Ever want to wake up and pour yourself a nice strong beverage to get going? That’s what MLB Network would seemingly like you to do.
The 24/7 baseball channel will be bolstering its programming lineup for the upcoming World Series between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. Beginning Friday morning at 9 a.m. ET, MLB Network will debut a daytime edition of MLB Tonight called MLB Tonight: World Series GameDay.
Perhaps even more interesting than MLB Network deciding to up its coverage during the World Series is that the morning show will be sponsored by Evan Williams. Yes, the distillery that makes bourbon. Evan Williams has been an MLB Network sponsor for some time now, but it’s still funny to think that the show will be doing ad reads for bourbon at 9 a.m. ET.
That digression aside, the show will add three hours of programming to MLB Network’s lineup leading into MLB Central at Noon. MLB Network veteran Matt Vasgersian will host a rotating panel of analysts that will switch game-by-game. Jake Peavy is scheduled for Games 1 and 2, Sean Casey for Games 3 through 5, and Dan Plesac for Games 6 and 7.
Per Sports Business Journal, MLB Network will use 27 broadcasters across 58 hours of live studio coverage through Game 7 of the World Series.
No doubt, the nature of the storied Yankees-Dodgers rivalry makes the decision to add live programming a bit easier for the network. And it’s good to see that a league-owned network is making an investment to increase its coverage during such a high-profile moment in the sport.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.