Whoever started this knew what they were doing.
On any level, it's a major distraction. And a diversion, if not a drain, on resources.
Everybody's been just fine and dandy with the Big Orange locomotive stuck in low gear for 20 years. When you're a program whose future is suddenly uncertain, and is bleeding 4 and 5 stars; or one whose been a playground bully for a few years, and sees a kid wearing Orange who's gearing up to give you a needed smackdown --
it's easy to see what the motivation is. "This'll give 'em a hiccup."
I think it may have had an effect on last night's game. A distraction. "Did you hear...?" "What's gonna happen...?"
Both the team and the fans seemed sort of out of it.