interference call, which has been especially relevant during the Phillies’ and Red Sox’s three-game series. On Tuesday, the Phillies scored a run off a catcher’s interference. On Monday, they walked off the game on one.
Most viewers enjoyed hearing the insights and wisdom of the Phanatic.
Others were not as impressed.
However you felt about the Phanatic’s appearance on the broadcast, what’s most important to Phillies fans is whether the furry green guy being mic’d up contributed to the team’s on-field success. While there’s no definitive data to support that conclusion — small sample size and all — last night’s results certainly opened up the possibility.
After the Phanatic left the broadcast, the Phillies held a 4-0 lead, which was soon after extended to 5-0, before Phillies starter Jesús Luzardo ran into trouble, giving up six earned runs and the lead in the fifth inning. If the Phillies’ Green Monster was mic’d up at the time, would the result be any different? The truth is, we may never know — at least not until we can gather more data.