Ernie Johnson, Brian Anderson and Dick Stockton to Provide Play-by-Play for 2012 Season;
Game Analysts Include Ron Darling, Dennis Eckersley, John Smoltz and David Wells
“Sunday MLB on TBS” will return for a fifth consecutive season Sunday, April 8, when the Tampa Bay Rays host the New York Yankees at 1:30 p.m. ET. Ernie Johnson will call the game with analyst John Smoltz. “Sunday MLB on TBS” is a season-long game of the week airing Sunday afternoons on TBS. Commentators for the 26-game regular season schedule will include a trio of play-by-play announcers and a deep rotation of former elite pitchers as analysts.
Play-by-play commentators for the 2012 season will include Johnson, an Emmy Award winner, veteran TBS announcer Brian Anderson and long-time broadcaster Dick Stockton. They will be paired with a combination of returning TBS analysts – Ron Darling, Dennis Eckersley, Smoltz and David Wells.
Commentator assignments for the opening two months of the season:
2012 “Sunday MLB on TBS” Schedule
| Sun., April 8 | |
| 1:30 p.m. (ET) | New York Yankees @ Tampa Bay Rays |
| Ernie Johnson (play-by-play) and John Smoltz (analyst) | |
| Sun., April 15 | |
| 1:30 p.m. | Tampa Bay Rays @ Boston Red Sox |
| Ernie Johnson (play-by-play) and John Smoltz (analyst) | |
| Sun., April 22 | |
| 1:00 p.m. | Texas Rangers @ Detroit Tigers |
| Ernie Johnson (play-by-play), John Smoltz (analyst) and David Wells (analyst) | |
| Sun., April 29 | |
| 1:00 p.m. | Detroit Tigers @ New York Yankees |
| Brian Anderson (play-by-play) Ron Darling (analyst) and John Smoltz (analyst) | |
| Sun., May 6 | |
| 2:00 p.m. | New York Yankees @ Kansas City Royals |
| Brian Anderson (play-by-play), Dennis Eckersley (analyst) and John Smoltz (analyst) | |
| Sun., May 13 | |
| 2:00 p.m. | Atlanta Braves @ St. Louis Cardinals |
| Brian Anderson (play-by-play), Ron Darling (analyst) and John Smoltz (analyst) | |
| Sun., May 20 | |
| 1:30 p.m. | Boston Red Sox @ Philadelphia Phillies |
| Brian Anderson (play-by-play) and Dennis Eckersley (analyst) | |
| Sun., May 27 | |
| 1:30 p.m. | Tampa Bay Rays @ Boston Red Sox |
| Dick Stockton (play-by-play) and Ron Darling (analyst) |
Johnson has been a part of MLB on TBS since 2007 and has called MLB regular season and postseason games on the network since 2010. He is the long-time host of TNT’s EmmyÒ Award-winning NBA on TNT studio team and serves as the main play-by-play announcer for TNT’s coverage of the PGA Championship. Anderson, who was behind the mic for TBS during Roy Halladay’s historic no-hitter during the 2010 NLDS, has been a part of the network’s “Sunday MLB on TBS” regular season coverage since 2010. He has called MLB Postseason games nationally for TBS for the past four years and has been the lead play-by-play announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers since 2007. Turner broadcaster Stockton, a 37-year veteran MLB announcer, has also called NBA games on TNT for more than 15 years.
Analyst Darling returns to “Sunday MLB on TBS” for a fifth consecutive season. A 13-year Major League pitcher and former All-Star, Darling also serves as an analyst for SportsNet New York’s (SNY) coverage of the New York Mets. Eight-time All-Star and former Cy Young Award winner Smoltz has been a TBS MLB game analyst during the regular season since 2010 and also covers games for MLB Network. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004, Eckersley was the AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner in 1992. Eckersley also serves as an analyst for Boston Red Sox games on NESN. He has worked with TBS during the MLB postseason since 2008. Wells, a 21-year MLB veteran, has been a studio analyst for the MLB All-Star Selection Show on TBS since 2009 and a game analyst for select “Sunday MLB on TBS” telecasts for the past three seasons.
MLB on TBS
TBS is the exclusive home of the 2012 MLB All-Star Selection Show airing Sunday, July 1. In October, the network will once again provide exclusive coverage of all four MLB Division Series (DS) and the American League Championship Series (ALCS). The network will announce future games on its schedule coinciding with its selection windows. The games included in the TBS MLB package will not be televised in the team’s home television territory.
TBS has broadcast MLB games for more than 30 years, serving as the exclusive home of the MLB Division Series (DS) and one League Championship Series (LCS) since 2007 and home of Atlanta Braves coverage from 1977 to 2007.
TBS
TBS, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., is television’s top-rated comedy network and is available in 100.8 million households. It serves as home to the Emmy-nominated late-night series CONAN, starring Conan O’Brien; original primetime comedy series like Tyler Perry’s House of Payne and Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns; and upcoming series like The Wedding Band and Tyler Perry’s For Better or Worse. TBS also features an outstanding slate of contemporary comedies, such as The Big Bang Theory, Family Guy and The Office, as well as blockbuster movies and championship sports. In addition, TBS produces special live comedy events, including the star-studded comedy festival held each year in Chicago.
Turner Sports
Turner Sports, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., is an industry leader in televised and online sports programming, airing championship-level sporting events on TBS, TNT and truTV, and managing some of the most popular sports sites on the Internet. Turner Sports’ television line-up includes the NBA, Major League Baseball, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, NASCAR and professional golf. The company’s digital portfolio includes NASCAR.COM, NCAA.com, PGATOUR.COM, GOLF.com and PGA.com, as well as an accompanying collection of mobile websites and connected device apps. Turner Sports and the NBA also jointly manage NBA Digital, which includes NBA TV, NBA.com, NBA LEAGUE PASS, NBA Mobile, the NBA Game Time App, NBADLEAGUE.com and WNBA.com.
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