Phillies-Braves: Game time, channel, how to watch and stream MLB playoffs

After sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals, the Philadelphia Phillies now face the Atlanta Braves in a best-of-five divisional series that will bring postseason baseball back to Citizens Bank Park.

Phillies fans will have to switch their dial to find Tuesday’s game. While ESPN had the exclusive broadcast rights to this year’s wild-card games, the National League divisional series games will air on Fox and FS1 (TBS will air both American League divisional series). Once again, no Phillies games will air on NBC Sports Philadelphia.

While ESPN won’t be airing the game, Phillies fans will once again get their fill of Alex Rodriguez, though the former Yankees slugger won’t be in the booth. A-Rod will once again join Fox’s studio coverage alongside host Kevin Burkhardt and former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz and Hall of Famer Frank Thomas. Joining the show this postseason will be Dontrelle Willis, a two-time All-Star who pitched primarily for the Florida Marlins and Detroit Tigers during his nine-year career.

» READ MORE: Phillies-Braves: Live updates from Game 1

In recent years, Pete Rose (whose sexism and foul mouth was on display in NBC Sports Philadelphia in August) was part of the team, but was given the boot by Fox in 2017 after allegations surfaced that he had a sexual relationship with an underage woman in the 1970s.

The Phillies went just 8-11 against the Braves this season, and were swept in Atlanta in a three-game series last month. Meanwhile, the Braves weren’t swept in a single series all year, the first time that’s happened to a MLB team in 18 years.

Here’s everything you need to know to watch Game 1 of the Phillies-Braves divisional series:

Phillies-Braves is scheduled to begin at 1:07 p.m. Eastern on Fox.

With Joe Buck now with ESPN, calling the Phillies-Braves series will be Joe Davis, the voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers on Spectrum SportsNet LA. He’ll be joined by Hall of Famer John Smoltz, with Ken Rosenthal reporting from the stadium.

If you’re looking for a little Philly flair in the broadcast, you could always tune into 94.1 WIP, where longtime Phillies announcer Scott Franzke will be back calling the game alongside Larry Andersen, who can’t wait to return to Philadelphia.

“To me, the best thing about this is the Phillies will play a playoff game at home,” Andersen said after the team’s Game 2 victory over the Cardinals on Saturday night. “They had to win this series for these guys to experience playing in front of a Philadelphia crowd in the playoffs, and there is nothing like it.”

Bill Kulik and Oscar Budejen will call Phillies-Braves in Spanish on La Unika 1680 AM. The game will also air on TV in Spanish on Fox Deportes, with Carlos Alvarez and Jaime Motta on the call.

» READ MORE: These Phillies remind Larry Andersen of 1993

Phillies-Braves will stream on the Fox Sports app, though it will only be available to those with a cable subscription.

The game will also stream on any so-called skinny bundle that carries Fox, including fuboTV, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, and DirecTV Stream. Most offer a free trial.

If you’re looking to stream the game for free, your best option if you live near Philadelphia is to use an over-the-air antenna. But that won’t work beginning with Game 3, when the games shift from Fox to FS1.

Phillies left-hander Ranger Suárez (10-7, 3.65 ERA) will get his first postseason start for the Phillies in Game 1. Suárez has faced the Braves 15 times in his career — six starts — and was solid against Atlanta this season, allowing 13 earned runs in 28 innings.

The Braves will counter with ace Max Fried (14-7, 2.48 ERA) in Game 1. Fried has posted the National League’s third-best ERA since the start of the 2020 season, and allowed two runs or fewer in three of five postseason starts last year, according to MLB.com.

» READ MORE: Ranger Suárez the latest Phillies starting pitcher to make his playoff debut: ‘It’s very special to me’

While the Phillies TV announcers will be watching the games from home, NBC Sports Philadelphia will still do pre- and postgame coverage for each game.

On Friday, Phillies Pregame Live will air at noon, featuring Michael Barkann, Rickie Bottalico, Ben Davis, and former Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. Among those who will be on-hand in Atlanta are Tom McCarthy the team’s longtime television voice. They’ll all return for Phillies Postgame Live following the game.

WIP will also offer pre- and postgame coverage, hosted by Gregg Murphy.

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» READ MORE: Phillies-Braves: Schedule, tickets, and everything else you need to know