Roy Wood Jr. explains his ‘great vibes’ with 2025 MLB Awards show co-host Mookie Betts

The 2025 MLB Awards show presented by MGM Rewards is on Thursday night on MLB Network at 9 p.m. ET. For the third consecutive year, comedian Roy Wood Jr. will host the event, which will reveal honors such as Executive of the Year, the Hank Aaron Award, Comeback Player of the Year, the Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman Relievers of the Year awards, and the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award. This time, however, Wood will have a co-host in Mookie Betts.

We recently caught up with Wood to discuss the award show, working with Betts, and how he finds comedy in baseball. Wood also has a new book out titled The Man of Many Fathers, which is available for purchase.

Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Awful Announcing: What’s your favorite thing about hosting this show?

Roy Wood Jr.: “Being able to see so many veterans get their flowers. It was good to have Mookie in the building last year and to co-host with him this year. I’m excited about it. I think Mookie’s one of those players who has a breakout personality beyond the sport. I think one of the biggest risks you can take as a human is trying to make strangers laugh. I would argue that what Mookie’s about to do on Thursday is harder than going from right field to shortstop. Yeah, and I say that as someone who confidently hit .183 in high school.”

How did the idea of co-hosting with Mookie Betts come about?

“That’s more of an MLB decision, but I know Mookie and I had great vibes last year on stage. A lot of what we did at the top of the show was completely improv. Mookie has been a great ambassador for the event. I kind of went back to Mookie and was like, ‘Do you want to do more on stage?’ He was like, ‘Hell yeah.’ So I’m like, let’s do it.'”

Will you and Mookie Betts rehearse before the show?

“I don’t think I need to give Mookie any (coaching). We did a documentary for Roku about the history and the lore of the home run earlier this year. Mookie was one of the people I spoke with. If you go back and find the trailer for that on YouTube, he’s already cracking jokes on my swing. I didn’t tell him to do that.

“If you can read fluently, then you can handle a teleprompter. You know, 90% of this is just charisma. I will say selfishly, knowing that Mookie Betts was my co-host, I was pulling for the Dodgers in Game 7 because I don’t know what kind of co-host I would have gotten had they lost.”

What was it like rooting for the Dodgers?

“As a fan, I loved the World Series. As Mookie Betts’ co-host, I was nervous as hell. You want your co-host to either win the World Series or lose in the wild card round, so that sadness is out of his body by the time he gets to Vegas.”

What did you think of Game 7 of the World Series?

“There were so many things that happened on that one night. What sucks is that we don’t have a full day to break down just that game. I love the World Series. It was one of the best. I’d say the only (playoff) game that, for me as a baseball fan, I loved more was the Braves-Pirates NLCS in ’92. Francisco Cabrera’s hit. Sid Bream slide. That was because of what was at stake for the Braves and what they had overcome, the year-long soap opera of it all.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgac2yzbSFM

Is hosting a sports show more difficult than other types of award shows?

“This is no different than the Peabody or the Sports Emmys, which are the two I hosted this year. I feel like it’s my job to celebrate the things and the happenings for which there are no awards. If Pat Murphy’s eating pancakes on the sideline, I don’t know what the award is, but there needs to be one. We need to find jokes about that. There were zero no-hitters this year. That’s worth mentioning. You wanted more offense, you got it. Everybody got a hit.”

How did your connection with MLB Network start?

“It was a little mutual. Harold Reynolds and I have run into each other at various media events over the years. I’d say 2014-2015 is when I really started (appearing regularly) on ESPN and Fox Sports, just being the funny comedian on whatever show or podcast that would have me. Inherently, you start showing a passion for baseball. The year the Cubs ran the table in 2016, they had me on (MLB Network). I think it was MLB Central. I just had such a great time. You’re invited back often enough to where you start trying to come up with ideas and segments and fun things to do.”

Is doing comedy in baseball challenging?

“I think sports and comedy are a very, very difficult thing to intersect. Baseball and comedy, I would argue, is probably one of the most difficult because it is the most buttoned down of the big four sports. It’s behaviorally conservative. Comedy in itself is supposed to be a little bit of chaos and disarray. Comedy is bat flips and airbrushed sneakers and nicknames on your jerseys on Player’s Day.”

Who’s a player that you think is funny?

“Dee Strange-Gordon is downright hilarious. Gary Sheffield is very funny. He’s a very intense guy when it’s time to play. But more often than not, we only saw Gary Sheffield when he was in the clubhouse. But outside the clubhouse and outside of that moment, a very, very chill dude. CC Sabathia could deliver a good punchline. I mean, look, I’m going to be honest, man. If it’s up to me in the future, let Mookie co-host this with another player. This is a player’s night.”

Do you have a particular broadcaster you enjoy?

“As a Cubs fan, of course, I’m partial to Boog Sciambi. But I would say growing up, as much as I was a Cubs fan, and you should say Harry Caray and Steve Stone, it was Skip Caray and the Braves. My dad would watch the Braves on TV, but with the radio call on in the house.”

The 2025 MLB Awards show, which will take place at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, will air live on MLB Network and can be streamed on MLB.com, MLB.TV and the MLB App.