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

The Phillies kick off their playoff run against the Miami Marlins Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park, but you won’t be able to watch the game on NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Unlike the NBA, the first round of the MLB playoffs doesn’t air on regional sports networks. Instead, the best-of-three wild-card series will be broadcast exclusively by ESPN, beginning with Tuesday’s game at 8:08 p.m. Eastern.

During the season, ESPN often provided in-game interviews with mic’d up players in the field, along with other bells and whistles that helped separate the network’s games from their regional counterparts. But Phillies fans won’t see much of that tonight, in part because ESPN didn’t get much buy-in from the teams, according to Sunday Night Baseball producer Andy Jacobson.

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“It’s postseason baseball. Philly is going to be insane. These home ballparks are going to be rocking. Everything’s magnified,” Jacobson told The Inquirer. “Our goal is to make sure the viewer at home feels that electricity.”

Zach Wheeler will take the mound for the Phillies, hoping to erase the memory of his Game 6 start in last year’s World Series. Wheeler had a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning when he was pulled from the game after 70 pitches, and watched as José Alvarado gave up what turned out to be a game-winning three-run homer to Astros outfielder Yordan Álvarez.

“I felt like I could’ve gone 100 pitches that night,” Wheeler told The Inquirer. “It still feels a little fresh. But we’re making a new path this year, and hopefully can just do a little better.”

Here’s everything you need to know to watch Game 1 of the Phillies-Marlins wild-card series:

Phillies-Marlins is scheduled to begin at 8:08 p.m. Eastern on ESPN.

Calling the game will be the network’s Sunday Night Baseball crew, which includes play-by-play announcer Karl Ravech and analysts Eduardo Pérez and David Cone. Buster Olney will report from Citizens Bank Park.

While it was MLB that decided to place the Phillies in its primetime TV slot, ESPN felt it made sense to send their main Sunday Night Baseball crew to Citizens Bank Park, where the electricity — and decibel counts — were off the scale last postseason. But Ravech and company still have to deal with some angry Phillies and Marlins fans used to hearing their local crews call their games on TV.

“It is a challenge, and I get it. It’s a regionalized game, and most fan bases love their own announcers,” Jacobson said. “We live and breathe baseball all season, and hopefully we deliver a product that is fair, smart, entertaining, and checks all the boxes and doesn’t offend anyone.”

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 call the game alongside Larry Andersen. You can either tune in on the radio or stream it for free on the Audacy app.

Bill Kulik and Oscar Budejen will call Phillies-Marlins in Spanish on La Unika 1680 AM.

Phillies-Marlins will stream on the ESPN app and on ESPN’s website, though it will only be available to those with a cable subscription. It won’t be available on ESPN+.

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

While Tom McCarthy, John Kruk, and the rest of 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 Tuesday, Phillies Pregame Live will air at 7:30 p.m. featuring Michael Barkann, Ricky Bottalico, and Ben Davis, with Taryn Hatcher reporting from Citizens Bank Park. They’ll all return for Phillies Postgame Live following the game.

There will be no “ghost runners” during this year’s playoffs.

During the regular season, MLB brought back the designated runner, rule, which puts a player on second base to begin each half inning if a game is tied after nine innings. The rule was an attempt to preserve pitching staffs and avoid extra-long regular season games.

But during the playoffs, that rule is out the window. So if any postseason games enter extra innings, you won’t see anyone on second base to start an inning.

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MLB decided to keep its pitch clock rules for the postseason, so fans will experience shorter playoff games. The clock has shortened the average game time by nearly 25 minutes this season, and last year the average playoff game lasted three hours and 32 minutes.

The pitch clock will remain at 15 seconds with no runners on base, and 20 seconds with runners. MLB announced it will have neutral clock operators during the playoffs to prevent any shenanigans.

* If necessary. Game time could also change depending on other outcomes.