Major League Baseball on TBS

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Major League Baseball on TBS
Format Baseball
Starring Chip Caray
Tony Gwynn
Craig Sager
Ernie Johnson, Jr.
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Buck Martinez
(for more, see below)
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
Production
Running time 3 hours
Broadcast
Original channel TBS (2007-)
Original run July 1, 2007 – Present
External links
Official website

Major League Baseball on TBS is a broadcasting agreement between Major League Baseball and Turner Sports to broadcast baseball via cable television nationwide, beginning in 2007.

Contents

[edit] The agreement

TBS expands their role as a national broadcast partner of Major League Baseball.

See also: Braves TBS Baseball

[edit] Coverage

Under an agreement signed on July 11, 2006, TBS earned exclusive rights to all Division Series playoff games, as well as rights to the All-Star Selection Show held in late June or early July, beginning in 2007. A national Sunday afternoon baseball package is also part of the deal, starting in 2008.

These games are not exclusive to TBS but will be blacked out in local markets. Under the deal, TBS can show an alternate game in those markets, but have decided not to.

Also, despite reports that TBS would carry games on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day, these holiday games are not part of the contract. For many years, games on these holidays were shown on ESPN, but that network has discontinued them in favor of other live sports events.

TBS will also air any tie-breaker games for divisional or wild card championships. Should multiple tie-breaking games be played, or if multiple Division Series game are scheduled at the same time, those additional games would air on TBS’ sister station, TNT.

The first telecast from TBS' new baseball package was the 2007 All-Star Selection Show, which was delayed from a scheduled start time of 4 p.m. Eastern time to nearly 6 p.m. due to the previous program (Atlanta Braves at Florida Marlins) lasting 10 innings after a 90-minute rain delay.

On October 1, 2007, the network presented its first game under the new deal: a game between the Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres, which broke the tie for the National League's wild card slot. Play-by-play man Don Orsillo, color commentator Joe Simpson and field reporter Craig Sager called the action. The Rockies beat the Padres, 9-8, in a dramatic 13-inning game. Two days later came its first Division Series games, a tripleheader that began at 3:08 p.m. Eastern time and lasted throughout the day.

TBS has announced the launch of a high-definition feed, as of September 1, 2007.

[edit] Availability

Playoff games on TBS will not be made available[1] to local over-the-air broadcasters in the participating team's markets[2]. Under the previous contract, ESPN was required to make those games available on the air in local markets.

[edit] League Championship Series

On October 17, 2006, TBS agreed to a seven year agreement with Major League Baseball to broadcast the National League Championship Series and American League Championship Series in alternating years from 2007 to 2013. TBS will have the NLCS in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013 and the ALCS in 2008, 2010 and 2012. As part of another deal reached earlier in the summer, FOX will continue to broadcast the ALCS, in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013, and the NLCS, in 2008, 2010 and 2012.

[edit] Sunday afternoon regular season coverage

Further information: Sunday MLB on TBS results

TBS released a partial schedule of its inaugural slate of Sunday games on February 27, 2008. More games will be added as the season progresses.[3]

[edit] Announcers

[edit] 2007 playoffs

On January 28, 2007, TBS' executive producer Jeff Behnke[4] said that Chip Caray "is definitely going to be TBS' lead play-by-play announcer for division series and LCS games."[5] On April 5, 2007, TBS announced that joining Caray in the lead booth will be Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, who has experience in broadcasting with ESPN and the San Diego Padres.[6]

It was also confirmed that Joe Simpson and other members of the Braves broadcast team would be a part of postseason coverage, but their roles were not immediately announced. It has also been reported that the network was in talks with former Braves announcer Don Sutton if he agrees to a playoff only contract. Simpson has since been paired with Don Orsillo (see below). Neither Sutton nor Skip Caray, Chip's father, will be part of coverage; Caray was vocal about being snubbed in comments he made to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.[7]

Also on April 5, 2007, TBS announced that the studio team for its baseball coverage (beginning with the All-Star Game Selection Show on July 1 will be Inside the NBA host Ernie Johnson, Jr. along with the other member of the 2007 Baseball Hall of Fame class, Cal Ripken, Jr.[6] On September 24, it was announced that the studio show would also include Frank Thomas, who currently plays for the Toronto Blue Jays. Thomas and other players such as Curtis Granderson and John Smoltz made guest appearances during the 2007 playoffs.

[edit] 2008 regular season

In the 2008 season, Chip Caray has been joined by Ron Darling and Buck Martinez as the lead broadcast crew for Sunday games on TBS.[8] Darling and Martinez have taken turns as analysts while Caray has called every game so far.

Marc Fein, who was the last TBS Braves Baseball studio host, has the same duties here, providing updates throughout the day from other MLB games. None of the studio talent from the last postseason has been used for the new regular-season package largely due to other commitments (Johnson is the NBA studio host and Gwynn is also the head baseball coach at San Diego State University). Whether postseason coverage will follow the same format as in 2007, and who will be in the studio, has not yet been announced.

[edit] Personalities

TBS disclosed its initial roster of postseason announcers on September 21, 2007.[9]

[edit] Play-by-play

[edit] Color commentators

[edit] Field reporters

[edit] Studio anchors

[edit] Studio analysts

[edit] Announcing teams

Major League Baseball on TBS announcing teams[17][18][13]
Season Event Play-by-play Color commentator(s) Field reporter(s) LDS LCS
2007 2007 MLB Playoffs Chip Caray Tony Gwynn and Bob Brenly Craig Sager Cleveland vs. New York NL: Arizona vs. Colorado
Dick Stockton Ron Darling Marc Fein Arizona vs. Chicago n/a
Ted Robinson Steve Stone José Mota Boston vs. Los Angeles n/a
Don Orsillo Joe Simpson David Aldridge Colorado vs. Philadelphia n/a
2008 2008 MLB Playoffs Chip Caray Ron Darling and Buck Martinez Craig Sager TBD AL:TBD
TBA TBA TBA TBD n/a
TBA TBA TBA TBD n/a
TBA TBA TBA TBD n/a

[edit] Coverage details

Please note that most of this section is applicable to postseason games only.

TBS typically begins coverage with the pregame show MLB on Deck, followed by the first pitch of the first game about 38 minutes later. Each day's coverage ends with Inside MLB, its version of Inside the NBA.

All games in the Division Series round are presented back-to-back, with each game scheduled for a 3½-hour window. If a game exceeds this window, the first pitch of the next game will be switched to TNT. If a game ends within 3½ hours, the studio team will return for interstitial programming.[19]

TBS switched the starts of four games to TNT in the Division Series round because the previous games exceeded the time limit. TNT was also scheduled to air game 4 of the Diamondbacks-Cubs series, which overlapped with game 3 of the Red Sox-Angels series, but the former game was not played; the night before, the D-Backs completed a three game sweep of the Cubs.

The on-screen score graphic[13] covers the entire top of the screen, unlike the Braves TBS Baseball graphic, which only took up the left half of the top. The look is almost identical to that of from FOX's baseball coverage[13], except that the illustration of the basepaths is near the left side of the screen instead of flush on the right. The batting order starting lineup used since 2008 resembles that of a cellphone.

TBS does not show commercial breaks after the third and sixth innings. Instead, it airs a "Game Break" allowing the studio host and analysts more air time. The studio shows originate from Studio J in Atlanta, Georgia, the same one used for TNT's NBA coverage.

[edit] Problems

  • Some sports media critics were critical of the announcers used in the coverage as being more skewed towards the National League than the American League, along with the choice of Caray as the lead voice of the network's coverage, as he had only done Braves baseball telecasts in the 2007 season before the launch of TBS' playoff coverage.[12]
  • The video and audio from the TBS feed was inconsistent.[16] At times, the picture skipped like a groove on a broken record, and at one point in the fifth inning of Game 1 of the Yankees-Indians series, no sound came from the announcers' microphones at all.
  • Frank Thomas' work as a studio analyst was panned by various newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times. His most notable moment came when he was asked three times whether he hated to face Angels' pitcher John Lackey or Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett more; he declined to respond each time. In fairness, Thomas is still an active player with the Oakland Athletics, a member of the American League along with the Angels and the Red Sox.
  • When the Phillies' lineup was introduced in Game 1, Wes Helms' name was misspelled "West Helms."[15]

[edit] Programming firsts

[edit] 2007

[edit] 2008

[edit] Ratings

Main article: Ratings for Major League Baseball on TBS telecasts

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Hiestand, Michael (2007-10-09). Fox's Buck makes pitch for late show. USA Today.
  2. ^ Postseason exclusivity boosted the price for TBS. If MLB continued to allow local outlets to air their team's games, the rights would have been "significantly diluted," according to Neal Pilson, the former president of CBS Sports who now runs a broadcast consulting company. "The TBS sales people now can assure advertisers that this is the only place where people can see the games," Pilson said. "It's a judgment baseball had to make. It had to balance the revenue stream, which is formidable, against the loss of a certain number of homes."
  3. ^ Singer, Tom (2008-02-27). TBS releases 2008 baseball schedule. MLB.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-02.
  4. ^ a b c d Sandomir, Richard. "TBS Tries to Cover the Bases, but It Has Holes in the Lineup", The New York Times, 2007-10-05. 
  5. ^ "THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS:Braves unveiling TV cast", The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2007-01-28, p. E2. 
  6. ^ a b Ripken, Gwynn to broadcast for TBS. Yahoo! Sports (2007-04-05). Retrieved on 2008-04-18.
  7. ^ "'Hurt' Caray off postseason team", The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2007-09-27, p. D1. 
  8. ^ Cooper, Jon (2008-03-27). Darling, Martinez join TBS team. MLB.com.
  9. ^ Hiestand, Michael (2007-09-21). TBS getting its postseason roster in order. USA Today.
  10. ^ a b Mushnick, Phil. "Forget What You See, Believe What You're Told", New York Post, 2007-10-08. 
  11. ^ a b Sandomir, Richard. "An Error-Plagued Game, but From the Broadcast Booth", New York Times, 2007-10-09. 
  12. ^ a b Sandomir, Richard. "Yes, There Is Crying in Baseball (and It's O.K.)", The New York Times, 2007-10-10. 
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Deitsch, Richard (2007-10-11). TBS takes its shots. Sports Illustrated.
  14. ^ Hiestand, Michael (2007-10-11). Sports talk thrives in many fashions. USA Today.
  15. ^ a b c d Zulgad, Judd (2007-10-05). Broadcast sports:TBS doing solid job in first at-bat. Star Tribune.
  16. ^ a b c d e f Jackson, Barry. "TBS Baseball Coverage Has Produced Mixed Results", The Miami Herald, 2007-10-12, p. D9. 
  17. ^ TBS Names Booth Partners For MLB Division Series. Multichannel News (2007-09-24).
  18. ^ Hiestand, Michael. "TBS juggles broadcast teams after Mets disappear", USA Today, 2007-10-01. 
  19. ^ DirecTV onscreen program guide, retrieved September 26, 2007

[edit] External links

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Sports properties of Turner Broadcasting System (includes TNT and TBS)
American Football
Auto Racing:
Baseball:
Major League Baseball on TBS · Braves TBS Baseball
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See also: United States sports broadcasting lists
Major League Baseball on national television
Contract history: Sports television broadcast contracts | Television contracts
Broadcast partners: ABC | CBS | ESPN | FOX | NBC | TBS | USA
Major League Baseball owned and operated entites: The Baseball Network | Extra Innings | MLB Network
General media: Game of the Week | Monday Night | DayGame | Wednesday Night | Thursday Night | Sunday Night | Baseball Night in America
Local broadcasters: Regional sports networks | Superstations | Current announcers | Braves TBS Baseball | Marlins Television Network
News television series: Baseball Tonight | An Inside Look | This Week in Baseball | Race for the Pennant
Speciality programming: The Baseball Bunch | Home Run Derby
Ratings: World Series television ratings | ABC | CBS | FOX | NBC | TBS
Broadcasters by event: World Series | ALCS | NLCS | All-Star Game | ALDS | NLDS | One-game playoffs
Landmark events: Cable television | Broadcasting firsts | Telecasts technology