For New York Mets fans, Opening Day comes with the baseball equivalent of comfort food. One of the biggest pleasure of rooting for the Mets is being able to hear their games being called by three of the best announcers in the game—play-by-play man Gary Cohen, and analysts Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling, who are collectively known as GKR.
The three announcers have a rapport that’s unmatched in baseball, but they won’t be broadcasting the Mets opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates at 1 PM at Citi Field on March 26, as reported by Tremayne Person of Rising Apple. Pitcher Paul Skenes will likely take to the mound, possibly versus Mets phenom Nolan McLean, but the game will be broadcast on NBC and Peacock.
It’s a noteworthy departure from the norm, but the fan base needs to make an adjustment. MLB’s media deal with ESPN has been dead in the water for several years now, and the league has some new broadcast partners, including the NBC/Peacock combination.
There’s nothing wrong with this sort of change once we get into the regular season, but Opening Day is the painful exception. NBC/Peacock will be the new home for Sunday night baseball, but missing those familiar voices for that first game will hurt.
Several other broadcast format changes are coming, but they won’t affect Mets fans nearly as much. NBC/Peacock also gets to broadcast the Wild Card Series, but the Mets have big dreams that would hopefully allow them to skip that particular dance if they get fulfilled this year. Netflix landed the rights to some special events like the Home Run Derby and the Field of Dreams game, so they’ll be part of baseball’s new media landscape.
For Mets fans who are true baseball addicts, ESPN also acquired the broadcast rights to out-of-market games for six teams, so those will be part of the MLB.TV package, which is especially worth having when various divisional races tighten up in August and September.
As for GLK, it will be especially interesting to get their take on all the changes in the Mets roster and lineup once the games get started. Ron Darling has already said he’s more than a little confused by some of the changes that are being made, and the GLK take on some of the bad baseball the Mets were playing was an entertaining counterpoint that alleviated some of the pain of having to actually watch the team play. They’ll be there again, but not being able to hear them for the opener will definitely leave a hole that will be tough to fill.