Total Pro Sports
ESPN ‘Monday Night Football’ announcer Joe Buck is temporarily returning to the MLB broadcast booth next month.
Before joining the Worldwide Leader in Sports with colleague Troy Aikman, Joe Buck was the lead MLB commentator for Fox Sports from 1996 to 2021. He gave up baseball duties after signing a lucrative deal to take over the ‘MNF’ broadcasts in 2022 with Aikman, but not permanently after all.
Speaking to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, Buck revealed that he’s been picked to call the New York Yankees-Milwaukee Brewers Opening Day game on March 27:
“Baseball is not part of Buck’s deal with ESPN, but Mark Gross, a senior VP of production for the network, recently resumed oversight over baseball. Gross developed a strong relationship with Buck through their work on “Monday Night Football.”
A few weeks ago, Gross called Buck to ask if he would do Opening Day. Buck was intrigued. When Gross said the game is at Yankee Stadium, Buck was fully sold, even though he had expressed reluctance to return to baseball — which he doesn’t follow as closely — since leaving Fox.”
The defending AL champion Yankees will host the Brewers in a three-game series that begins on March 27. The Pinstripes are coming off their first trip to the World Series since 2009, but they were easily dispatched by the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games.
Joe Buck to call 1st national #MLB game since 2021
will be joined by @YesNetwork analyst Joe Girardi & @Brewers analyst Bill Schroeder to form a special 3-person booth on #OpeningDay
⚾️ Thursday, March 27 | 3p ET | ESPN
More: https://t.co/peSi16kRLs pic.twitter.com/DDjaN3QhVx
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) February 18, 2025
The son of the late MLB play-by-play voice Jack Buck, Joe joined Fox Sports in 1994 when he was just 25 years of age. He called NFL games there for two seasons before taking over as the network’s lead MLB voice in 1996.
Buck called 23 World Series for Fox, the last one being the Houston Astros-Atlanta Braves 2021 Fall Classic before he left for ESPN in 2022. He called six Super Bowl games for Fox and will be in the booth with Aikman for Super Bowl 61 on Feb. 14, 2027 at SoFi Stadium.
Buck and Aikman wrapped up their third season together at the Worldwide Leader in Sports last month, signing off after calling the Houston Texans-Kansas City Chiefs Divisional Round Game at Arrowhead Stadium.
