Turner Sports has announced their broadcasters for their coverage of the 2012 MLB Postseason, and you probably know all of the names.
The main team covering the ALCS will be familiar voice of the NBA on TNT Ernie Johnson, along with veteran MLB pitchers John Smoltz and Ron Darling. Darling is the main color commentator for TBS's Sunday game of the week and part of SNY's booth covering the Mets, while Smoltz has broadcasted on both MLB Network and TBS since his retirement to good reviews.
For the two Wild Card playoff games, as well as all four Division Series rounds, Turner will feature a pair of three-man teams and a pair of two-man teams. The three man teams will match up Brian Anderson (who called last year's LCS in place of Johnson) with Darling and Joe Simpson, well known for his color commentary for the Braves on Fox Sports South, and Johnson with Smoltz and Cal Ripken Jr. Ripken doesn't have much experience in the booth, and is normally part of TBS's Sunday studio show.
The two-man teams covering the Division Series games will be Don Orsillo (Red Sox play by play on NESN) and Buck Martinez (analyst with the Blue Jays), along with the duo of Dick Stockton and Bob Brenly (color with the Cubs). Each team also has a reporter, though none of the four are assigned to a specific team yet. Those four reporters are Tom Verducci (who will be the ALCS reporter as well), Craig Sager, David Aldridge, and Jaime Maggio. In studio for TBS will be former ESPN stalwart Matt Winer, along with analysts David Wells and Dennis Eckersley, no strangers to the set themselves.
Turner could have done a lot worse in choosing their announce teams, that's for sure. Johnson is a veteran voice with baseball in his blood, and has done a fine job whenever he's done baseball commentary in the past, and Smoltz and Darling are generally insightful and humorous. Teaming Darling with the energetic Anderson and the seemingly detatched Simpson could end poorly, but the Johnson/Smoltz/Ripken trio could be a treat. You know what you're getting out of the other pairs, as all four have been around the block numerous times with Turner's MLB postseason coverage.
I don't think that any of these teams will light the world on fire, but at the same time, I don't think any of them will create a Chip Caray moment for Turner, even Dick Stockton.
