National television List of National League Championship Series broadcasters

1 national television

1.1 2010s

1.1.1 notes


1.2 2000s

1.2.1 notes


1.3 1990s

1.3.1 notes


1.4 1980s

1.4.1 notes


1.5 1970s

1.5.1 notes


1.6 1969

1.6.1 notes


1.7 surviving telecasts

national television
2010s

notes

the 2010 nlcs did not air in philadelphia-area homes after cablevision pulled local fox station wtxf off lineup on october 16 result of carriage dispute news corporation, fox s parent company.
brian anderson took on ernie johnson jr. lead play-by-play man tbs during 2011 playoffs because johnson had care son michael (who suffers muscular dystrophy , placed in intensive care around same time playoffs).
nielsen ratings game 7 of 2012 nlcs between san francisco giants , st. louis cardinals showed 31.8% of households in st. louis area watched game compared 27.5 in san francisco bay area. nationally, nielsen found 8.1 million viewers saw game, 4.9% share of households. rating peaked @ 5.8 @ 7:30 p.m. (central time zone) before declining viewers switched monday night football or presidential debate.


beginning in 2014, when fox sports began new television contract major league baseball, fs1 airs 40 regular season mlb games (mostly on saturdays), along 15 post-season games (eight divisional series games , 1 best-of-7 league championship series). deal resulted in reduction of mlb coverage on fox network, air 12 regular season games, all-star game, , world series.

game 1 of 2014 nlcs simulcast on fox sports 1 , hosted kevin burkhardt, gabe kapler , c.j. nitkowski, offered sabermetric analysis of game.



2000s

notes

in 2001, game 5 of nlcs , game 4 of alcs split between fox , fox sports net. came off heels of fox airing nfl doubleheader particular day (october 21).
in 2002, game 1 of nlcs , game 2 of alcs split between fox , fox sports net. regional split done in order fox avoid televising weekday afternoon game.
in 2003, game 1 of alcs , game 2 of nlcs split between fox , fx networks.
in 2004, game 1 of nlcs , game 2 of alcs split between fox , fox sports net. in 2004, game 5 of alcs ran way time slot of game 5 of nlcs. result, first 7 innings of nlcs game shown on fx networks, except in home markets of teams competing in nlcs, saw conclusion of alcs on fx , nlcs on fox.
in 2005, game 1 of nlcs , game 1 of alcs split between fox , fx networks.
the 2007 nlcs on tbs marked first time league championship series exclusively broadcast on cable television network.

1990s

notes

the 1990 postseason started on thursday, while world series started on tuesday due brief lockout.

in 1990, major league baseball , cbs went rather unconventional scheduling during lcs round, 2 consecutive scheduled off-days in nlcs after game 2.


in 1991, cbs didn t come on air baseball weeknight lcs telecasts until 8:30 p.m. et. instead, opted show programming such rescue 911 @ 8 p.m. rather baseball pregame show.
the 1994 national league championship series planned air on nbc. however, plans scrapped when strike caused entire postseason canceled.
the rather messy 1995 arrangement courtesy of baseball network , major league baseball s in-house production facility. abc , nbc (who essentially, distributed telecasts rather produce them in past) shared same on-air graphics , microphone “flags” had baseball network logo on respective network logo. in addition, first 4 games of both of 1995 league championship series regionally televised.

1980s

notes

on october 11, 1980, keith jackson called oklahoma-texas college football game abc in afternoon, flew houston call game 4 of nlcs. in meantime, don drysdale filled-in jackson on play-by-play innings (up until middle of fourth inning). abc used steve zabriskie field reporter during 1980 nlcs.
the 1981 nlcs between los angeles dodgers , montreal expos broadcast canadian broadcasting corporation (cbc) dave van horne , duke snider announcing. still during period in participating ballclubs allowed own local league championship series telecasts.

even though dick enberg did play-by-play 1981 nlcs nbc, merle harmon was, part, nbc s backup baseball play-by-play man (serving behind joe garagiola, called year s alcs nbc tony kubek) in 1981. harmon s broadcast partner during period ron luciano.


game 1 of 1982 nlcs had played twice. in first attempt (on october 6), atlanta braves led against st. louis cardinals 1–0 behind phil niekro. game 3 outs away becoming official when umpire stopped it. when rain did not subside, game canceled. game 1 began start following night in pitching match-up of pascual pérez braves , longtime cardinal starter bob forsch.

abc s howard cosell did not broadcast game 2 of 1982 nlcs because of commitment of hosting pittsburgh steelers 50th anniversary dinner in pittsburgh on october 9, 1982, broadcast live on pittsburgh s abc affiliate, wtae-tv , pittsburgh s nbc affiliate, wpxi-tv.
abc s jim lampley interviewed winners in cardinals clubhouse after clinching national league pennant in game 3.


1983 marked last year local flagship television stations competing teams allowed produce own league championship series broadcasts. in 1982, major league baseball recognized problem due emergence of cable superstations such wtbs in atlanta , wgn-tv in chicago. when tbs tried petition right local braves broadcast of 1982 nlcs, major league baseball got philadelphia federal court ban them on grounds cable superstation, tbs not have nationwide telecast competing abc s.



the rather unusual 1984 nlcs schedule (which had off day after game 3 rather game 2) allowed abc have prime time game each weeknight though chicago s wrigley field did not have lights @ time (which remained case until 4 years later). abc used tim mccarver field reporter during 1984 nlcs. during regular season, mccarver teamed don drysdale on backup games while al michaels, jim palmer , earl weaver/howard cosell formed abc s number 1 broadcasting team.
on thursday, october 10, 1985, nbc didn t come on air game 2 of nlcs until 8:30 p.m. et avoid disrupting cosby show @ 8. nbc same thing thursday night games in subsequent postseasons. dick enberg hosted 1985 nlcs pregame shows joe morgan. enberg broke news of nation vince coleman injured before game 4. nbc aired interview 1 of few people saw incident, dodger batboy.
on october 15, 1986, game 6 of nlcs ran long (lasting 16 innings, 5 hours , 29 minutes), bumped against start time of game 7 of alcs (also on abc).

jack whitaker served essayist during abc s coverage of 1986 nlcs.
during game 6 of nlcs, abc color commentator tim mccarver left booth during bottom of 16th, in order cover expected celebration in new york mets clubhouse. result, play-by-play man keith jackson on air himself short time. eventually, mccarver rejoined broadcast before end of game, watching action on monitor in mets clubhouse, doing postgame interviews mets.
corey mcpherrin, sports anchor wabc (abc s flagship station out of new york) interviewed mike scott when presented 1986 nlcs mvp award after game 6.


nbc used don sutton pre , postgame analyst 1987 lcs coverage. marv albert went back-and-forth during both 1987 lcs. hosted pregame game 1 of nlcs joe morgan, , in fact had read lineups viewing audience. there problem st. louis p.a. feed, ended reading script cardinal dugout while players introduced crowd. went minnesota next night host alcs pregame don sutton. jimmy cefalo hosted pregame coverage game 5 of nlcs, marv albert away on boxing assignment nbc.

nbc s jay randolph, sports director ksdk-tv, nbc affiliate in st. louis, interviewed winners in st. louis cardinals clubhouse following game 7 victory. following game 7, nbc s marv albert interviewed 1987 nlcs mvp, jeffrey leonard of san francisco giants (to date, last person losing team win postseason series valuable player award, either league championship series or world series).


game 2 of 1988 nlcs didn t start until 10 p.m. et due vice presidential debate. latest ever scheduled start lcs game.

after wrapping play-by-play duties abc s coverage of 1988 alcs, in oakland athletics swept boston red sox in 4 games, gary bender covered postgame interviews in victorious los angeles dodgers clubhouse following game 7 of 1988 nlcs.


nbc play-by-play man vin scully unable call game 2 of 1989 nlcs (on wednesday, october 4) because had come down laryngitis. thus, number 2 play-by-play man, bob costas filled-in him. interestingly, around same time, costas assigned call american league championship series between oakland , toronto. game 2 of nlcs occurred on thursday, october 5, off day alcs. nbc decided fly costas toronto chicago substitute scully on thursday night. afterwards, costas flew toronto, resumed work on alcs next night.

nbc used mike schmidt guest analyst (marv albert served pregame host) game 1 of nlcs. schmidt subsequently, did on-field reporting throughout series. schmidt provided periodic commentary (albeit, taped prior playoffs) abc during 1988 nlcs.



1970s

notes

in 1970, nbc televised second games of both league championship series on regional basis. markets got nlcs @ 1 p.m. et along 4 p.m. nfl game while other markets got alcs @ 4 p.m. along 1 p.m. nfl game.
nbc did not air game 2 of 1972 nlcs or 1974 nlcs.
except game 1 in both series, games in 1975 regionally televised. game 3 of both league championship series aired in prime time, first time such occurrence happened.
1976 marked first time lcs games televised nationally.

1969

notes

in years of league championship series, nbc typically televised doubleheader on opening saturday, followed single game on sunday (because of nfl coverage). covered weekday games 1.5 hour overlap, joining second game in progress when first 1 ended. nbc swapped announcer crews after game 2.
from 1969 1983, major league baseball television contract allowed local tv station in market of each competing team carry lcs games. in 1969, example, mets fans in new york choose watch either nbc telecast or lindsey nelson, bob murphy , ralph kiner on wor-tv.

surviving telecasts

for of league championship series telecasts spanning 1969 1975, game 2 of 1972 american league championship series (oakland vs. detroit) known exist. however, copy on trade circuit of game 2 of 1972 alcs missing bert campaneris-lerrin lagrow brawl. there instances brief glimpse of telecast footage of lcs game can seen in surviving newscast night. instance, last out of 1973 national league championship series described jim simpson played on night s nbc nightly news, other that, entire game gone. on day new york mets , baltimore orioles wrapped respective league championship series in 1969, feature story on cbs evening news showed telecast clips of alcs game (there s no original sound, voiceover narration). remains of third game of orioles-twins series. while telecasts of world series games starting 1975 accounted , exist, lcs still spotty situation through late 1970s:

1976 alcs - game 5 abc vault known exist.
1976 nlcs - off-air recording of game 3, taped in portland market game known exist. apparently, copy makes trade circuit extant version because second-hand story says abc vault copy has no sound.
1977 - major league baseball has in vault, game 3 of nlcs (from philadelphia phillies local nbc affiliate) , apparently has of game 4 of nlcs. also, both wpix , nbc versions of game 5 of alcs (both of out there in terms of off-air recordings) known exist. earlier games of nlcs , alcs have not surfaced , may not exist in vault.
1978 - trade collectors have 4 games of alcs (the abc version) game 4 of nlcs (again, source copies taped @ home).




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