Todd Frazier briefly forced to call Wild Card game solo on ESPN

ESPN is often accused of not caring much about baseball anymore, but no one expected to hear Todd Frazier calling a MLB playoff game by himself.

Frazier was slated to call Game 1 of the Wild Card Series between the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers Tuesday afternoon on ESPN with play-by-play voice Sean McDonough. And for most of the game, that’s what he did. But when ESPN returned from a commercial break to start the sixth inning, Frazier was left to pull double duty.

“Back here in the top of the sixth, 1-1 game,” Frazier said as it became clear McDonough wasn’t in the booth with him. “Not much really going on here. Pitcher’s duel as we’re seeing here. Gavin Williams has been spectacular. Seems like he’s getting better as the innings go on. Breaking ball, strike one. Javy Báez definitely went on that one.”

“Not much really going on here” is one way to describe being in the sixth inning of a 1-1 playoff game. That’s not exactly the type of promotion MLB is looking for from its playoff broadcasters.

And despite the fact that he was flailing at a pitch outside the zone, that’s Gleyber Torres at the plate, not Javy Báez. In Frazier’s defense, he wasn’t expecting to handle play-by-play duties or be part of a solo broadcaster, even if it was just for one batter.

McDonough, however, got back behind the mic in time to call Torres pulling a foul ball down the third base line on the next pitch. There was no mention of where McDonough was for the start of the inning. Maybe he needed to take an important phone call or maybe he needed to answer nature’s call. But thankfully, Frazier’s required attempt at a Vin Scully-style one-person broadcast booth was short lived.