During Tuesday night’s Marlins-Braves game at Turner Field, viewers may have been surprised at what happened in the fourth and fifth innings. The two teams, which are both broadcast on Fox affiliates (Fox Sports South and Fox Sports Florida), combined their broadcast for the two innings to create a unique discussion between the two sets of broadcasters in the middle of the game.
This ended up being pretty interesting, as one crew was able to supplement the knowledge of the other crew, and vice versa. The Marlins guys don’t see the Braves every day, so they’re not as knowledgeable about the club, but the Braves guys don’t see the Marlins every day, so they’re not on the ball with everything the Marlins do.
I actually wouldn’t mind seeing this happen more often for interdivisional games. For instance, the Tigers, Twins, Royals, and Indians are all on Fox Sports affiliates – why not try something like this during one of the 18 games each team plays against the other? It would be a new experience for viewers, only happening for a couple innings during one game a year against a team you see plenty of.
And hey, the local fans that don’t have a subscription to MLB.tv or Extra Innings would get a dose of another broadcast crew. How many Braves fans in Georgia or Marlins fans in Florida had never heard the other RSN’s broadcasters? It’s probably not a high percentage, but a little change of pace never hurt anyone. There aren’t many tight interdivisional races this season, but imagine if the Royals and Tigers were only separated by a couple of games in the AL Central, and the Fox Sports Kansas City and Fox Sports Detroit teams got together for a couple innings. It would be pretty fun, especially if something significant happened in the game when they were calling the game together.
