Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber got his team off to a fast start in the NLCS with a lead-off home run in the bottom of the first inning of Game 1 Monday.
Schwarber rocked a first-pitch fastball from Arizona Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen into the seats. That might have surprised some fans, but it didn’t surprise the TBS broadcast crew.
They actually planned their broadcast around the likelihood of Schwarber going deep in that at-bat.
TBS play-by-play announcer Brian Anderson told the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast this week that the crew suspected Schwarber might homer early in his plate appearance.
“If you go back and watch the bottom of the first in Game 1 of the NLCS, you’ll notice we didn’t do the traditional come back from break, here’s the lineup, here’s the pitcher, here’s the leadoff hitter,” Anderson told the podcast. “We only did the pitcher quickly, then we did Schwarber stepping into the box because we knew he may swing at the first pitch. So then we were on time.”
The crew talked about that possibility during the preproduction meeting, and they decided to delay announcing the Phillies lineup, instead letting Schwarber’s bat do the talking.
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“It’s OK if we don’t get the lineups in before the first batter because after the fourth batter I can say, ‘Well you’ve seen the first four, let’s meet the rest,’” Anderson said.
