Ron Darling, Orel Hershiser to join Joe Buck for ESPN’s Mets-Dodgers game on Jackie Robinson Day

Joe Buck will be joined by a couple of Mets and Dodgers legends as he returns to the booth for a one-off on Jackie Robinson Day.

Longtime SNY analyst Ron Darling and veteran Dodgers broadcaster Orel Hershiser will tag along with Buck during ESPN’s exclusive broadcast of Mets-Dodgers on April 15, Jackie Robinson Day. In December, Buck revealed during a podcast appearance that he would return to call the game, but his broadcast partners were not known until this point.

Andrew Marchand of The Athletic first reported the news.

Joe Buck will be joined by Orel Hershiser & Ron Darling for the exclusive ESPN broadcast of Mets-Dodgers on April 15th, Jackie Robinson Day, The Athletic has learned.

This is second year in a row that Buck has called an MLB game for ESPN.

— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) March 31, 2026

Per Buck in December, this is the only MLB game his scheduled to call this year. Last season, Buck, the longtime voice of the World Series at Fox, made his return national baseball broadcasting, calling a Yankees-Brewers game on Opening Day. The Monday Night Football announcer had called a St. Louis Cardinals game locally in 2024 to work a broadcast with Chip Caray, a throwback to when Joe’s father Jack Buck called Cardinals games with Chip’s father Harry Caray.

Pulling Darling from SNY and Hershiser from SportsNet LA are impressive gets for ESPN. Darling is a beloved voice on a Mets broadcast that Awful Announcing readers ranked second-best in all of baseball last season. Hershiser, who teams up with Fox’s new World Series voice Joe Davis on SportsNet LA, slotted in at 12th.

The news also continues a trend of local broadcasters parachuting in for national games. NBC has opted to do it every week with its Sunday Night Baseball and MLB Sunday Leadoff packages. Now, ESPN is experimenting with the format, albeit for a special one-off game.