The Athletic’s 2020 MLB broadcast survey: Unveiling readers’ pick for best booth

Not long ago, The Athletic asked its MLB readers to share their opinions on their local TV broadcast, ranking them on a 1-5 scale in terms of play-by-play, color analyst, field reporting, pre- and postgame shows and technical quality. Bremer rated in the middle of the road among play-by-play announcers, but one reader called him “a good mix of pleasant homer, an old-school voice and an openness to new metrics.” Respondents seem to think the broadcasts could use more analytics: “Too many analysts are old school and talk about batting average, wins when other stats are better at evaluating performance.” The broadcast: Fox Sports Ohio: Thom Brennaman, Chris Welsh and Jeff Brantley, Jim Day, Jeff Piecoro The results: The Brennaman name is revered in Cincinnati thanks to radio broadcaster Marty, who made his last call for the team in 2019, retiring after 46 years with Cincinnati. Cleveland Indians The broadcast: SportsTime Ohio: Matt Underwood, Rick Manning, Andre Knott The results: Readers really like Knott’s field work: “His relationships with the players always provides some great comedic moments,” a reader wrote. “Tom Hamilton on the radio,” wrote one reader, “it’s Hall of Fame quality.” The broadcast: Root Sports Northwest: Dave Sims and Aaron Goldsmith, Mike Blowers, Jen Mueller The results: The Root Sports people get fairly high marks for technical aspects of the broadcast, and there’s a strong mix of analytics and rotating voices from the front office who talk about different departments and developments, which makes for a nice diversion from the product on the field. “A team likes the A’s that embraces analytics ought to have a broadcast that reflects the importance of analytics,” one reader wrote.