The following is a list of the national television and radio networks and announcers that have broadcast National League Championship Series games over the years. It does not include any announcers who may have appeared on local broadcasts produced by the participating teams.
Year | Network | Play-by-play | Color commentator(s) | Field reporter(s) | Pregame host | Pregame analysts | Trophy presentation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2023 | TBS | Brian Anderson | Ron Darling and Jeff Francoeur | Matt Winer | Lauren Shehadi | Jimmy Rollins, Pedro Martínez, Curtis Granderson, and Albert Pujols (Games 1–2) | Matt Winer |
2022 | FS1 (Games 1–3, 5) | Joe Davis | John Smoltz | Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci | Kevin Burkhardt (Games 1–4) Matt Vasgersian (Game 5) | Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz, and Frank Thomas | Tom Verducci |
Fox (Games 2, 4) | |||||||
2021 | TBS | Brian Anderson | Ron Darling and Jeff Francoeur | Lauren Shehadi | Bob Costas | Jimmy Rollins, Pedro Martínez, and Curtis Granderson | Lauren Shehadi |
2020 | Fox [1] (Games 1, 4, 7) | Joe Buck (Games 1–6) Joe Davis (Game 7) | John Smoltz | Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci | Kevin Burkhardt | Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz, and Frank Thomas | Tom Verducci |
FS1 (Games 2–7) |
Year | Network | Play-by-play | Color commentator(s) | Field reporter(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1999 | NBC | Bob Costas [9] [10] | Joe Morgan | Jim Gray and Craig Sager |
1998 | Fox | Joe Buck | Tim McCarver and Bob Brenly | |
1997 | NBC | Bob Costas [11] | Joe Morgan [12] and Bob Uecker [13] | Jim Gray [14] |
1996 | Fox | Joe Buck | Tim McCarver and Bob Brenly | |
1995 | ABC (in Cincinnati) | Al Michaels | Jim Palmer and Tim McCarver | Lesley Visser |
NBC (in Atlanta) | Greg Gumbel | Joe Morgan | Johnny Bench | |
1993 | CBS | Sean McDonough [15] | Tim McCarver [16] [17] | Jim Gray |
1992 | CBS | Sean McDonough | Tim McCarver | Jim Gray |
1991 | CBS | Jack Buck | Tim McCarver | Andrea Joyce [18] |
1990 | CBS | Jack Buck | Tim McCarver | James Brown [19] |
Year | Network | Play-by-play | Color commentator(s) |
---|---|---|---|
1989 | NBC [23] [24] | Vin Scully [25] (Games 1, 3–5) Bob Costas [26] (Game 2) | Tom Seaver |
1988 | ABC [27] | Al Michaels [28] | Jim Palmer and Tim McCarver [29] |
1987 | NBC | Vin Scully [30] [31] | Joe Garagiola |
1986 | ABC [32] | Keith Jackson [33] | Tim McCarver [34] |
1985 | NBC | Vin Scully [35] | Joe Garagiola |
1984 | ABC | Don Drysdale [36] | Earl Weaver and Reggie Jackson [36] |
1983 | NBC | Vin Scully [37] | Joe Garagiola |
1982 | ABC | Al Michaels | Tommy Lasorda [38] Howard Cosell (Games 1, 3) [39] |
1981 | NBC [40] | Dick Enberg | Tom Seaver |
1980 | ABC | Keith Jackson | Don Drysdale and Howard Cosell |
Year | Network | Play-by-play | Color commentator(s) |
---|---|---|---|
1979 | NBC | Joe Garagiola | Tony Kubek and Don Sutton [66] |
1978 | ABC | Al Michaels | Don Drysdale and Johnny Bench [67] |
1977 | NBC | Joe Garagiola (in Los Angeles) Jim Simpson (Game 3) Dick Enberg (Game 4) | Tony Kubek (in Los Angeles) Maury Wills (Game 3) Don Drysdale (Game 4) |
1976 | ABC | Al Michaels | Warner Wolf and Tom Seaver |
1975 | NBC | Joe Garagiola (in Cincinnati) Curt Gowdy (in Pittsburgh) | Maury Wills (in Cincinnati) Tony Kubek (in Pittsburgh) |
1974 | NBC | Jim Simpson (Game 1) Curt Gowdy (in Los Angeles) | Maury Wills (Game 1) Tony Kubek (in Los Angeles) |
1973 | NBC | Curt Gowdy (in Cincinnati [68] ) Jim Simpson (in Queens, New York) | Tony Kubek (in Cincinnati) Maury Wills (in Queens, New York) |
1972 | NBC | Jim Simpson (Game 1) Curt Gowdy (in Cincinnati) | Sandy Koufax (Game 1) Tony Kubek (in Cincinnati) |
1971 | NBC | Curt Gowdy (in San Francisco) Jim Simpson (in Pittsburgh) | Tony Kubek (in San Francisco) Sandy Koufax (in Pittsburgh) |
1970 | NBC | Curt Gowdy (in Pittsburgh) Jim Simpson (in Cincinnati) | Tony Kubek (in Pittsburgh) Sandy Koufax (in Cincinnati) |
Year | Network | Play-by-play | Color commentator |
---|---|---|---|
1969 | NBC | Jim Simpson (Game 1) Curt Gowdy (Games 2–3) | Sandy Koufax (Game 1) Tony Kubek (Games 2–3) |
For all of the League Championship Series telecasts spanning from 1969 to 1975, only Game 2 of the 1972 American League Championship Series (Oakland vs. Detroit) is known to exist. However, the copy on the trade circuit of Game 2 of the 1972 ALCS is missing the Bert Campaneris-Lerrin LaGrow brawl. There are some instances where the only brief glimpse of telecast footage of an early LCS game can be seen in a surviving newscast from that night. For instance, the last out of the 1973 National League Championship Series as described by Jim Simpson was played on that night's NBC Nightly News , but other than that, the entire game is gone. On the day the New York Mets and Baltimore Orioles wrapped up their respective League Championship Series in 1969, a feature story on the CBS Evening News showed telecast clips of the ALCS game (there's no original sound, just voiceover narration). This is all that likely remains of anything from that third game of the Orioles-Twins series. While all telecasts of World Series games starting with 1975 are accounted for and exist, the LCS is still a spotty situation through the late 1970s:
As previously mentioned, from 1969 until 1983, the Major League Baseball television contract allowed a local TV station in the market of each competing team to also carry the LCS games.
From 1969 to 1975, there was no official national radio network coverage of the League Championship Series. NBC only had the national radio rights to the All-Star Game and World Series during this period. Instead, national coverage was provided by local team radio broadcasts being syndicated nationally over ad hoc networks.
Year | Network | Play-by-play | Color commentator |
---|---|---|---|
2023 | ESPN | Jon Sciambi | Doug Glanville |
2022 | ESPN | Jon Sciambi | Doug Glanville |
2021 | ESPN | Jon Sciambi | Jessica Mendoza |
2020 | ESPN | Jon Sciambi | Jessica Mendoza |
Year | Network | Play-by-play | Color commentator |
---|---|---|---|
2019 | ESPN | Jon Sciambi | Jessica Mendoza |
2018 | ESPN | Dan Shulman | Chris Singleton |
2017 | ESPN | Dan Shulman | Aaron Boone |
2016 | ESPN | Dan Shulman | Aaron Boone |
2015 | ESPN | Jon Sciambi | Chris Singleton |
2014 | ESPN | Dan Shulman | Aaron Boone |
2013 | ESPN | Dan Shulman | Orel Hershiser |
2012 | ESPN | Jon Sciambi | Chris Singleton |
2011 | ESPN | Jon Sciambi (Games 1–3, 6) Dave O'Brien (Games 4–5) | Bobby Valentine (Games 1–4, 6) Buck Martinez (Game 5) |
2010 | ESPN | Dan Shulman | Dave Campbell |
Year | Network | Play-by-play | Color commentator |
---|---|---|---|
1969 | Robert Wold Radio | Bob Prince | Gene Elston |
From 1969 to present, with the exception of the period between 1969 and 1975, the non-national radio broadcasts of the National League Championship Series were broadcast on the flagship station and the radio network of the teams participating in the National League Championship Series.
Year | Teams | Flagship station | Play-by-play#1 | Play-by-play#2 | Play-by-play#3 | Color commentator(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | San Francisco-St. Louis | KMOX | Mike Shannon | Joel Meyers | ||
KNBR (San Francisco) | Duane Kuiper (Games 1–4) Jon Miller (Game 5) | Joe Angel | Duane Kuiper (Game 5) | Mike Krukow | ||
2001 | Arizona-Atlanta | KTAR-AM (Arizona) | Greg Schulte | Jeff Munn | Rod Allen and Jim Traber | |
WSB-AM (Atlanta) | Pete Van Wieren | Skip Caray | Don Sutton and Joe Simpson | |||
Year | Teams | Flagship station | Play-by-play#1 | Play-by-play#2 | Color commentator(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1989 | San Francisco-Chicago Cubs | WGN-AM (Chicago Cubs) | Harry Caray | Dewayne Staats | Dave Nelson |
KNBR (San Francisco) | Hank Greenwald | Ron Fairly | |||
1986 | New York Mets-Houston | WHN (AM) New York |
Year | Teams | Flagship station | Play-by-play#1 | Play-by-play#2 | Play-by-play#3 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1969 | New York Mets-Atlanta | WJRZ-AM/WABC-FM (New York Mets) | Lindsey Nelson | Bob Murphy | Ralph Kiner |
WSB-AM (Atlanta) | Ernie Johnson | Milo Hamilton |
MLB on Fox is an American presentation of Major League Baseball (MLB) games produced by Fox Sports, the sports division of the Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox), since June 1, 1996. The broadcaster has aired the World Series in 1996, 1998, and every edition since 2000, and the All-Star Game in 1997, 1999, and every year since 2001. It has also aired the National League Championship Series (NLCS) and American League Championship Series (ALCS) in alternate years from 1996 to 2000 and since 2007, with the NLCS in even years and the ALCS in odd years.
Major League Baseball on CBS is the branding used for broadcasts of Major League Baseball (MLB) games produced by CBS Sports, the sports division of the CBS television network in the United States.
Major League Baseball on NBC was the de facto branding for weekly broadcasts of Major League Baseball (MLB) games produced by NBC Sports, and televised on the NBC television network and its streaming service Peacock.
National television broadcasts of Major League Baseball (MLB) games have aired on ABC in various formats. The network first aired Saturday Major League Baseball Game of the Week games between 1953 and 1955, in 1960, and in 1965. ABC then televised MLB games from 1976 to 1989, airing Monday Night Baseball, Thursday Night Baseball, and Sunday Afternoon Baseball in various years during that period.
The Baseball Network was an American television broadcasting joint venture between ABC, NBC and Major League Baseball (MLB). Under the arrangement, beginning in the 1994 season, the league produced its own broadcasts in-house which were then brokered to air on ABC and NBC. The Baseball Network was the first television network in the United States to be owned by a professional sports league.
MLB on TBS is an American presentation of regular season and postseason Major League Baseball (MLB) game telecasts that air on the American pay television network TBS and the streaming service Max. The games are produced by TNT Sports.
The following is a list of announcers who called Major League Baseball telecasts for the joint venture between Major League Baseball, ABC and NBC called The Baseball Network. Announcers who represented each of the teams playing in the respective games were typically paired with each other on regular season Baseball Night in America telecasts. ABC used Al Michaels, Jim Palmer, Tim McCarver and Lesley Visser as the lead broadcasting team. Meanwhile, NBC used Bob Costas, Joe Morgan, Bob Uecker and Jim Gray as their lead broadcasting team.
On December 14, 1988, CBS paid approximately $1.8 billion for exclusive television rights for over four years. CBS paid about $265 million each year for the World Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the Saturday Game of the Week. It was one of the largest agreements between the sport of baseball and the business of broadcasting.
In 1980, 22 teams took part in a one-year cable deal with UA-Columbia. The deal involved the airing of a Thursday night Game of the Week in markets at least 50 miles (80 km) from a major league park. The deal earned Major League Baseball less than $500,000, but led to a new two-year contract for 40-45 games per season.
By 1969, Major League Baseball had grown to 24 teams and the net local TV revenues had leaped to $20.7 million. This is in sharp contrast to 1950 when local television brought the then 16 Major League clubs a total net income of $2.3 million. Changes baseball underwent during this time, such as expansion franchises and increasing the schedule from 154 games to 162, led to a wider audience for network and local television.
In September 2000, Major League Baseball signed a six-year, $2.5 billion contract with Fox to show Saturday baseball, the All-Star Game, selected Division Series games and exclusive coverage of both League Championship Series and the World Series.
Major League Baseball on Fox Sports Networks refers to Major League Baseball television coverage on the former chain of Fox Sports regional networks.
The following article details the history of Major League Baseball on NBC, the broadcast of Major League Baseball games on the NBC television network.
The 1982 Major League Baseball postseason was the playoff tournament of Major League Baseball for the 1982 season. The winners of each division advance to the postseason and face each other in a League Championship Series to determine the pennant winners that face each other in the World Series.
The 1995 Major League Baseball postseason was the playoff tournament of Major League Baseball for the 1995 season. This was the first postseason to be played under the expanded format, as the League Division Series (LDS) was played in both the American and National leagues for the first time since 1981. The league was expanded to three divisions per league, and a new Wild Card berth was added. The next expansion would be in 2012 where another Wild Card berth would be added. The winners of the LDS moved on to the League Championship Series to determine the pennant winners that face each other in the World Series.
The following article details the history of Major League Baseball on ABC, the broadcast of Major League Baseball games on the ABC television network.