''Off Base'' is an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

commentary show on

MLB Network The MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Co ...

. The show airs every weekday at 4:00 p.m. ET during the

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

regular season and is hosted by Lauren Gardner with analysis from

Xavier Scruggs Xavier Ladel Scruggs (born September 23, 1987) is an American former professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Marlins, and in the KBO League for the NC Dinos. Professio ...

, Ariel Epstein, and various guest analysts. ''Off Base'' is a youth-oriented show featuring a segment highlighting the off-field

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choices of MLB players and another segment dedicated to discussions about growing baseball's influence with younger audiences.

History

''Off Base'' was announced as an addition to

's programming in April 2022, just after the

2021–22 Major League Baseball lockout The 2021–22 Major League Baseball lockout was the ninth work stoppage in Major League Baseball (MLB) history. It began at 12:01 a.m. EST on December 2, 2021, after MLB owners voted unanimously to enact a lockout upon the expiration ...

and prior to the start of the 2022 season. The show's direction was noted as being a part of MLB's efforts to address low viewership with younger audiences, particularly among

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and

Millennials Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2 ...

. A poll conducted by

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest dioces ...

three months prior to the debut of the show found that MLB viewership was declining, particularly among younger fans. Lauren Gardner, who has been an MLB Network personality since 2019, was tapped as the show's inaugural host. Former MLB first baseman

, baseball writer Hannah Keyser, and WFAN Radio sports radio host Keith McPherson joined the show as permanent analysts, with a fourth spot on the set left open for rotating guest analysts, which have included former MLB catcher

Anthony Recker Anthony Vito Recker (born August 29, 1983) is an American former professional baseball catcher and first baseman. He previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics, Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, and Atlanta Braves. Base ...

and actress Ellen Adair. The show debuted on April 11, 2022, from a new set at MLB Network's Studio 21 in

Secaucus, New Jersey Secaucus ( ) is a Town (New Jersey), town in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264,Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present), Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds ma ...

sports betting Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. The frequency of sports bet upon varies by culture, with the vast majority of bets being placed on association football, American football, basket ...

analyst Ariel Epstein.An audience with Ariel Epstein, sports betting's Prop Queen
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References

{{Major League Baseball on national television MLB Network original programming 2022 American television series debuts 2020s American television series Major League Baseball studio shows