The Diamondbacks begin the National League Championship Series tonight against the Colorado Rockies at Chase Field and I wouldn't be happy if I was a television executive at Turner Broadcasting.
This isn't the envisioned matchup that TBS had in mind when the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies were involved in the Division Series last week. Losing the No. 3 and 4 television markets in America is not beneficial for good Nielsen ratings.
Instead Arizona and Colorado, the 12th and 18th television markets, respectively, are taking the field with one of them having a guaranteed spot in the World Series.
As an unknown team to the general baseball public, the Diamondbacks have a challenge on their hands with the Rockies, who have won 17 out of their last 18 games. Cy Young candidate Brandon Webb will try and lead this team to the World Series for the first time since 2001, but it might be without the support of Arizonians.
As of Tuesday, 10,000 tickets were remaining for Wednesday's game in the 49,000-seat Chase Field. What a poor showing it would be for Arizona to not have a packed stadium for the NLCS, especially on television.
