Broadcast Teams, Times And Technology

The 2023 Major League Baseball postseason gets underway on Tuesday, with exclusive coverage on ESPN. With four games going back-to-back, and a best-of-three series, the Worldwide Leader will reap the benefits.

Games will exclusively air across several of the Walt Disney
DIS
-owned networks, including ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN Deportes. ESPN will also have a national broadcast for radio on ESPN Radio. A new addition on the broadcast teams for 2023 will see Sean McDonough joined by Jessica Mendoza and Tim Kurkjian with Coley Harvey reporting for the Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Rays series.

Bookending live game coverage will be ESPN Baseball Tonight with coverage each day, led by Kevin Connors, Nicole Briscoe, Xavier Scruggs and Senior MLB Insider Jeff Passan. Shows will air on ESPN at 2 p.m. ET, 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

According to Phil Orlins, vice president of production at ESPN for MLB broadcasts, all but the Blue Jays-Twins series will feature the “umpire cam” for the broadcasts, bringing views from behind the plate into your living room.

ESPN picked up the Wild Card Series after it moved from a one-game play-in to a best-of-three when the league and MLB Players Association agreed to add two teams – one in the American League and one in the National League – to the wild card. That’s paid benefits to the network.

Orlins noted that there’s the immediacy of the first playoff games airing after the postseason that is significant. But he also sees the shorter series over the traditional five games that draw fans in.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that whether it was the old wildcard model with a single game or the current wildcard with the four best-of-three series. It brings a significant amount of urgency to it for fans,” Orlins said. “It is four games in a day, played on consecutive days. So it’s got an energy to that.”

Broadcast Assignments

Television assignments:

• Miami Marlins vs. Philadelphia Phillies: Karl Ravech, Eduardo Pérez and David Cone with Buster Olney reporting.
• Toronto Blue Jays vs. Minnesota Twins: Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez with Alden Gonzalez reporting.
• Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Milwaukee Brewers: Jon Sciambi and Doug Glanville with Jesse Rogers reporting.
• Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Rays: Sean McDonough, Jessica Mendoza and Tim Kurkjian with Coley Harvey reporting.

Radio assignments:

• Miami Marlins vs. Philadelphia Phillies: Mike Couzens and Chris Burke.
• Toronto Blue Jays vs. Minnesota Twins: Dave O’Brien and Kyle Peterson.
• Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Milwaukee Brewers: Roxy Bernstein and Gregg Olson.
• Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Rays: Mike Monaco and Todd Frazier.

Deportes assignments:

• Miami Marlins vs. Philadelphia Phillies: Ernesto Jerez, Luis Alfredo Alvarez and Guillermo Celis.
• Toronto Blue Jays vs. Minnesota Twins: Marcelo Canto and Eitan Benezra.
• Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Milwaukee Brewers: Carolina Guillen, Orlando Hernandez and Enrique Rojas.
• Texas Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Rays: Jorge Eduardo Sánchez and Ismael Valdez.