This year’s local MLB broadcaster rankings were incredible, for multiple reasons.
-Each team received at least 1,000 grades, the first time that has ever happened.
-Our readers submitted over 50,000 grades for the 31 broadcast teams in our polling.
-The #1 team, #30 team, and #31 team all retained the rankings from the last year, but only other teams between #2 and #29 retained their place from last year.
Full vote tallies and percentages can be found here, in case you want to spoil yourself.
Here are some quick links for each team and for each of the three pages of this year’s rankings.
Full rankings – top 20 – top 10
AL East: Blue Jays – Orioles – Rays – Red Sox – Yankees
AL Central: Indians – Royals – Tigers – Twins – White Sox (home) – White Sox (road)
AL West: Angels – Astros – Athletics – Mariners – Rangers
NL East: Braves – Marlins – Mets – Nationals – Phillies
NL Central: Brewers – Cardinals – Cubs – Pirates – Reds
NL West: Diamondbacks – Dodgers – Giants – Padres – Rockies
Previous rankings from 2014, 2016, and 2017.
And without further ado, here are your rankings.
31. Chicago White Sox (road): 1.56
-Hawk Harrelson (play by play)
-Steve Stone (analyst)
Previous rankings: 30 (2014), 32 (2016), 31 (2017)
Previous grades: 1.37 (2014), 1.26 (2016), 1.26 (2017
Most popular grade: F (41.07% of votes)
Analysis: Hawk Harrelson goes out on the bottom, as he’s accustomed too. But hey, this year, Hawk and company received their best grade ever, so at least that’s a positive note?
30. Washington Nationals: 1.73
-Bob Carpenter (play by play)
-FP Santangelo (analyst)
Previous rankings: 27 (2014), 31 (2016), 30 (2017)
Previous grades: 1.79 (2014), 1.48 (2016), 1.37 (2017)
Most popular grade: F (27.02% of votes)
Analysis: The Nationals crew seems to be the obvious successor to the White Sox road team at the bottom of our rankings, finishing second from the bottom in the third straight year of polling.
29. Miami Marlins: 1.76
-Paul Severino (play by play)
-Craig Minervini (play by play)
-Todd Hollandsworth (analyst)
Previous rankings: 24 (2014), 26 (2016), 27 (2017)
Previous grades: 1.95 (2014), 1.98 (2016), 1.75 (2017)
Most popular grade: C (33.99% of votes)
Analysis: Despite a new play by play broadcaster in Paul Severino, the Marlins remain near the bottom of our rankings.
28. Texas Rangers: 1.79
-Dave Raymond (play by play)
-Tom Grieve (analyst)
-CJ Nitkowski (analyst)
Previous rankings: 22 (2014), 28 (2016), 28 (2017)
Previous grades: 2.02 (2014), 1.90 (2016), 1.64 (2017)
Most popular grade: C (34.97% of votes)
Analysis: This is the third straight year the Rangers have finished in 28th. Consistency is not a good thing in this case.
27. St. Louis Cardinals: 1.83
-Dan McLaughlin (play by play)
-Al Hrabosky (analyst)
-Jim Edmonds (analyst)
-Rick Horton (analyst)
-Tim McCarver (analyst)
Previous rankings: 28 (2014), 30 (2016), 29 (2017)
Previous grades: 1.67 (2014), 1.50 (2016), 1.48 (2017)
Most popular grade: C (27.58% of votes)
Analysis: Good news – the Cardinals finished with their best-ever score and highest-ever ranking. Bad news – only four broadcast crews ranked lower.
26. Colorado Rockies: 1.87
-Drew Goodman (play by play)
-Jeff Huson (analyst)
-Ryan Spilborghs (analyst)
Previous rankings: 29 (2014), 29 (2016), 24 (2017)
Previous grades: 1.63 (2014), 1.66 (2016), 1.91 (2017)
Most popular grade: C (39.16% of votes)
Analysis: The magic word here is “meh” – no team picked up a higher share of C votes than the Rockies.
25. Kansas City Royals: 1.95
-Ryan Lefebvre (play by play)
-Steve Physioc (play by play)
-Rex Hudler (analyst)
-Jeff Montgomery (analyst)
Previous rankings: 18 (2014), 20 (2016), 12 (2017)
Previous grades: 2.13 (2014), 2.25 (2016), 2.43 (2017)
Most popular grade: C (34.96% of votes)
Analysis: The Royals’ grade steadily increased in each of our polls, and then sank like a stone this year. Having one of the worst records in baseball will do that.
24. Pittsburgh Pirates: 2.06
-Greg Brown (play by play)
-Joe Block (play by play)
-Steve Blass (analyst)
-Bob Walk (analyst)
-John Wehner (analyst)
Previous rankings: 14 (2014), 14 (2016), 22 (2017)
Previous grades: 2.28 (2014), 2.40 (2016), 2.08 (2017)
Most popular grade: C (33.52% of votes)
Analysis: The Pirates’ overall ranking has gone backwards since we started this exercise, despite their rating increasing from 2014 to 2016.
23. Detroit Tigers: 2.08
-Mario Impemba (play by play)
-Rod Allen (analyst)
-Kirk Gibson (analyst)
Previous rankings: 11 (2014), 15 (2016), 19 (2017)
Previous grades: 2.46 (2014), 2.39 (2016), 2.25 (2017)
Most popular grade: C (35.27% of votes)
Analysis: Speaking of going in the wrong direction, the Tigers’ grade and ranking have both gotten worse every time we’ve done this.
22. Tampa Bay Rays: 2.15
-Dewayne Staats (play by play)
-Brian Anderson (analyst)
Previous rankings: 16 (2014), 24 (2016), 25 (2017)
Previous grades: 2.20 (2014), 2.10 (2016), 1.88 (2017)
Most popular grade: B (26.70% of votes)
Analysis: After three straight polls of declines, the Rays have soared all the way up…three spots. They’re still the highest-rated team in Florida, at least.
21. Cleveland Indians: 2.15
-Matt Underwood (play by play)
-Rick Manning (analyst)
Previous rankings: 19 (2014), 22 (2016), 20 (2017)
Previous grades: 2.09 (2014), 2.19 (2016), 2.12 (2017)
Most popular grade: C (36.80% of votes)
Analysis: The consistency regarding the Indians grade and ranking over the four polls has impressed the hell out of me. They’ve finished between 19th and 22nd in all four with a grade between 2.09 and 2.19.