No one can argue that Atlanta Braves legend John Smoltz's career was not among the best ever, especially among pitchers. He won a World Series ring, a Cy Young, and remade himself later in his career as MLB’s best closer after a serious arm injury kept him out of the rotation. Combining his excellence with the durability to play 21 seasons in MLB, you have an easy choice for the Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, Smoltz's post-playing days have seen him lean into some unfortunate tropes and views.
After retiring, Smoltz quickly became a fixture in the broadcast booth, both on Braves broadcasts as well as on national broadcasts. Initially, Smoltz's insight into the game added to broadcasts, and his expertise was widely praised. Unfortunately, he has since regressed and now relies on "old man yells at clouds" diatribes about how bad the modern game of baseball is.
Unfortunately, Smoltz's stint helping cover this year's World Series did little to change this reputation. If anything, it solidified that the Hall of Famer is perfectly content pretending as though the product on the field, including Willam Contreras' stellar World Series performance and Jacob Misiorowski's talent, deserves scorn, not celebration.
John Smoltz says William Contreras shouldn't be challenging balls and strikes with a 2-0 lead in low stress scenarios pic.twitter.com/nGNvyfMSdX
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) October 27, 2026
John Smoltz's list of grievances during the World Series broadcast was embarrassing and did not help sell baseball to a national audience
If Smoltz merely went on a rant about needing to play small ball or something, his comments wouldn't merit much mention. Such analysis is par for the course for older broadcasters struggling to maintain relevance, and it will remain a common strategy until the dinosaurs of the league are gone for good.
However, Smoltz singling out two of the breakout stars from the Fall Classic was pretty gross. First, he complained that Contreras used ABS too much, even though the Brewers catcher was racking up challenge wins as one of the best in MLB at the system. Smoltz did walk those comments back after he “thought” about it more (or the blowback was too universal), but he then blasted the flamethrowing Misiorowski for his mechanics as well as anyone who thought the Brewers should have come in to close Game 4.
At the end of the day, it is just sad. Smoltz is in a prime position to help grow the game of baseball and elevate the stars to whom he has passed the torch. Instead, Smoltz has opted for the lowest-hanging fruit to appeal to people who are hate-watching the sport. That's fine for random anonymous social media "experts", but unbecoming of a guy who should be an ambassador for the game.
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