The following is a list of the national television and radio networks and announcers who have broadcast the National League Division Series. It does not include any announcers who may have appeared on local radio broadcasts produced by the participating teams.
Year | Series | Network | Play-by-play | Color commentator(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1981 | Los Angeles Dodgers/Houston Astros [16] | NBC | Joe Garagiola | Tony Kubek |
Montreal Expos/Philadelphia Phillies | Dick Enberg | Tom Seaver |
Year | Series | Network | Play-by-play | Color commentator(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1981 | Los Angeles Dodgers/Houston Astros | CBS | Jerry Coleman | Sparky Anderson |
Montreal Expos/Philadelphia Phillies | Jack Buck | Joe Torre |
Year | Series | Flaghsip station | Play-by-play #1 | Play-by-play #2 | Color commentator(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | Atlanta-San Francisco | WSB-AM (Atlanta) | Pete Van Wieren | Skip Caray | Don Sutton and Joe Simpson |
KNBR (San Francisco) | Duane Kuiper | Joe Angel | Mike Krukow | ||
Arizona-St. Louis | KTAR-AM (Arizona) | Greg Schulte | Jeff Munn | Rod Allen and Jim Traber | |
KMOX-AM (St. Louis) | Mike Shannon | Joel Meyers | |||
2001 | Arizona-St. Louis | KMOX-AM (Arizona) | Greg Schulte | Jeff Munn | Jim Traber Rod Allen (Games 4–5) |
KMOX-AM (St. Louis) | Jack Buck (in St. Louis) Mike Shannon (in Arizona) | Mike Shannon (in St. Louis) Dan McLaughlin (in Arizona) | |||
Atlanta-Houston | KTRH-AM (Houston) | Milo Hamilton | Alan Ashby | ||
WSB-AM (Atlanta) | Pete Van Wieren | Skip Caray | Don Sutton and Joe Simpson |
Major League Baseball (MLB) has been broadcast on American television since the 1950s, with initial broadcasts on the experimental station W2XBS, the predecessor of the modern WNBC in New York. The World Series was televised on a networked basis since 1947, with regular season games broadcast nationally since 1953. Over the forthcoming years, MLB games became major attractions for American television networks, and each of the Big Three networks would air packages of baseball games at various times until the year 2000. Fox would rise to major network status, partially on its acquisition of MLB rights in 1996; Fox has been MLB's primary broadcast television partner ever since.
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 teams' local TV rights holders also carry the games, the MLB Network feed is subject to local blackouts. In that event, the cities in the blacked-out markets will instead see a simulcast of another scheduled game via one team's local TV rights holder. MLB Network Showcase typically airs one game a week.
ESPN Major League Baseball is an American presentation of live Major League Baseball (MLB) games produced by ESPN. ESPN's MLB broadcasts have also aired on sister networks and platforms ESPN2, ABC and ESPN+.
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 2017 Major League Baseball postseason was the playoff tournament of Major League Baseball for the 2017 season. The winners of the Division Series would move on to the League Championship Series to determine the pennant winners that face each other in the World Series. This was the first edition of the postseason in which home field advantage in the World Series was awarded to the team with the better regular season record, rather than the winner of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
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.
On August 28, 2012, it was announced that ESPN and Major League Baseball had agreed on a new eight-year deal that increased ESPN's average yearly payment from about $360 million to approximately $700 million.
Sunday Afternoon Baseball is the de facto branding used for nationally televised live game telecasts of Major League Baseball games on Sunday afternoons during the regular season.
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 1999 Major League Baseball postseason was the playoff tournament of Major League Baseball for the 1999 season. The winners of the League Division Series would move on to the League Championship Series to determine the pennant winners that face each other in the World Series.
The 2020 Major League Baseball postseason was the playoff tournament of Major League Baseball for the 2020 season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league played only a 60-game season, and an expanded 16-team postseason tournament began on September 29, with games of all but the first round being played at neutral sites. A new three-game Wild Card series was added as the opening round of this postseason due to the shortened season caused by the pandemic; it would become a permanent addition to the postseason format starting in 2022.
The 2021 Major League Baseball postseason was the playoff tournament of Major League Baseball (MLB) for the 2021 season. The winners of the League Division Series advanced to the League Championship Series to determine the pennant winners that face each other in the World Series. After the 2020 MLB postseason, MLB returned to a 10-team playoff format following the loosening of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. This was the last postseason to feature the 10-team format, as the league expanded to a 12 team-format for the 2022 postseason.
The 2022 Major League Baseball postseason was the playoff tournament of Major League Baseball (MLB) for the 2022 season. This was the first edition of the postseason since 2012 to have a new format, as it has been expanded to include six teams per league. The top two division winners of the American and National leagues receive first-round byes into the Division Series, and the worst-division winner is the third seed in their respective league. The three Wild Card teams are the fourth, fifth, and sixth seeds. The third seed hosts the sixth seed, and the fourth seed does the same with the fifth seed in the best-of-three Wild Card series. The postseason started on Friday, October 7, two days after the end of the regular season.
The 2023 Major League Baseball postseason was the playoff tournament of Major League Baseball (MLB) for the 2023 season. The winners of the Wild Card Series faced the two best division winners (seeds) in each league in the Division Series, and the victors advanced to the League Championship Series to determine the pennant winners who played each other in the 2023 World Series. The postseason began on October 3 and ended on November 1.
The following is a general overview of Major League Baseball on television in the 2020s. During the 2020s, Major League Baseball announced its first exclusive television contract with a paid streaming service. Due to the bankruptcy of Diamond Sports Group, MLB took over the production of the local broadcasts of the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.