There is a line from the film Moneyball that comes up a lot, duh, when we’re talking about baseball: “How can you not be romantic about baseball?” 

 

Moneyball is (in part) about using data to build a baseball team, relying on analytics to find unvalued and overlooked players by looking at statistical performance that, at the time, was buried under traditional markers of success. In the “how can you not be romantic about baseball" scene, Peter Brand, played by Jonah Hill, a dejected Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) an endearing clip of a player who didn’t know he had hit a home run – and Billy is so moved, he responds with that line. 

 

Moneyball, to me, is not nearly as romantic as Ken Burns’s acclaimed documentary, Baseball. If you love the sport and you haven’t seen it yet, highly recommend. It’s not that Ken blindly glorifies the sport; he tells the history and tries to find the essence of the sport lovingly – and by lovingly I mean real love, when you can see the truth of what it is or who you love, flaws and all. What could be more romantic? 

 

I’m talking about the romance of baseball today because this is the idea that Fox Sports was trying to capture with their pre-game edit yesterday during the American broadcast of game 4 of the World Series. By the way, we get the American broadcast here in Canada but we prefer to watch our own Canadian broadcast, and this did not run on our airways. It’s Sydney Sweeney not only narrating the piece but appearing in it as well, seemingly an attempt to make the connection between Hollywood and the Dodgers and baseball, or something. 

“Why not romanticise a bit?” 

 

They were trying it with the romance…but did it come off as romantic? Or, um, horny? 

I know she was doing her best and that her read was intended to evoke the romance that exists between baseball and the people who love it, but this is a casting issue, it’s not personal. For me, she just isn’t pulling off romantic. And, frankly, I don’t think she’s all that great at a voiceover. I don’t want a romantic baseball edit to sound like an influencer on TikTok telling me about lip gloss and this is what she’s giving. I mean, the script isn’t great to begin with but that’s also what a narrator and/or voice actor is supposed to do: elevate the material, add life and emotion and conviction to the words. Conviction is the biggest problem here: I don’t believe her! I don’t believe that she’s romantic about baseball. If the point of the piece was to lean into the romance of baseball, “how can you not be romantic about baseball”, this is a flop. My reaction isn’t romantic, it’s seduction – which is not the same! – at best, and indifference at worst. This, then, is a sub-par performance. From an actor who, allegedly, is one of the elite talents of her generation. If she can’t sell me on what she’s saying, she isn’t showing her work. 

Here's Sydney arriving at Dodgers Stadium ahead of last night’s game in an Ohtani jersey. I wonder if she knew who he was a week ago. 

@mlb

Sydney Sweeney is in the house! #WorldSeries #mlb #baseball #sydneysweeney

♬ original sound - MLB
 

Other celebrities at the game include Austin Butler, who played an ex-baseball player in Caught Stealing, and Tobey Maguire:

 

Austin is a California native, interesting that he wasn’t repping Dodger blue. Prince Harry and Meghan Sussex were, though. The MLB captioned it “royalty”. I’m sure that’s going over well with the haters. 

 

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Photo credits: Twitter

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