ESPN is treating the 2026 Men’s College World Series differently than it has in years past.
For the first time, the network will produce a live studio show from Charles Schwab Field for the full two weeks of the tournament, not just the championship series, which only debuted on-site for the first time last year. The show debuts June 12 with an hour-long special at 1 p.m. ET before the first game at 2 p.m., per an ESPN source who spoke with the Omaha World-Herald.
Alyssa Lang, who joined ESPN’s NBA sideline rotation this past season after years as one of the SEC Network’s most prominent faces, hosts the studio show through the opening rounds alongside analysts Todd Walker and Mike Rooney. When the championship series begins June 20, Mike Monaco moves from the booth to the studio alongside McDonald and Rooney, with Jack DeLongchamps working as the on-site presence throughout.
On the broadcast side, Karl Ravech leads the primary crew with Kyle Peterson, Chris Burke, and Kris Budden, while Monaco anchors a second team alongside Ben McDonald, Eduardo Perez, and Taylor McGregor, who makes her CWS debut after working the Women’s College World Series last year, replacing Dani Wexelman.
ESPN is bringing more than 35 cameras to Omaha, including a drone that will capture overhead crowd footage. Last year, ESPN deployed a drone for the first time during the MCWS finals, using it to track relief pitchers as they walked from the bullpen to the mound.
The 2025 CWS averaged 2.50 million viewers across ESPN networks — the most-watched sweep since 2003 — but as Awful Announcing noted in March, college baseball’s national television footprint during the regular season remains disproportionately thin for a sport that is producing MLB talent faster than ever. Running a studio show for the full two weeks in Omaha rather than just the championship series is a step in the right direction. It doesn’t solve the regular-season problem, but it treats the postseason like the event it actually is.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.