Other ballots: Arizona / Atlanta / Baltimore / Boston / Chicago (AL) Home / Chicago (AL) Away.

Yesterday, the present author began the process of process of reproducing the broadcaster rankings which appeared on this site roughly four years ago. The purpose of those rankings? To place a “grade” on each of the league’s television and radio broadcast teams — a grade intended to represent not necessarily the objective quality or skill of the relevant announcers, but rather the appeal those announcers might have to the readers of this site. By way of MLB.TV feeds, the typical major-league telecast offers four distinct audio feeds — which is to say, the radio and television commentary both for the home and road clubs. The idea of these broadcast rankings was to give readers an opportunity to make an informed decision about how to consume a telecast.

Below are six more ballots to the end of producing a new collection of these broadcasters scores.

For each broadcasting team, the reader is asked to supply a grade on a scale of 1-5 (with 5 representing the highest mark) according to the following criteria: Charisma, Analysis, and then Overall.

Charisma is, essentially, the personal charm of the announcers in question. Are they actively entertaining? Do they possess real camaraderie? Would you — as is frequently the case with Vin Scully — would you willingly exchange one of your living grandfathers in order to spend time with one of these announcers? The Analysis provided by a broadcast team could skew more towards the sabermetric or more towards the scouting side of things. In either case, is it grounded in reason? The Overall rating is the overall quality of the broadcast team — nor need this be a mere average of the previous two ratings. Bob Uecker, for example, provides very little in the way of analysis, and yet certainly rates well overall, merely by force of personality. Finally, there’s a box of text in which readers can elaborate upon their grades, if so compelled.

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Chicago Cubs

Some relevant information regarding Chicago’s broadcast:

• Play-by-play coverage is typically provided by Len Kasper.
• Color analysis is typically provided by Jim Deshaies.
• No one else really appears for select games, according to the internet.

Click here to grade Chicago’s television broadcast team.

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Cincinnati Reds

Some relevant information regarding Cincinnati’s broadcast:

• Play-by-play coverage is typically provided by Thom Brennaman.
• Color analysis is typically provided by Chris Welsh.
• Jeff Brantley, George Grande, and Jim Kelch appear for select games.

Click here to grade Cincinnati’s television broadcast team.

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Cleveland Ballclub

Some relevant information regarding Cleveland’s broadcast:

• Play-by-play coverage is typically provided by Matt Underwood.
• Color analysis is typically provided by Rick Manning.
• Al Pawlowski appears maybe for select games.

Click here to grade Cleveland’s television broadcast team.

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Colorado Rockies

Some relevant information regarding Colorado’s broadcast:

• Play-by-play coverage is typically provided by Drew Goodman.
• Color analysis is typically provided by Jeff Huson.
• Ryan Spilborghs appears for select games, it seems.

Click here to grade Colorado’s television broadcast team.

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Detroit Tigers

Some relevant information regarding Detroit’s broadcast:

• Play-by-play coverage is typically provided by Mario Impemba.
• Color analysis is typically provided by Rod Allen.
• Kirk Gibson and Jack Morris appear for select games.

Click here to grade Detroit’s television broadcast team.

***

Houston Astros

Some relevant information regarding Houston’s broadcast:

• Play-by-play coverage is typically provided by Bill Brown.
• Color analysis is typically provided by Alan Ashby.
• Geoff Blum and Mike Stanton almost certainly appear for select games.

Click here to grade Houston’s television broadcast team.