Baseball royalty goes to war over risque Megan Fox and Sydney Sweeney MLB playoff ads

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If you’ve been watching the MLB Playoffs this October, it’s been hard to miss advertisements featuring Sydney Sweeney in her underwear, Megan Fox in a red bodysuit selling erectile dysfunction pills, or the latest horror movie set to hit theaters this Halloween.

October baseball has parents across the country wondering if they need to keep the remote control within arm’s reach once the commercials come on. You can count Atlanta Braves legend Dale Murphy, and his son, Taylor among them, as baseball royalty takes aim at the increasingly provocative advertising invading baseball broadcasts. 

And they’re not alone. 

The controversy erupted Monday when Taylor Murphy, watching the playoffs with his children, decided he’d seen enough of the commercial breaks featuring Sweeney promoting sports prediction platform Novig, Fox advertising prescription erectile dysfunction treatment for Ro and frightening horror movie trailers.

“Hey @MLB – wanna get more kids watching baseball? Maybe start with the commercials,” Murphy wrote on X.

He then delivered the kind of common-sense criticism that should make Major League Baseball’s marketing department uncomfortable.

“You don’t need a Nickelodeon game. You’re not the Savannah Bananas. Just show baseball in a way I can leave on in my house.”

Two days later, his famous father entered the fray.

“Agree with my son, Taylor…” wrote Dale Murphy, the two-time National League MVP, seven-time All-Star, five-time Gold Glove winner and Braves Hall of Famer whose No. 3 hangs proudly in Atlanta.

When a player who spent nearly two decades representing baseball’s traditional values starts questioning what the sport is selling between innings, perhaps the league should pay attention.

And Murphy wasn’t the only major leaguer raising his voice.

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Alex Call, who isn’t on the team’s postseason roster, joined the criticism with a pointed message directed at MLB and its television partners.

“Can we please get the soft porn ads off playoff broadcasts, TBS, Fox, NBC, @MLB?” Call wrote.

“My son wants to watch baseball with Dada, but how do I justify that when a half-naked women could come on screen anytime?? This is America’s Pastime. Parents shouldn’t have to worry about this.”

Can we please get the soft porn ads off playoff broadcasts, TBS, Fox, NBC, @MLB? My son wants to watch baseball with Dada, but how do I justify that when a half-naked women could come on screen anytime?? This is America’s Pastime. Parents shouldn’t have to worry about this. https://t.co/7YAWSZgo5d

— Alex Call (@ACAD_27) October 14, 2026

Several Dodgers teammates reposted his message.

At the center of the controversy is Sweeney, the 29-year-old “Euphoria” actress who has turned her partnership with Novig into a master class in provocative advertising.

Her latest commercial, released Sunday, features the actress wearing little more than white underwear bearing the company’s name while strategically covering her breasts with footballs.

“There are grown men making spreadsheets to bet on what color underwear I’m wearing,” Sweeney says.

The punchline? Novig is supposedly about sports, not sex.

That’s a curious distinction for a company using sex to sell sports gambling.

Sweeney has defended the campaign by pointing to athletes who previously posed nude for ESPN’s Body Issue. But there’s an obvious difference between celebrating athletic bodies and using a Hollywood actress’s body to attract customers to a sports wagering platform.

Actress Sharon Stone also weighed in, arguing that women’s sports shouldn’t be reduced to attracting male attention for gambling.

Of course, the Murphy family’s criticism ignited its own backlash.

Some social media users questioned why the family-friendly outrage centered on revealing advertisements rather than the gambling being promoted. Others pointed to the White House’s controversial execution livestream, accusing critics of selective moral outrage.

Those comparisons raise legitimate questions about where Americans draw their lines, but don’t invalidate a parent’s right to question what appears on a baseball broadcast.

The league has spent years obsessing over attracting younger audiences, implementing rule changes, embracing social media and desperately trying to make baseball more appealing to the next generation.

Yet during its most important games, the television experience can feel designed for an entirely different audience.

The same people thinking sexualized commercials are a problem during a baseball game are cool with an execution being streamed live for all to see.

You really can’t make this stuff up. https://t.co/Bmzjq3esHr

— Brian L (@mplsbadger) October 14, 2026

There’s nothing inherently wrong with Sweeney appearing in provocative advertising or Fox promoting a legal prescription treatment. Adults can make their own decisions about what they watch, purchase and consume.

But parents should also be able to watch a playoff game with their children without wondering what sexually suggestive commercial or terrifying movie trailer might appear during the next pitching change.

MLB doesn’t necessarily control every advertisement sold by its broadcast partners, but it certainly has a stake in the experience being delivered under its name.

The sport can’t spend the afternoon telling families baseball belongs to everyone, then shrug its shoulders when those same families complain about what they’re seeing during the broadcast.

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