List of Major League Baseball wild card round broadcasters explained

The following is a list of the national television and radio networks and announcers who have covered the Major League Baseball wild card games throughout the years. It does not include any announcers who may have appeared on local radio broadcasts produced by the participating teams.

Television

2020s

Wild card series

Year	League	Series	Network	Play-by-play	Color commentator(s)	Field reporter(s)
2023	AL	Minnesota Twins/Toronto Blue Jays	ESPN (U.S.)	Michael Kay	Alex Rodriguez	Alden Gonzalez
			Sportsnet (Canada)	Dan Shulman	Buck Martinez	Hazel Mae
		Tampa Bay Rays/Texas Rangers	ABC	Sean McDonough	Jessica Mendoza and Tim Kurkjian	Coley Harvey
	NL	Milwaukee Brewers/Arizona Diamondbacks	ESPN2	Jon Sciambi	Doug Glanville	Jesse Rogers
		Philadelphia Phillies/Miami Marlins	ESPN	Karl Ravech	David Cone and Eduardo Pérez	Buster Olney
2022	AL	Cleveland Guardians/Tampa Bay Rays	ESPN (Game 1) ESPN2 (Game 2)	Jon Sciambi	Doug Glanville	Jesse Rogers
		Toronto Blue Jays/Seattle Mariners	ESPN (U.S.)	Dave Flemming	Jessica Mendoza and Tim Kurkjian	Coley Harvey
			Sportsnet (Canada)	Buck Martinez	Pat Tabler	Hazel Mae
	NL	St. Louis Cardinals/Philadelphia Phillies	ABC (Game 1) ESPN2 (Game 2)	Michael Kay	Alex Rodriguez	Alden Gonzalez
		New York Mets/San Diego Padres	ESPN	Karl Ravech	David Cone and Eduardo Pérez	Buster Olney

Wild card game

Year	Game	Network	Play-by-play	Color commentator(s)	Field reporter(s)
2021	AL	ESPN	Matt Vasgersian	Alex Rodriguez	Buster Olney
		ESPN2 ^[1]	Jason Benetti	Eduardo Pérez and Mike Petriello
	NL	TBS	Brian Anderson	Ron Darling	Lauren Shehadi

2020 wild card series

League	Series	Network	Play-by-play	Color commentator(s)	Field reporter(s)
AL	Tampa Bay Rays/Toronto Blue Jays	TBS	Rich Waltz	Jimmy Rollins
	Minnesota Twins/Houston Astros	ABC (Game 1) ESPN2 (Game 2)	Karl Ravech	Tim Kurkjian and Eduardo Pérez
	New York Yankees/Cleveland Indians	ESPN	Matt Vasgersian	Alex Rodriguez and Buster Olney	Marly Rivera
	Oakland Athletics/Chicago White Sox		Dave Flemming	Jessica Mendoza
NL	Los Angeles Dodgers/Milwaukee Brewers		Karl Ravech	Tim Kurkjian and Eduardo Pérez
	Atlanta Braves/Cincinnati Reds		Matt Vasgersian	Alex Rodriguez and Buster Olney	Kiley McDaniel
	Chicago Cubs/Miami Marlins	ABC	Jon Sciambi	Chipper Jones	Jesse Rogers
	San Diego Padres/St. Louis Cardinals	ESPN2 (Game 1) ESPN (Game 2 and 3)	Tom Hart	Rick Sutcliffe Jessica Mendoza (Game 3)	Pedro Gomez

Notes

• ABC was scheduled to air at least four of the 24 possible daytime games in the 2020 season's one-time only expanded eight-series wild card round, that the networks of ESPN will air. Not only did this mean that ABC would be airing Major League Baseball games of any kind since Game 5 of the 1995 World Series,^[2] but it would mark the first time since NBC's final game in 2000, that a Major League Baseball game had aired on any broadcast network other than Fox. The first game to definitely air on ABC on September 29, would be the #6 seed Houston Astros against the #3 Minnesota Twins from Target Field in Minneapolis.^{[3] [4]} The following day, ABC would air the #6 Miami Marlins against the #3 Chicago Cubs from Wrigley Field in Chicago. Karl Ravech provided play-by-play commentary for the Houston-Minnesota game with analysts Eduardo Pérez and Tim Kurkjian.^[5] Meanwhile, Jon Sciambi, Chipper Jones, and Jesse Rogers called the Miami-Chicago Cubs game on September 30. ESPN also planned on utilizing ABC afternoon window^[6] on Friday (October 2).^[7] On October 2, ABC cut away from their broadcast Miami-Chicago Cubs game during the top of the 9th inning to deliver a special report on U.S. president Donald Trump being taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for COVID-19 treatment. The conclusion of the game was shifted to ESPN.^[8]
• Beginning with the 2022 postseason, MLB allowed Sportsnet, the home network of the Toronto Blue Jays, to produce their own broadcasts of the team's games in Canada rather than a mere simulcast of the American network feed or an MLB International-produced broadcast.^[9]

2010s

Year	Game	Network	Play-by-play	Color commentator(s)	Field reporter(s)
2019	AL	ESPN	Matt Vasgersian	Jessica Mendoza and Alex Rodriguez	Buster Olney
		ESPN2 ^[10]	Jason Benetti	Eduardo Pérez and Mike Petriello
	NL	TBS	Ernie Johnson	Ron Darling and Jeff Francoeur	Lauren Shehadi
2018	AL	TBS	Brian Anderson	Ron Darling and Dennis Eckersley	Lauren Shehadi
	NL	ESPN	Matt Vasgersian	Jessica Mendoza and Alex Rodriguez	Buster Olney
		ESPN2 ^[11]	Jason Benetti	Eduardo Pérez and Mike Petriello
2017	AL	ESPN	Dan Shulman	Jessica Mendoza and Aaron Boone	Buster Olney
	NL	TBS	Ernie Johnson	Ron Darling	Sam Ryan
2016	AL	TBS	Ernie Johnson	Ron Darling and Cal Ripken	Sam Ryan
	NL	ESPN	Dan Shulman	Jessica Mendoza and Aaron Boone	Buster Olney
2015	AL	ESPN	Dan Shulman	John Kruk and Jessica Mendoza	Buster Olney and Tim Kurkjian
	NL	TBS	Ernie Johnson	Ron Darling and Cal Ripken	Matt Winer
2014	AL	TBS	Ernie Johnson	Ron Darling and Cal Ripken	Matt Winer
	NL	ESPN^[12]	Dan Shulman	John Kruk	Buster Olney and Tim Kurkjian
2013	AL	TBS^[13]	Brian Anderson	Joe Simpson and John Smoltz	Rachel Nichols
	NL		Ernie Johnson	Ron Darling and Cal Ripken	Craig Sager
2012	AL	TBS	Ernie Johnson	John Smoltz and Cal Ripken	Craig Sager
	NL		Brian Anderson	Joe Simpson and Ron Darling	Tom Verducci

Radio

2020s

Wild card series

Year	League	Series	Network	Play-by-play	Color commentator(s)
2023	AL	Minnesota Twins/Toronto Blue Jays	ESPN	Dave O'Brien	Kyle Peterson
		Tampa Bay Rays/Texas Rangers		Mike Monaco	Todd Frazier
	NL	Milwaukee Brewers/Arizona Diamondbacks		Roxy Bernstein	Gregg Olson
		Philadelphia Phillies/Miami Marlins		Mike Couzens	Chris Burke
2022	AL	Cleveland Guardians/Tampa Bay Rays	ESPN	Dave O'Brien	Marly Rivera
		Toronto Blue Jays/Seattle Mariners		Dan Shulman^[14]	Gregg Olson
	NL	St. Louis Cardinals/Philadelphia Phillies		Roxy Bernstein	Kyle Peterson
		New York Mets/San Diego Padres		Kevin Brown	Chris Burke

Wild card game

Year	Game	Network	Play-by-play	Color commentator(s)
2021	AL	ESPN	Dave O'Brien	Xavier Scruggs
	NL		Jon Sciambi	Kyle Peterson

2020 wild card series

League	Series	Network	Play-by-play	Color commentator
AL		Tampa Bay Rays/Toronto Blue Jays	ESPN	Dan Shulman	Chris Burke
	Minnesota Twins/Houston Astros	Kevin Brown		Chris Singleton
	New York Yankees/Cleveland Indians	Dave O'Brien
	Oakland Athletics/Chicago White Sox	Jon Sciambi		Jim Bowden
NL	Los Angeles Dodgers/Milwaukee Brewers	Dan Shulman		Jim Bowden
	Chicago Cubs/Miami Marlins	Kevin Brown
	San Diego Padres/St. Louis Cardinals	Dave O'Brien		Chris Singleton

2010s

Year	Game	Network	Play-by-play	Color commentator
2019	AL	ESPN	Dan Shulman	Chris Singleton
	NL		Jon Sciambi	Jim Bowden
2018	AL	ESPN	Jon Sciambi	Eduardo Pérez
	NL		Dan Shulman	Chris Singleton
2017	AL	ESPN	Jon Sciambi	Chris Singleton
	NL		Adam Amin	Eduardo Pérez
2016	AL	ESPN	Jon Sciambi	Chris Singleton
	NL		Dave O'Brien	Jim Bowden
2015	AL	ESPN	Dave O'Brien	Aaron Boone
	NL		Jon Sciambi	Chris Singleton
2014	AL	ESPN	Jon Sciambi	Chris Singleton
	NL		Dave O'Brien	Aaron Boone
2013	AL	ESPN	Jon Sciambi	Chris Singleton
	NL		Dan Shulman	Orel Hershiser
2012	AL	ESPN	Dan Shulman	Orel Hershiser
	NL		Jon Sciambi	Chris Singleton

External links

• Searchable Network TV Broadcasts
• Your 2020 MLB Wild Card announcing schedule

Notes and References

1. Web site: Your 2021 MLB Wild Card announcing schedule. Lucia. Joe. October 4, 2021. October 5, 2021.
2. News: Fisher. Eric. September 28, 2020. MLB to be seen on ABC for first time since 1995. SportsBusiness.
3. News: Kalibat. Natalie. September 28, 2020. Game 1 of Astros-Twins to lead off MLB playoff coverage on ABC. WRIC.
4. News: Brown. Maury. September 28, 2020. MLB Postseason Games Returning To ABC For First Time In 25 Years. Forbes.
5. News: September 28, 2020. ESPN and ABC to Exclusively Televise 7 of 8 MLB Wild Card Series. Laughing Place Disney Newsdesk .
6. News: McMillan. Ken. September 27, 2020. Live from WKEN sports broadcasting blog, Sept. 28. Times Herald-Record.
7. News: Campbell. Hope. September 28, 2020. General Hospital Pre-Empted This Week For Major League Baseball. Soap Hub.
8. News: Bucholtz. Andrew. October 2, 2020. ABC punted Marlins-Cubs to ESPN in the middle of the ninth for coverage of President Trump being taken to hospital. Awful Announcing.
9. Web site: Buck Martinez to lead Sportsnet's Blue Jays' playoff broadcasts. Adam. Laskaris. Daily Hive. October 3, 2022. October 4, 2022.
10. Web site: ESPN Provides Exclusive Coverage of the American League Wild Card Game presented by Hankook Tire October 2. Hughes. Katie. ESPN Press Room. September 26, 2019. September 28, 2019.
11. Web site: ESPN2's NL Wild Card game Statcast broadcast drew rave reviews, especially compared to ESPN’s regular telecast. Bucholtz. Andrew. awfulannouncing.com. October 3, 2018. October 4, 2018.
12. Web site: ESPN to Exclusively Televise MLB NL Wild Card Game Oct. 1. Cafardo. Ben. espnmediazone.com. September 11, 2014.
13. Web site: TBS Announces Commentator Assignments for 2013 MLB Wild Card Games. thefutoncritic.com. September 30, 2013.
14. Web site: Buck Martinez to lead Sportsnet's Blue Jays' playoff broadcasts. Adam. Laskaris. Daily Hive. October 3, 2022. October 4, 2022.