With the regular season officially over, Major League Baseball has announced the schedule, broadcast networks, and broadcasters of the Wild Card round.
It was announced midday Sunday that the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees will face off in the 8 p.m. time slot for their games. MassLive's Chris Cotillo posted about the broadcast partnership for the series, which will air on NBC, and Red Sox fans immediately noticed an imbalance.
The play-by-play voice is Jason Benetti, and he is joined by NESN's Lou Merloni as the Red Sox expert, but the Yankees get two people close to their clubhouse. Former Yankees manager Joe Girardi and former Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo will also be in the booth. Rizzo has been NBC's sideline reporter this season, but he will now join the other three in the booth, with Caroline Pineda taking over sideline duties.
Red Sox fans will have to endure Yankee bias for all three Wild Card games
Jason Benetti will call the Red Sox-Yankees series alongside Lou Merloni, Joe Girardi, Anthony Rizzo and reporter Caroline Pineda.
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) September 27, 2026
This is very frustrating for Red Sox fans. During the regular season, fan bases get to enjoy hometown broadcasters for most games, except for ones with neutral broadcasters on national TV. In the playoffs, it has always been that formula too: neutral announcers so one side doesn't get favored. Even when a former player would be in the booth, they generally did a decent job of staying neutral for games with their former teams.
When NBC got the rights to baseball back this season, they switched up the format. They implemented a three-man booth, where the play-by-play announcer was joined by an analyst close to each team. It was generally a hit, with Sports Media Watch reporting that they averaged 2.7 million viewers per Sunday Night Baseball broadcast, the highest since 2007. Fans seemingly liked the format NBC brought. Now, though, they aren't being fair to the Red Sox.
Boston fans now have to listen to a former Yankees manager and player analyze the game, while they only get one analyst from their side. It will almost certainly create an imbalance of voices during the game, and even when Girardi or Rizzo are talking about the Sox, it will be hard for Red Sox fans to not hear any bias.
All Red Sox fans want is to see their team beat their arch-rival. While they could choose to listen to the WEEI radio feed, most fans will want to sit on their couch and watch the game. Unfortunately, that experience could be tainted with bias from an imbalanced booth.
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