MLB Network Showcase
Bob Costas
Scott Braun
Matt Vasgersian
Stephen Nelson
Jim Kaat
Jon Morosi
David Robidoux[1]
3 hours (approximate)
April 9, 2009 (2009-04-09)[2] –
MLB Network Showcase is the title of a presentation of Major League Baseball on cable and satellite channel MLB Network (self-produced by MLB Network), that premiered on April 9, 2009.[3] Longtime NBC Sports broadcaster Bob Costas is one of the play-by-play voices of the broadcasts.[4] Scott Braun, Matt Vasgersian and Stephen Nelson also do play-by-play on some games. Jim Kaat, Buck Showalter, John Smoltz, and Tom Verducci provide color commentary.[5] The network produces 26 non-exclusive live games a year during baseball season and since 2012 two League Division Series games. Since one or both teams' local TV rights holders also carry the games, the MLB Network feed is subject to local blackouts. In that event, the cities in the blacked-out markets will instead see a simulcast of another scheduled game via one team's local TV rights holder.
MLB Network Showcase typically airs weekly.
1.1 Postseason coverage
See also: MLB_Network § Live_game_coverage
From 2009 to 2010, MLB Network broadcast the Civil Rights Game. The 2009 game was broadcast on MLB Network except in the home markets of the two teams that played in the game, Cincinnati (FSN Ohio) and Chicago (CSN Chicago).[6] For the 2010 Civil Rights Game, again, MLB Network telecast the game except in Cincinnati (Fox Sports Ohio) and St. Louis (Fox Sports Midwest).
On July 8, 2011, Al Michaels teamed up with Bob Costas (with the two announcers alternating between play-by-play and color commentary) to call a game between the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants on MLB Network.[7] It was Michaels's first appearance on a baseball telecast since August 6, 2003 (when he served as a guest commentator on an ESPN game at Dodger Stadium between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds) and his first as a primary announcer since Game 5 of the 1995 World Series on ABC. (Michaels had called Games 1, 4 and 5 of that series with Jim Palmer and Tim McCarver, while Costas called Games 2, 3 and 6 with Joe Morgan and Bob Uecker for NBC.) Michaels and Costas also made appearances on SportsNet New York and Comcast SportsNet Bay Area during the game's middle innings, since the MLB Network broadcast was blacked out in the Mets' and Giants' respective home markets.
On September 25, 2014, Costas called Derek Jeter's final game at Yankee Stadium for MLB Network, where he hit an RBI single to win the game.
On July 8, 2016, NHL on NBC broadcaster Mike Emrick called his first MLB regular-season game at PNC Park when the Pirates hosted the Chicago Cubs for MLB Network with Bob Costas. The Pirates won the game, 8–4, with Emrick calling some of the action.
Postseason coverage[edit]
See also: List of American League Division Series broadcasters and List of National League Division Series broadcasters
For the 2012 and 2013 seasons, TBS was awarded the rights to televise both Wild Card Playoff games that occur on the day before the Division Series games. In exchange, MLB Network was awarded the rights to televise two of the Division Series games that previously belonged to TBS.[8]
The first postseason telecast took place on October 7, 2012 and featured the Detroit Tigers hosting the Oakland Athletics at Comerica Park in Detroit for Game 2 of the 2012 ALDS. Matt Vasgersian called the game alongside analyst Jim Kaat. The second telecast took place on October 10 and featured the Washington Nationals hosting the St. Louis Cardinals at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., for Game 3 of the 2012 NLDS; this was the Nationals' first home postseason game since moving to Washington at the start of the 2005 season. Bob Costas provided the play-by-play commentary alongside analyst Jim Kaat.[9] Vasgersian and Jim Kaat called Game 3 of the 2013 American League Division Series, also between the Detroit Tigers and the Oakland Athletics on October 7 as well.
In 2017, Bob Costas called Game 1 of the American League Division Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Houston Astros on MLB Network. The Astros went on to win 8–2. Unfortunately, Costas and his color commentator Jim Kaat received criticism for their "bantering about minutia" and misidentification of plays. Costas also went on to become an internet meme after using the term the "sacks were juiced" to describe the bases being loaded.[10]
^ "David Robidoux". APM Music. Retrieved November 28, 2012.
^ "SEARCHABLE NETWORK TV BROADCASTS". sabrmedia.org. Archived from the original on April 18, 2019.
^ Sandomir, Richard (October 2, 2008). "A Network to Satisfy the Appetite of Baseball-Hungry Fans". The New York Times. p. D8.
^ Costas Joins MLB Network's Team Multichannel News February 3, 2009
^ "MLB Network Sets Thursday Night Baseball Lineup". TV Week. March 25, 2009.
^ Masilak, Jim (September 18, 2008). "Baseball Says Civil Rights Game Will Move to Cincinnati For 2009". The Commercial Appeal. The E.W. Scripps Company. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
^ Fang, Ken (June 29, 2011). "Al Michaels & Bob Costas To Call Game For MLB Network in July". Fangsbites.com. Wordpress. Archived from the original on July 4, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
^ Bloom, Barry M. (May 17, 2012). "TBS to televise Wild Card playoff games". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
^ MLB Network To Televise Postseason And Regular Season Game Programming Through 2021, MLB.com, October 2, 2012
^ "Please keep Bob Costas away from Red Sox playoff games". October 6, 2017.
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