PLAY BALL! BUT FIRST FIX THE BROADCAST MESS.

The bankruptcy filing announced Tuesday by Diamond Sports Group — the media holding company that runs 14 regional sports networks, including the one that broadcasts Padres games — may have raised the biggest question of the offseason for a team many fans are hoping will be a World Series contender: Will we even be able to watch their games on TV? Because of the rapid rise of streaming services and viewing options such as YouTube TV — which cost much less than cable systems — the finances of regional sports networks are in free fall, and a report in The New York Post identified the Padres’ rights contract as one of four that Diamond saw as unaffordable. Padres fans were already buffeted in 2021 by related problems getting ready access to games, and many fear more headaches loom.

But there is a chance that Major League Baseball, the Padres and other affected teams will muddle through this season en route to a sustainable system in which more games than ever are available to stream — and in which far fewer games are blacked out because of the morass of current rules protecting both large cable networks and regional sports networks. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has made this point repeatedly since December. In a statement given to The San Diego Union-Tribune on Tuesday, Manfred’s office was strikingly upbeat, saying it expected Diamond to meet its 2023 obligations — and that MLB “is ready to produce and distribute games to fans in their local markets in the event that Diamond or any other regional sports network is unable to do so as required by their agreement with our clubs.” Given the reports that in 2019, teams made 22 percent of their revenue from local TV contracts, financial upheaval seems inevitable if a comparable new revenue stream doesn’t emerge. But so far, at least, MLB appears determined to minimize the fallout on fans.

With Opening Day for the Padres less than two weeks away, that’s a most welcome development.