Despite MLB Network losing its exclusive MLB Postseason games this season as a result of MLB’s new round of TV deals, the network won’t be playoffs-free this October.
On Wednesday, MLB Network announced that it would have the exclusive Spanish language rights to the ALDS and ALCS this October. The games will air in English on TBS.
MLB Network today announced it will exclusively air the entire 2022 American League Division Series and American League Championship Series in Spanish-language this Postseason. The two AL Division Series are scheduled to begin on Tuesday, October 11, with a potential Game Five on Monday, October 17. The ALCS presented by loanDepot, is set to start on Wednesday, October 19, with a potential Game Seven set for Wednesday, October 26. Announcers for MLB Network’s Spanish-language ALDS and ALCS telecasts will be released in the coming weeks.
“We’re excited by the opportunity to produce Postseason baseball exclusively in Spanish,” said MLB Network President Bill Morningstar. “This extensive content initiative perfectly aligns with Major League Baseball’s ongoing effort to strengthen and expand its relationship with Latino baseball and sports fans. We will produce these games with care, passion and in a high-quality way that our viewers have come to expect over the years.”
Last year, TBS aired the NLDS and NLCS with Spanish broadcasts available via SAP.
This is a solid get for MLB Network, though there will inevitably be some people tuning it and frothing at the mouth about the games not being in English (even though they’re airing in English on a channel with more distribution).
Networks airing games in Spanish they don’t have the English rights to air is nothing new. ESPN only had the Spanish rights to the 2017 World Baseball Classic, and people got upset. The company also simulcast an ESPN Deportes broadcast of a Monday Night Football game on ESPN2, leading to much of the same reactions. In addition, the dearly departed NBCSN simulcast Telemundo’s Spanish broadcasts of the Women’s World Cup in 2019.
Getting some live playoff games on the air is important for MLB Network, regardless of the language. With the entire slate of AL playoff games airing on the network, there’s at least some welcome consistency there as opposed to the confusion that popped up with the network airing two Division Series games under the previous TV contracts.
