MLB On TBS
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''MLB on TBS'' is an American presentation of regular season and postseason
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
(MLB) game telecasts that air on the American
pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...
network TBS and the streaming service
Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...
. The games are produced by TNT Sports (formerly known as Turner Sports and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports).


History


Pre-2007: relationship with the Braves

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...
baseball games had been a local staple on Atlanta
independent station An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast television network, network. As such, it only broadcasts broadcast syndication, syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered pr ...
WTBS (channel 17, now
WPCH-TV WPCH-TV (channel 17), branded as Peachtree TV, is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by locally based Gray Media alongside CBS affiliate and company flagship WANF (channel 46), and l ...
; which, like TBS, was owned by
Ted Turner Robert Edward Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He founded the CNN, Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour United States cable news, ...
's
Turner Broadcasting System Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. was an American television and media conglomerate founded by Ted Turner in 1965. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (later WarnerMedia) on October 10, 1996. As of April 2022, all of its asse ...
) since Turner acquired the team's broadcast rights in 1973, and subsequently gained national prominence when the station was uplinked to
satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...
in December 1976, becoming one of America's first
superstation ''Superstation'' (alternatively rendered as "super station" or informally as "SuperStation") is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. Commonly, a "superstation" is a form of distant signal, a broadcast television sign ...
s. Along with
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
-based
WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...
and
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
-based
WWOR-TV WWOR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York metropolitan area as the flagship of the MyNetworkTV programming service. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alon ...
, WTBS was one of the few television stations that broadcast local sporting events to a national audience, with some even giving the Braves the title " America's Team".
1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...
marked the last time that local telecasts of League Championship Series games were allowed. In 1982, Major League Baseball recognized a problem with this due to the emergence of cable superstations such as WTBS in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
and
WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is sister station, sister to the company ...
in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
. When TBS tried to petition for the right to do a "local" Braves broadcast of the 1982 NLCS, Major League Baseball got a Philadelphia federal court to ban them on the grounds that as a cable superstation, TBS's telecast would compete with the national broadcast on ABC. On July 11, 1988, the day before the
Major League Baseball All-Star Game The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual professional baseball game sanctioned by Major League Baseball (MLB) and contested between the all-stars from the American League (AL) and National ...
from
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
, TBS televised the annual All-Star Gala from the Cincinnati Zoo.
Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American TV and radio host presenter, author, and former spokesman. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s and beginning in ...
hosted the broadcast with Craig Sager and Pete Van Wieren handling interviews. The broadcast's big draw would have been the
Home Run Derby The Home Run Derby is an annual home run hitting competition in Major League Baseball (MLB) customarily held the day before the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, MLB All-Star Game, which places the contest on a Monday in July. In the context ...
, which TBS intended on taping during the afternoon, and later airing it in
prime time Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
during the Gala coverage. The Gala coverage also had some pre-taped features such as highlights from previous All-Star Games, a segment on Cincinnati's baseball history, a video recap of the 1988 season's first half and, a slow-motion highlight montage set to "This Is the Time" by
Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; ; lit. "Shuddering"), also called the River Styx, is a goddess and one of the rivers of the Greek Underworld. Her parents were the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and she was the wife of the Titan Pallas and the moth ...
frontman
Dennis DeYoung Dennis DeYoung (born February 18, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and keyboardist. He was a founding member of the rock band Styx and served as its primary lead vocalist and keyboardist from 1972 until 1999. DeYoung was the band's most ...
. However, the derby and a skills competition were canceled due to rain. As a result, TBS scrambled to try to fill nearly an hour of now-open airtime. For example, the Gatlin Brothers, the event's musical guests, who had already played a full concert, were asked to come back out and play some more. Sister network
TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...
was actually in the running to gain the cable portion of the baseball TV rights beginning in 1990. However,
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
won the final bid with the league. When Major League Baseball was realigned into three divisions each within the American and
National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...
s in 1994, TBS offered Major League Baseball US$40-$45 million a year for rights to another round of postseason games (presumably, matches from the newly created
Division Series The Division Series is the quarterfinal round of the Major League Baseball postseason. Four series are played in this round, two each for both the American League and the National League. 1981 season The first use of the term "Division Series ...
). Instead, Major League Baseball along with ABC and
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
formed a revenue sharing
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
called The Baseball Network (which was dissolved after the 1995 season). Meanwhile, CBS was offering $130 million a year to renew its previous contract (a four-year agreement that began in 1990 and ran until 1993) before being shut out, as well. During NBC's coverage of the 2000 Division Series between the
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...
and
Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...
, regular play-by-play announcer
Bob Costas Robert Quinlan Costas (born March 22, 1952) is an American sportscaster who is known for his long tenure with NBC Sports, from 1980 through 2019. He has received 28 Emmy awards for his work and was the prime-time host of 12 Olympic Games from ...
decided to take a breather after anchoring NBC's prime time coverage of the
Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...
from
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
. In Costas' place was
Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...
announcer Skip Caray, who teamed with
Joe Morgan Joe Leonard Morgan (September 19, 1943 – October 11, 2020) was an American professional baseball second baseman who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros, Houston Colt .45s / Astros, Cincinnati Reds, San Fran ...
before Costas' return for the ALCS. It was not just Costas but all of NBC's production crews who were down in Sydney. The Olympics ended just two days before the MLB playoffs started that year, so the TBS crew worked the Division Series games for NBC. In
2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...
, the Braves telecasts on TBS underwent significant changes for the first time in many years, reflecting an increase in TBS's rights fee payments to Major League Baseball. In turn, national sponsors could fulfill their advertising commitments by purchasing ads on TBS, in addition to
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
or Fox. In the process,
Don Sutton Donald Howard Sutton (April 2, 1945 – January 19, 2021) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Sutton won a total of 324 games, pitched 58 s ...
and Joe Simpson assumed duties as lead commentators, while longtime play-by-play announcers Skip Caray and Pete Van Wieren had their participation on the broadcasts reduced. This was done in an attempt to combat criticism of Caray's on-air "home team" bias and to market its baseball coverage to fans of MLB teams other than the Braves. Meanwhile, the brand ''Braves Baseball on TBS'' was replaced by ''MLB on TBS''. The move was strongly criticized by Braves fans, Atlanta area media outlets and Braves manager
Bobby Cox Robert Joe Cox (born May 21, 1941) is an American former professional baseball third baseman and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). Cox played for the New York Yankees and managed the Atlanta Braves and Toronto Blue Jays. He is a member of ...
. Over 90% of Braves fans who voted in an online poll conducted by the ''
Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...
'' preferred Caray and Van Wieren to the more neutral broadcasts. The move backfired, and ratings for the TBS broadcasts declined sharply. After that year's
All-Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...
break, TBS brought back Caray and Van Wieren to work with the two analysts, while broadcasts reverted to the ''Braves Baseball on TBS'' brand the following year.


2007–2021: National postseason and Sunday afternoon games

On October 17, 2006, TBS signed an agreement with Major League Baseball which earned TBS exclusive rights to all
Division Series The Division Series is the quarterfinal round of the Major League Baseball postseason. Four series are played in this round, two each for both the American League and the National League. 1981 season The first use of the term "Division Series ...
playoff games, one of the
League Championship Series The League Championship Series (LCS) is the semifinal round of postseason play in Major League Baseball which has been conducted since 1969. In 1981, and since 1995, the two annual series have matched up the winners of the Division Series, ...
, as well as rights to the '' All-Star Selection Show'' held in late June or early July, from 2007 to 2013. A national Sunday afternoon baseball package was also planned starting with the 2008 season. As a part of the deal, the Turner Broadcasting System management decided to limit Braves games to local telecasts within the Atlanta market. On October 1, 2007, the Turner Broadcasting System severed the ties between WTBS and the TBS cable channel, converting the Atlanta station into an in-market
independent station An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast television network, network. As such, it only broadcasts broadcast syndication, syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered pr ...
that assumed the call letters
WPCH-TV WPCH-TV (channel 17), branded as Peachtree TV, is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by locally based Gray Media alongside CBS affiliate and company flagship WANF (channel 46), and l ...
, branding on-air as "Peachtree TV". Along with this,
Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...
and other cable providers within the Atlanta market began carrying the national TBS feed for the first time. WPCH-TV continued to air Braves games, but they were only broadcast within the team's designated market area and throughout Canada; in the latter case, the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...
never allowed the TBS cable feed to be eligible for carriage on Canadian cable and satellite providers as a superstation, only giving permission for the Atlanta area signal (whose programming largely overlapped with the national version of the channel outside of public affairs and E/I-compliant programming seen only on WTBS). WPCH would lose television rights to the Braves after 40 years in
2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
, when Fox Sports South – which took over production responsibilities for the games from Turner Sports after the
Meredith Corporation Meredith Corporation was an American media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, that owned newspapers, magazines, television stations, and websites. Its publications had a readership of more than 120 million and paid circulation of more than ...
, owner of Atlanta's CBS affiliate
WGCL-TV WANF (channel 46) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is the flagship property of locally based Gray Media and is co-owned with CW affiliate WPCH-TV (channel 17) and low-power, Class A Telem ...
(channel 46), assumed WPCH's operations through a
local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...
formed in 2011 – acquired the regional television rights to the station's 45-game package beginning with the 2014 season. All games included a
Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...
play-by-play feed that was transmitted via the SAP audio channel. For the
2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
and 2013 seasons, TBS was awarded the rights to televise both Wild Card Playoff games that occur the day before the Division Series games. In exchange,
MLB Network MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with TNT Sports (United States), TNT Sports, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Communications h ...
was awarded the rights to televise two Division Series games, rights that previously belonged to TBS. TBS retained the right to air any tie-breaker games to determine the team that moves onto a Wild Card Playoff game which are considered part of the regular season; this occurred in
2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
with a match-up between the
Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. They are one of two major ...
and Texas Rangers.


2015 contract renewal

In
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
, CBS—a former MLB broadcaster from
1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...
-
1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...
—aired two Turner-produced MLB studio specials: the ''MLB Midseason Report'' on July 2, 2011, and the postseason preview special ''MLB 2011: Down the Stretch'' on September 24. Both specials were aired under the '' CBS Sports Spectacular'' branding, and featured the TBS studio panel. In August 2012, ''The New York Times'' reported that Turner and
CBS Sports CBS Sports is the American sports programming division of Paramount Global that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by its broadcast network CBS and streaming service Paramount+, as well as the operator of its cable channel CBS Sports N ...
were exploring a partnership to bid on the next round of MLB media rights beginning in 2015, similarly to their joint coverage of the NCAA men's basketball tournament that began the previous year. However, it was suggested that CBS would "most likely" be interested in the All-Star Game and World Series only, echoing the league's previous agreement with
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
from
1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
to
2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
. On October 2, 2012, Turner Sports renewed its contract with Major League Baseball through the 2021 season. TBS would retain a non-exclusive late-season package of 13 regular season games on Sunday afternoons, down from 26 under the previous contract, and now co-existing with local broadcasts. Postseason coverage would now be split between TBS, Fox, and
MLB Network MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with TNT Sports (United States), TNT Sports, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Communications h ...
, with TBS carrying most of the Division Series and Championship Series games for one of the leagues per-season (the American League in even numbered years and the National League in odd numbered years). The opposite league's games, as well as the World Series, would be carried by Fox networks. MLB Network would carry selected games in both the ALDS and NLDS, while rights to the wild card games remained split between TBS and ESPN. The contract was valued at $2.8 billion over eight seasons.


2022–present: National postseason and Tuesday night games

On September 24, 2020, it was announced that Turner Sports had renewed its rights through 2028 (aligned with the conclusion of Fox's most recent extension). A major change in the contract is the replacement of TBS's late-season Sunday games with a new primetime game on Tuesday nights beginning in the 2022 season. Most of the existing postseason broadcasting arrangements remain in place, however it lost its wild card game to ESPN (due to its renewal and expansion of the wild card series round), with TBS holding rights to two Division Series and the Championship Series for one league annually, and games no longer siphoned to MLB Network (the channel will instead hold the Spanish-language rights to all games aired in English by Turner). Turner Sports is also receiving additional digital rights for
Bleacher Report ''Bleacher Report'' (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sports and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London. ''Bleacher Report'' was acquired by Time Warner's Turner B ...
and "additional
WarnerMedia Warner Media, LLC (Trade name, doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational corporation, multinational mass media and show business, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 ...
platforms". The value of the contract was reported to have increased to $535 million per-season. In the first season of the new deal, TBS aired 26 games. During the final month of the 2024 Major League Baseball season, TBS' sister network
TruTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable Television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts reruns of Television comedy, comedy, Reality television, docusoaps and reality shows, with a rec ...
will air ''MLB Race to the Pennant'' on Tuesday nights. The show will feature a whip-around format hosted by Alanna Rizzo and Yonder Alonso. ''MLB Tuesday'' will also air doubleheaders the final three weeks of the season. One of the doubleheaders will feature one game instead on TruTV, marking the first time the network has aired a regular season MLB game in full.


Viewers and ratings


Scheduling

TBS typically begins game coverage with the pregame show ''MLB on TBS Leadoff'' (formerly ''MLB on Deck''), followed 37 or 38 minutes later by the first pitch of the first game. Each day's coverage ends with ''MLB on TBS Closer'' (formerly ''Inside MLB'', which is formatted similarly to sister network
TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...
's '' Inside the NBA''). TBS does not show commercial breaks after the third and sixth innings (and also after the ninth inning, if the game goes into extra innings). Instead, it airs a "Game Break", which gives the studio host and analysts more airtime (similar to what is done for British television coverage of an American sporting event). The studio shows originate from Studio D at TNT Sports's headquarters in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, which is also the home for TNT's NBA and NHL coverage.


Regular season

During the regular season from
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
to
2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
, TBS broadcast a weekly game nationally on Sunday afternoons, under the title ''Sunday MLB on TBS''. These games were not exclusive to TBS and were blacked out in local markets, to protect the stations that held the local broadcast rights to the games. In the affected areas,
simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...
s of programming from sister network HLN air in place of the games. Under the deal, TBS could show an alternate game in those markets, but the network did not elect to do so through the 2021 season. Despite initial reports that TBS would carry games on
Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...
,
Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...
, and
Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...
, these holiday games are not part of the contract. For many years (until 2021), games on these holidays were shown on
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
(from 2022 on it airs on
MLB on FS1 ''MLB on FS1'' is the de facto title for the presentation of Major League Baseball (MLB) games produced by Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports for Fox Sports 1 (FS1). FS1 airs 40 regular season MLB games (mostly on Saturdays), along with Major ...
/
MLB Network Showcase ''MLB Network Showcase'' is the title of a presentation of Major League Baseball on cable and satellite channel MLB Network that premiered on April 9, 2009. The network produces in-house 26 non-exclusive live games a season. Since one or both tea ...
), but that network has discontinued them, with the occasional exception of when they fell into the regular
Sunday Sunday (Latin: ''dies solis'' meaning "day of the sun") is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. Sunday is a Christian sabbath, day of rest in most Western countries and a part of the Workweek and weekend, weekend. In some Middle Ea ...
/
Monday Monday is the day of the week that takes place between Sunday and Tuesday. According to the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 8601 standard, it is the first day of the week. Names The names of the day of the week were co ...
/ Wednesday night slots however TBS will air one on Independence Day in 2023 due to it airing on Tuesday. TBS released a partial schedule of its inaugural slate of Sunday games on February 27, 2008. More games would be added as the season progressed, generally two weeks before each telecast date. TBS has the second pick of game after ESPN. Consequently, due to its non-exclusivity, highlights of a scheduled Sunday afternoon game that aired on ''MLB on TBS'' were not shown on the
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
baseball highlight show '' Baseball Tonight'', nor were live feeds and highlights of the said game on the MLB.TV subscription service; instead local broadcasts of the scheduled game were shown. However, highlights of an ''MLB on TBS'' game did air on the ''
MLB on Fox The ''MLB on Fox'' (also known as ''Fox MLB'') is an American presentation of Major League Baseball (MLB) games produced by Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports, the sports division of the Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox), since June 1, 1996. Fo ...
'' weekly program '' This Week in Baseball'' (until it was canceled in 2011), as well as '' MLB Tonight'' on the
MLB Network MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with TNT Sports (United States), TNT Sports, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Communications h ...
. Starting with the 2022 season, TBS' weekly games were moved to Tuesday nights, with blackout rules still in effect in the affected teams' local markets, the network has the option to air an early or late game each week (or both if it elects to not air a game on another given week, with the time slot not selected airing on
MLB Network MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with TNT Sports (United States), TNT Sports, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Communications h ...
). The Tuesday night program was expected to include a 30-minute studio show before and after each game.


Postseason

Before the postseason, TBS aired any tie-breaker games (until 2014, when all tiebreaker games were moved to ESPN), one of the two wild card games (until 2021 which those games were moved to ESPN due to the expanded postseason) and half of the Divisional games . Should multiple tie-breaking games be played, or if multiple Division Series games are going on at the same time, those additional games air on TBS' sister network, TNT. From 2007 to 2010, when TBS aired every Division Series game, start times were staggered throughout the day from early afternoon to late primetime. The first game was usually scheduled to start at 1:07 and the last game was usually scheduled for 9:07. If a game ran long (that is the game goes to extra innings), the start of the next game would be shifted to TNT (the game would move back to TBS during the first commercial break after the end of the earlier game, with an announcement from the in-studio crew to switch to TBS). For the LCS round, TBS would show all of the games at a start time pre-set by MLB. All coverage was followed by ''Inside MLB''. This schedule was brought back for 2013 only, except that
MLB Network MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with TNT Sports (United States), TNT Sports, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Communications h ...
aired the two games scheduled for the early afternoon slot. In 2007, 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 The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ch ...
-
Angels An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...
series, but the former game was not played; the night before, the D-Backs completed a three-game sweep of the Cubs. With TBS only holding the rights to half of the postseason beginning in 2014, the network aired games at start times that did not conflict with Fox (from 2022 onward), FS1, or MLB Network (until 2021) coverage of the postseason, and airs ''Inside MLB'' following the conclusion of its own coverage instead of at the conclusion of all games on a given day. From 2016 to 2021, the usually all-news network
CNN en Español Cable News Network en Español (CNN en Español, stylized as CN͠N) is a Pan-American Spanish-language news channel, owned by CNN Worldwide, a news division for Warner Bros. Discovery. It was launched on pay television, on March 17, 1997. Hi ...
carried TBS's postseason coverage with the Spanish audio, though no language adjustments were made to the on-screen graphics. The Spanish audio was also available through TBS's
second audio program Second audio program (SAP), also known as secondary audio programming, is an auxiliary audio channel for analog television that can be broadcast or transmitted both over-the-air and by cable television. Used mostly for audio description or ot ...
, and the coverage on CNN en Español is subject to pre-emption for appropriate breaking news coverage. In 2022, the Spanish-language broadcasts of those games were moved to
MLB Network MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with TNT Sports (United States), TNT Sports, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Communications h ...
. For the 2016 American League Championship Series between the
Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...
and
Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...
,
Sportsnet Sportsnet is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language Discretionary service, discretionary sports broadcasting, sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture betw ...
, a property of Blue Jays owner
Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...
, aired all games in Canada using the TBS feeds. The 2020 regular season was delayed by four months due to the
coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. That July, Major League Baseball announced that they would be expanding the playoffs, with ESPN and TBS gaining the extra games. The 2020 postseason would now have 16 teams and begin with eight best-of-three Wild Card Series preceding the Division Series. All of the new playoff games would be exclusively televised by ESPN and TBS, with ESPN holding exclusive rights to seven of the eight series.


TNT's involvement

TNT is TBS's outlet to air the beginning of LDS games. When the TBS game finishes, the TNT game is switched back to TBS. However, in 2011 and 2012, and again in 2024, TNT aired its own slate of postseason Division Series games, due to MLB's desire to air fewer LDS games in the early afternoon. 2011 was the first time TNT had ever aired regularly scheduled MLB games. TNT's coverage uses TBS's announcers and production crews with the only difference being the TNT logo in the scorebox replacing the usual TBS logo. In 2011, TNT aired
Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. They are one of two major ...
Texas Rangers Game 1,
Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...
Games 1 and 2, and
Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...
Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...
Game 3. To clarify, on October 1, 2011, TNT aired Game 2 of the Rays versus the Rangers at 7 p.m. ET, which overlapped with the end of Game 1 of the
St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...
versus the
Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...
and the continuation of Game 1 of the Tigers versus the Yankees on TBS. (The latter was also to have been Game 2, but Game 1 was suspended after innings due to rain.) On October 2, it aired the rescheduled Game 2 between the Tigers and the Yankees at 3 p.m. ET, two hours before Game 2 of the Diamondbacks versus the Brewers on TBS. On October 4, it aired Game 3 of the Diamondbacks versus the Brewers at 9:30 p.m. ET, one hour after Game 3 of the Tigers versus the Yankees started on TBS. In 2012, TNT aired
Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...
San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...
Game 1, and
Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...
Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...
Games 4 and 5. In 2022, TNT was scheduled to air Game 5, if needed, between the
Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...
and
Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...
in the
2022 American League Division Series The 2022 American League Division Series (ALDS) were the two best-of-five playoff series in Major League Baseball (MLB) to determine the participating teams of the 2022 American League Championship Series. These matchups are: *(1) 2022 Houston A ...
. That game was not needed. But, because Game 3 between the Astros and Mariners went into multiple
extra innings Extra innings is the extension of a baseball or softball game in order to break a tie. Ordinarily, a baseball game consists of nine regulation innings (in softball and high school baseball games there are typically seven innings; in Little Lea ...
, the entirety of Game 3 of the ALDS series between the
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...
and
Cleveland Guardians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. Since , the team has played its home gam ...
aired on TNT, with TBS joining in progress. In 2024, TNT aired Game 4 of the 2024 American League Division Series between the
Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...
and
Cleveland Guardians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. Since , the team has played its home gam ...
as part of a split doubleheader with TBS and TruTV.


Announcers

On January 28, 2007, TBS's executive producer Jeff Behnke said that Chip Caray "is definitely going to be TBS' lead play-by-play announcer for division series and LCS games." Indeed, TBS announced in April 2007 that
Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United S ...
r
Tony Gwynn Anthony Keith Gwynn Sr. (May 9, 1960 – June 16, 2014), nicknamed "Mr. Padre", was an American professional baseball right fielder, who played 20 seasons (1982–2001) in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres. The left-handed hi ...
, who has experience in broadcasting with
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
and the
San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...
, would join Caray in the booth. Veteran Braves play-by-play man Skip Caray, Chip's father was vocal about not being part of the coverage in comments he made to ''
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...
''. TBS' studio team was '' Inside the NBA'' host Ernie Johnson along with the other member of the 2007
Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United S ...
class, Cal Ripken Jr. On September 24, it was announced that the studio show would also include Frank Thomas, who played for the
Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...
during the season. Thomas and other active players such as Curtis Granderson and
John Smoltz John Andrew Smoltz (born May 15, 1967), nicknamed "Smoltzie" and "Marmaduke", is an American former baseball pitcher who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1988 to 2009, all but the last year with the Atlanta Braves. An eight-time Ma ...
made guest appearances during the playoffs. The studio coverage is titled ''Inside MLB''. As previously mentioned, in 2007,
Don Orsillo Don Orsillo (born December 16, 1968) is an American sportscaster who is the play-by-play announcer for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). He is also an announcer for '' MLB on TBS'' and ''MLB on Fox''. Orsillo was the play-by-p ...
and Joe Simpson called the one game playoff between the
Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...
and the
San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...
to decide the National League wild card. Actress
Alyssa Milano Alyssa Jayne Milano ( ; born December 19, 1972) is an American actress and activist. She has played Samantha Micelli in '' Who's the Boss?'' (1984–1992), Jennifer Mancini in '' Melrose Place'' (1997–1998), Phoebe Halliwell in '' Charmed'' ...
was part of TBS's special coverage installment ''Hot Corner'' for the
2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
Major League Baseball playoffs. A fan of the
Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...
, in April 2007, Milano began writing a baseball blog on the
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
's website. That year, she reported at
Fenway Park Fenway Park is a ballpark located in Boston, Massachusetts, less than one mile from Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home field of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Boston Red Sox. While the stadium was built in 1912, it was substantia ...
during the ALDS between the
Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...
and the
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...
. In the 2008 season, Chip Caray,
Ron Darling Ronald Maurice Darling Jr. (born August 19, 1960) is a retired American professional baseball pitcher and television sports color commentator. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right-handed pitcher from to , including as a member of ...
, and
Buck Martinez John Albert "Buck" Martinez (born November 7, 1948) is an American former professional baseball catcher and manager, and is currently the television color commentator for the Toronto Blue Jays. He played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) ...
formed the lead broadcast crew for Sunday games on TBS. Darling and Martinez have taken turns as analysts.
Marc Fein Marc Fein (born Marc Alan Fein; October 21, 1967 in Miami, Florida) is a sports journalist, sports news anchor, and television sports studio host, formerly one of the main studio hosts for the NBA TV show, '' NBA Gametime Live''. He is also the ...
, who was the last ''TBS Braves Baseball'' studio host, had the same duties here, providing updates throughout the day from other MLB games. Johnson also hosted from time-to-time. TBS disclosed its initial roster of postseason announcers on September 18, 2008. In 2008, Dick Stockton called the American Central tiebreaker game between the
Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...
and
Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...
with Ron Darling, Harold Reynolds and field reporter Marc Fein. In 2009, Chip Caray, Ron Darling, and field reporter Craig Sager called the one game playoff between the
Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...
and
Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...
for the American League Central title. Brian Anderson (broadcaster), Brian Anderson took over for Johnson as the lead play-by-play man for TBS during the 2011 postseason because Johnson had to care for his son Michael (who suffers from Muscular dystrophy and was placed in intensive care around the same time as the playoffs). Mike Bordick, a color analyst for the 2014 Baltimore Orioles season, Orioles' regular-season telecasts, and Steve Physioc, a play-by-play man for the 2014 Kansas City Royals season, Royals' television and radio broadcasts, were employed as field-level commentators for TBS' coverage of the 2014 American League Championship Series along with Matt Winer.
Don Orsillo Don Orsillo (born December 16, 1968) is an American sportscaster who is the play-by-play announcer for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). He is also an announcer for '' MLB on TBS'' and ''MLB on Fox''. Orsillo was the play-by-p ...
replaced Johnson on TBS' 2018 American League Division Series, 2018 ALDS coverage after Johnson announced that he would not cover the Major League Baseball playoffs as a result of his treatment for the blood clots in both of his legs. On September 24, 2020, TBS announced that Johnson and Curtis Granderson would replace Casey Stern and Gary Sheffield and the respective host and co-analyst for their 2020 postseason studio show. Granderson would join Pedro Martínez and Jimmy Rollins, after joining them as a guest analyst in 2019. On August 20, 2021, reports emerged that TBS was nearing an agreement with
Bob Costas Robert Quinlan Costas (born March 22, 1952) is an American sportscaster who is known for his long tenure with NBC Sports, from 1980 through 2019. He has received 28 Emmy awards for his work and was the prime-time host of 12 Olympic Games from ...
to host their coverage of that year's 2021 National League Championship Series, NLCS. The plan would be for Costas to alleviate some of Johnson's workload since Johnson also has his duties hosting '' Inside the NBA'' for NBA on TNT, TNT. On October 7, 2021,
WarnerMedia Warner Media, LLC (Trade name, doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational corporation, multinational mass media and show business, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 ...
officially confirmed that Costas would be joining TBS for their postseason baseball coverage starting on October 16. On April 6, 2022, TBS announced its broadcasting team for the 2022 season. Granderson, Martínez, and Rollins, and Johnson would return as studio analysts and host, prospectively, with Lauren Shehadi joining as studio host as well. Costas and Anderson would share play-by-play duties for the course of the regular season, with Darling and Francoeur returning as color commentators. On July 22, 2024, TBS announced that Ernie Johnson would be taking a leave of absence from his studio hosting duties for the remainder of the 2024 Major League Baseball season, 2024 regular and postseason.
MLB Network MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with TNT Sports (United States), TNT Sports, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Communications h ...
's Greg Amsinger was soon brought in to replace Johnson during the rest of the regular season and Lauren Shehadi hosts the postseason. On October 31, 2024, Bob Costas announced that he was officially retiring from Major League Baseball play-by-play calling after 44 years. This means that his final Major League Baseball broadcast as a play-by-play announcer was Game 4 of the 2024 American League Division Series between the 2024 New York Yankees season, New York Yankees and 2024 Kansas City Royals season, Kansas City Royals, airing on TBS.


Criticism of TBS's coverage

TBS's coverage has been met with criticism by some observers. As with TNT's NBA playoff coverage, MLB playoff games on TBS are not made available to local broadcast television stations in the participating teams' designated market areas. Under the previous contract,
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
was required to make those games available over-the-air in these local markets. Following the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies season, Philadelphia Phillies' victory in the 2009 National League Championship Series, 2009 NLCS, studio host Ernie Johnson went to the podium to present the championship trophy. Upon announcing what a pleasure it was for TBS to cover the series, the Philadelphia fans responded with a heavy barrage of boos, to which Johnson quipped, "Why, thank you." Fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates, which in 2013 Pittsburgh Pirates season, 2013, had its first winning season as well as its postseason appearance since 1992 Pittsburgh Pirates season, 1992, took TBS to task for not broadcasting the traditional pre-game player introductions, "The Star-Spangled Banner", or ceremonial first pitch during their coverage of the 2013 National League Wild Card Game, National League Wild Card playoff game against the 2013 Cincinnati Reds season, Cincinnati Reds. Following Game 1 of the 2016 World Series, Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox affiliate WJW (TV), WJW in Cleveland, which would carry the
Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...
' World Series appearance via Fox, aired a brief commercial criticizing TBS, in light of the mistakes and errors that had run rampant throughout their playoff coverage. TBS received criticism for a lengthy in-game interview between reporter Jon Morosi and National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Baseball Hall of Famer George Brett during the bottom of the 3rd inning of Game 3 of the 2024 American League Division Series between the 2024 New York Yankees season, New York Yankees and 2024 Kansas City Royals season, Kansas City Royals.


Commentators

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 Chip Caray (who, along the way, was criticized for making factual mistakes during postseason broadcasts) as the lead voice of the network's coverage, as he had only done Braves baseball telecasts during the 2007 Atlanta Braves season, 2007 season before TBS assumed rights to playoff coverage. In response to such criticisms, Caray said, "It wasn't the job that I had when I came here in the first place. It would be like being a pinch-hitter or being a relief pitcher that works once every ten days. I'm better when I work more." TBS and Caray parted ways following the 2009 playoffs. Ernie Johnson Jr. and Brian Anderson (sportscaster), Brian Anderson have both since contributed as the lead announcer since 2010. Besides that of Caray, Dick Stockton's performance has in particular, been subject to criticism. Stockton, for instance, during the 2013 National League Division Series, 2013 NLDS (2013 St. Louis Cardinals season, St. Louis vs. 2013 Pittsburgh Pirates season, Pittsburgh) was cited as often misidentifying players, generally appearing confused at times, and never having hosting chemistry with his analyst Bob Brenly. Meanwhile, Joe Simpson, who was the only holdover from the ''Braves TBS Baseball'' days, has been accused of not really adding anything to the booth and often deferring to
John Smoltz John Andrew Smoltz (born May 15, 1967), nicknamed "Smoltzie" and "Marmaduke", is an American former baseball pitcher who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1988 to 2009, all but the last year with the Atlanta Braves. An eight-time Ma ...
during their time together on the 2013 2013 Boston Red Sox season, Boston–2013 Tampa Bay Rays season, Tampa Bay 2013 American League Division Series, series. Ernie Johnson Jr., meanwhile, has been accused of not playing to his strengths as a broadcaster in his role as TBS's lead play-by-play man. More to the point, Johnson was accused of (in part because of his very conversational announcing style in the booth) never really seeming to be able to capture the big, exciting, transformational moments during his broadcast of the 2014 American League Wild Card Game between the 2014 Kansas City Royals season, Kansas City Royals and 2014 Oakland Athletics season, Oakland Athletics. For example, there was Johnson's rather subdued call of Brandon Moss’s second home run that gave Oakland a 5-3 lead in the top of the 6th. During the bottom of the third inning of Game 5 of the 2015 National League Division Series between the 2015 New York Mets season, New York Mets and 2015 Los Angeles Dodgers season, Los Angeles Dodgers, TBS's cameras caught a tense exchange between Dodgers manager Don Mattingly and outfielder Andre Ethier. So when TBS went to an interview conducted between innings by Sam Ryan in the Dodgers' dugout with Mattingly, the assumption was that Ryan would ask Mattingly what happened. Ryan then proceeded to ask Mattingly instead, how he thought Zack Greinke was pitching, and what he thought of the game so far. Later in the broadcast, Cal Ripken Jr. brought up what we had all seen when Ethier came up to bat again in the fifth, saying, "We’re still guessing what that argument was all about." In Game 2 of the aforementioned Mets-Dodgers NLDS, Ripken was quick to categorize Chase Utley's slide into Mets shortstop, Rubén Tejada (which broke Tejada's leg) as a clean play, "a little late," and nothing more than "competitive baseball". During the 2018 American League Division Series, 2018 ALDS, analyst
Ron Darling Ronald Maurice Darling Jr. (born August 19, 1960) is a retired American professional baseball pitcher and television sports color commentator. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right-handed pitcher from to , including as a member of ...
apologized after making an insensitive comment about 2018 New York Yankees season, New York Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka during Game 2 of the Yankees' series against 2018 Boston Red Sox season, Boston. Early in the broadcast while attempting to point out a weakness of Tanaka's, Darling said “A little chink in the armor for Tanaka here. It’s the first inning where he’s lost a little of his control.” Bob Costas provided the play-by-play commentary on TBS for the 2024 American League Division Series between the 2024 New York Yankees season, New York Yankees and 2024 Kansas City Royals season, Kansas City Royals, receiving criticism for his monotonic delivery and perceived lack of interest in the events on the field.


Technical difficulties and other miscues

TBS was unable to air most of the first inning of Game 6 of the 2008 American League Championship Series, airing a rerun of ''The Steve Harvey Show'' (which TBS held rights to at the time) in its place. TBS began airing the game just prior to the last out in the bottom of the first, with announcer Chip Caray apologizing to viewers for "technical difficulties." TBS acknowledged there was a problem with one of the routers used in the broadcast transmission of the relay of the telecast from Atlanta. During the network's coverage of Game 1 of the 2011 American League Division Series between the Texas Rangers and
Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. They are one of two major ...
, TBS was alleged to have featured doctored headlines with incorrect attributions. On October 1, during the middle of an at-bat during Game 1 of the 2011 ALDS between the
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...
and
Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...
, TBS suddenly cut to an ALDS game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Texas Rangers, which was airing on TNT, for about 14 seconds. Moments later (as TBS was coming out of a replay and showing the Tigers' dugout), cameras missed Yankees right fielder Nick Swisher making a diving catch (instead showing Yankees pitcher Iván Nova walking off the mound and pumping his fist). TBS (in particular, throughout their coverage of the 2011 postseason) has also been criticized for placing the center-field camera precisely in the center. Therefore, every time a pitcher began his windup, his head would block the view of home plate. During the 2012 American League playoffs, TBS was criticized for its graphics and game preview packages. At the start of its coverage of the 2012 American League Wild Card Game, American League Wild Card Game between the 2012 Baltimore Orioles season, Baltimore Orioles and 2012 Texas Rangers season, Texas Rangers, a graphical snafu resulted in Cal Ripken Jr., who was calling the game, being credited as "Carl Ripken Jr." During Game 1 of the 2012 American League Championship Series, American League Championship Series between the 2012 New York Yankees season, New York Yankees and
Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...
, TBS showed a graphic depicting players who played in the postseason before the age of 24 and after the age of 40. In the graphic, Willie Mays's name was misspelled as "Willie Mayes". During their coverage of 2014 American League Wild Card Game, 2014 AL Wild Card Game, TBS put a graphic that incorrectly said that Oakland manager Bob Melvin was in his fourth straight playoff appearance, but this was only his third straight (2012 Oakland Athletics season, 2012, 2013 Oakland Athletics season, 2013 and 2014 Oakland Athletics season, 2014). Throughout the evening, TBS's broadcast was cited in not having enough adequate camera angles for replays that provided value to viewers. As opposed to productions that bring extra resources and cameras to playoff games, TBS's broadcast of this particular game was cited as feeling more like a weekly or regional telecast. That was arguably manifested in Kansas City Royals legend George Brett being forced into a "Very Funny" promo. During the top of the third inning of Game 3 of the 2016 American League Division Series between the
Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...
and 2016 Texas Rangers season, Texas Rangers, TBS's Matt Winer was doing a live interview with Texas third base coach Tony Beasley, when Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus hit a home run. Winer had to cut off Beasley during the interview to tell the audience that Andrus got "a double", before then realizing it was a home run. When Andrus finally rounded third base, Winer said, "Excuse me, that's not a double; that's a home run." As a direct result of all of this, there was no full screen of the Andrus homer, nor was there a proper play-by-play of the home run. During the 2016 season, TBS debuted a new scoreboard design that was criticized by viewers for its large size. The following season, TBS was criticized again for having initially made its scoreboard too small. Early into TBS's broadcast of Game 2 of the 2024 American League Division Series between the
Cleveland Guardians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. Since , the team has played its home gam ...
and
Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...
, TBS experienced outages, where the picture went dark. According to TBS, the issue was caused by Solar Satellite Interference or a 'sun outage' or 'sunspot'. This occurs when the Solar cycle, sun's solar activity disrupts satellite signals.


Presentation


Music

The theme is composed by Mark Willott.


Digital on-screen graphics

Before TBS gained rights to broadcast MLB postseason games in 2007, TBS used a score bug on the top left-hand corner of the screen for its Atlanta Braves, Braves telecasts. It was upgraded midway through the 2004 season and used through 2007.


2007–2010

The on-screen score graphic during this period covered 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 used during Major League Baseball on Fox, Fox's baseball coverage, except that the illustration of the basepaths is near the left side of the screen instead of flushed on the right. The batting order starting lineup used beginning in 2008 resembles that of a cellular telephone, cellphone. There is also a pitch tracker that can only be seen on the network's high-definition feed.


2011–2015

With the start of the 2011 postseason, TBS planned to introduce the following * Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg Stats: TBS would use Bloomberg Stats as means to integrate comprehensive statistical information into each telecast. * Vizrt, Liberovision: An innovative 3D interactive telestrator meant to give fans a new perspective of instant replays. * New graphics that intend to feature improved functionality with a nostalgic feel. * Pitch Trax: An in-game technology that illustrates pitch location throughout the games. TBS's standard-definition television, standard definition feed now airs a letterboxed version of the native HD feed during game broadcasts to match Fox's default widescreen SD presentation, allowing the right side pitch tracking graphic to be seen by those viewing the SD feed.


2016–present

At the beginning of the 2016 season, TBS introduced new graphics that were used all season, including the postseason. The score box, which was originally docked to the top and left edges of the screen, was completely redesigned for 2017 after much criticism during the 2016 postseason for its large size. Like the 2016 score bug, the current one still stands in the top left corner, only it is smaller. In 2020, the score bug was moved to the bottom left corner. For the 2021 postseason, the score bug was moved back to the top left corner. In 2024, the score bug began using the TNT Sports logo instead of TBS as part of the broadcast's integration with TNT Sports. The TBS logo returned to the score bug in the postseason (even with TNT televised games the TBS logo is still presented).


References


External links

* *
Press Release: MLB, FOX, and Turner reach new television agreements

Fang's Bites – TBS
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MLBpostseason

Searchable Network TV Broadcasts

MLB ON TBS - WarnerMedia Pressroom
{{DEFAULTSORT:Major League Baseball On Tbs Major League Baseball on television, TBS 2007 American television series debuts 2000s American sports television series 2010s American sports television series 2020s American sports television series TBS (American TV channel) original programming TNT Sports (United States) Sports telecast series