A lot is changing with MLB on TV this season, but Jimmy Rollins is staying put

There will be a lot of change on TV for Major League Baseball this season, but Jimmy Rollins isn’t going anywhere.

The former Phillies star and 2007 National League MVP signed a deal to remain at TNT as part of the network’s studio show. Terms of his new contract weren’t announced, but it’s a “multi-year extension” that will keep him on TV the next few years, the network said.

It will be Rollins’ 11th season with TNT, though his broadcasting career began with Fox during the 2013 World Series, while he was still with the Phillies. He also tried his hand at calling a few games on NBC Sports Philadelphia alongside Tom McCarthy and John Kruk, but has grown to love the back-and-forth of the studio.

“I love to debate,” Rollins told The Inquirer in October. “Everybody knows that about me, so it definitely fits my style.”

TNT’s Philly-centric studio show also includes Philly native Adam Leftkoe and Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez, who was Rollins’ teammate on the 2009 Phillies that lost the World Series to the New York Yankees.

Rounding out the cast is host Lauren Shehadi and three-time All-Star Curtis Granderson.

TNT also re-signed game analyst Jeff Francoeur, who spent most of his career with the Atlanta Braves but played for the Phillies during the 2015 season.

During the regular season, TNT airs non-exclusive national games on Tuesday nights, which means when the Phillies are on the network, they’re also airing locally on NBC Sports Philadelphia. This season, TNT will also broadcast the American League divisional and championship series.

As of now, TNT will air two Phillies games during the first half of the season — April 14 against the Chicago Cubs, and June 2 against the San Diego Padres. Both will be blacked out in the Philly TV market.

Veteran broadcaster Bob Costas is calling Tuesday’s Sixers game for NBC, but the network also plans to bring him back when they begin broadcasting MLB games in the spring.

Costas told The Inquirer the plan is for him to host about two-thirds of the pregame shows leading up to NBC’s coverage of Sunday Night Baseball, beginning March 26 with the Arizona Diamondbacks taking on the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“NBC sees me as the bridge between the last time they had baseball... To just kind of attach the old to the new,” Costas said, not counting the one season they streamed Sunday morning games on Peacock, which is also coming back this season.

While Costas is known for opening monologues and a thoughtful analysis of sports that goes beyond the field, most nights he won’t have much time to work with.

“The average Sunday night is going to be a tight pregame, only maybe 12 minutes of content,” Costas said. “But we wanted it to be worthwhile content.”

Costas last called an MLB game in 2024, when he did play-by-play for the American League Divisional Series between the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals on TNT. After the series, he announced he was retiring as an announcer, ending a four-decade career calling MLB games.

During the series, Costas received a lot of criticism on social media, not unusual for baseball announcers during national broadcasts. Looking back, he called his performance “okay” but not “as good as the decades prior.”

“I was able to do baseball play-by-play pretty darn well for a very long time,” Costas said. “I just couldn’t consistently reach my own standard.”

“But I can do everything else as well,” Costas added. “The interviews, the essays, the commentaries, the hosting. I can do that as well as I ever did. I think.”

The Phillies’ first appearance on Sunday Night Baseball will be April 19, but that game will be a Peacock exclusive because NBC will be airing the NBA playoffs on Sunday nights through the end of May.

The Phillies’ first game on NBC (other than Opening Day locally on NBC10) will be June 21 against the New York Mets.

While ESPN will no longer broadcast Sunday Night Baseball or the wild card games (which were also nabbed by NBC), it will still air 30 MLB games during the regular season, mostly during the week.

ESPN’s schedule includes the second-half opener between the Phillies and Mets on June 16 and the MLB Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pa., on Aug. 23.

Netflix will stream MLB’s season opener between the Yankees and San Francisco Giants on March 25. It will also stream this year’s Home Run Derby, which will take place at Citizen’s Bank Park on July 13, and the annual Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa on Aug. 13 between the Phillies and Minnesota Twins.