'Game of Thrones' is teaming with MLB to remind you baseball is coming
Baseball is a game built on failure, despair and drama. Failing seven times out of 10 at the plate is expected. Every single throw from a pitcher can lead to a career-altering injury. Prospects who are touted as generational talents can turn into colossal busts once they reach the majors.
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Think about those aspects for too long, and baseball can seem pretty sad and depressing. They also make the sport the perfect partner for HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”
That’s precisely what’s going to happen this summer. Major League Baseball is teaming up with “Game of Thrones” to “participate in a cross-promotional partnership,” according to Deadline Hollywood. Nineteen MLB teams are expected to take part in the campaign.
What form will the cross-promotional partnership take? Details are pretty scarce at the moment.
Specific promotional offerings have yet to be determined — and will vary by team. But they’ll include development of collectible and co-branded merchandise, ticket packages, giveaways, theme nights, and social media events.
That’s pretty vague, and doesn’t tell us much. Since we here at The Stew are incredibly impatient, we’ve already come up with some ideas for potential MLB/Game of Thrones crossovers. A note to anyone involved in creating the promotions: Feel free to take our ideas. We won’t charge much.
Without further ado, here’s what we’ve come up with:
A T-shirt featuring Los Angeles Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen sitting on an Iron Throne made of broken bats.
A campaign built around the Toronto Blue Jays/Texas Rangers brawl in which Jose Bautista says “the North remembers.”
The Green Monster is turned into The Wall for a few weeks.
A highlight video from the 2016 World Series that features the phrase “the Cleveland Indians always pay their debts.”
The San Diego Padres sign Khalil Greene to a one-year contract and refer to him as Khaleesi all day.
All managers are now called Lord Commanders.
Felix Hernandez is now known as “The King of the North(west).”
Justin Turner gets to use an actual sword at the plate since he resembles Tormund Giantsbane.
A cardboard cut-out of New York Mets pitchers Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom standing in front of silhouettes of Dany’s dragons.
Every team will be given a direwolf to use as a bat dog.
Prince Fielder makes a come back because he’s “the Prince that was promised.”
It’s revealed that the St. Louis Cardinals get their “devil magic” from the Three-eyed Raven.
That’s all we have for now. While we would love to come up with an appropriate “Game of Thrones” reward for whatever team wins the World Series, we’re going to hold off for now. Huge celebratory events rarely turn out well in George R. R. Martin’s novels.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
