Former Phillies general manager and current color commentator Ruben Amaro Jr. will call this week’s American League Wild Card Series between the Royals and Orioles for ESPN Radio, he announced on social media Sunday night. Amaro will join the booth with play-by-play announcer Mike Monaco for the first-round postseason matchup.
Baltimore (91-71) will host Kansas City (86-76) for a best-of-three series starting Tuesday at Camden Yards. Game 1 will begin at 4:08 p.m. and air on television on ESPN 2.
Amaro has served as a color commentator and an in-studio analyst for Phillies TV broadcasts on NBC Sports Philadelphia since 2020, calling games alongside play-by-play announcer Tom McCarthy on a rotating basis with John Kruk and Ben Davis. He’s also done television work for MLB Network and is a contributor for SportsRadio 94 WIP in addition to co-hosting The Phillies Show, a podcast with longtime Phillies reporters Todd Zolecki and Jim Salisbury.
Opportunities with ESPN Radio appear to be Amaro’s only chance to call playoff baseball this year, despite the former big leaguer being a regular on Phillies TV throughout the season. During the MLB postseason, local television networks are not permitted to broadcast the games as they do for the regular season; playoff games are only broadcast on national television.
However, teams are allowed to carry a local radio broadcast during the postseason. With a regular crew of Scott Franzke on play-by-play and Larry Andersen and Kevin Stocker as the color commentators, the Phillies have let McCarthy jump over from TV to radio to spell Franzke during the middle innings in each of Philadelphia’s past two playoff runs. McCarthy has indicated that he’ll be a part of the radio broadcast again this October.
The Phillies, the National League East champions and No. 2 seed in the league, secured a first-round bye into the NL Division Series. They’ll host Game 1 against an opponent to be determined this upcoming Saturday at Citizens Bank Park; the game will air on FOX or FOX Sports 1.
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