TBS On Deck For National League Wildcard Tiebreaker
Padres/Rockies Battle For Wild Card Spot Tonight
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 10/1/2007 3:15:00 AM
TBS throws out the first pitch on its new national postseason package with coverage tonight of a regular-season game.
The play-in game between the San Diego Padres visiting the Colorado Rockies at 7:30 p.m. (ET) to determine the National League Wild Card winner is both teams’ 163rd regular-season contest. In addition to a division series date with the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday being on the line, the performance of Rockies left fielder Matt Holliday will determine the league’s batting titlist. Holliday will win the crown unless he goes hitless in five at-bats or more, in which case the Atlanta Braves would earn the honor.
Don Orsillo (play by play) and Joe Simpson (analyst) will call the Wild Card tiebreaker tilt. Then, that pair will call the Division series pitting tonight’s winner against the Phillies.
Elsewhere,Ron Darling, analyst for SportsNet New York’s New York Mets, is joining the TBS broadcast squad for the postseason, following the Amazins’ collapse from the playoffs. Darling will work with Dick Stockton on the other NL Division series, the NL Central champion Chicago Cubs against the NL West winner, Arizona Diamondbacks.
In the American League, Ted Robinson and Steve Stone will call the matchup between the west-winning Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and east kings, the Boston Red Sox. Bob Brenly, who was slated to work with Stockton, has been traded to the broadcast team of Chip Caray and Tony Gwynn for the action between the Wild Card New York Yankees and central champion Cleveland Indians.
What was still unclear at press time was TBS’s lineup for Wednesday, when all of the series, save for Yanks/Indians, are set to begin. The big question: Does TBS schedule the Sox/Angels in primetime, or does that preferred time slot go to the Diamondbacks/Cubs. The Cubbies have not won the World Series since 1908.
