For 8-10 Sunday Night Baseball games during the 2022 season, fans can tune in to an alternate broadcast with Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez on ESPN2 as they talk about what is going on in the game and have fun along the way. Of course, there are high expectations considering the success the ManningCast and the megacasts have been for ESPN and Kay understands that.
“It’s going to be compared to the ManningCast, which is going to be difficult to live up to because it’s been a social phenomenon and it is two guys that are extraordinary well-liked, really beloved and they are two brothers,” Michael Kay told the Curtain Call podcast with John J. Filippelli and Kevin Sullivan. “That’s going to be a tough thing to be compared to, but I understand going in that’s exactly what it is.”
So, what is the alternate broadcast going to look like exactly? Kay knows his primary job is to get the most out of A-Rod and bring out his baseball knowledge. One thing he isn’t there to do is call the game in a traditional manner. Michael Kay says that means you likely won’t hear him shouting “See Ya!” after home runs.
“What we are going to do at least in the early infant planning stages, it’s going to be the two of us sitting in the stands and that’s not going to be literal, talking about the game, joking about the game. I might not do one inning of play-by-play. You are going to hear more of what I do on the radio or CenterStage than what I do on Yankees games because Karl Ravech, Eduardo Perez, and David Cone are doing the regular broadcast on ESPN.”
Michael Kay says he is the one that came up with the name for the alternate broadcast. It is one he says ESPN Executive VP Norby Williamson wasn’t too high in at first.
“Norby Williamson of ESPN who offered me the gig said this is what we like to do, what do you think? I said I think it is great, I’m all for it, I even have the name for you. He said what? And I said K-Rod. He’s a big Mets fan and he said I like it, but I don’t. He said it reminds me of K-Rod, the pitcher from the Mets, and he didn’t have that much success. I said well, if you can get over that, it’s definitely a play on A-Rod and if Alex doesn’t mind I get first billing. The release comes out and it says Kay-Rod.”
If the alternate broadcast goes as planned, it could work as a different way for people to watch a baseball game especially when their favorite team is not playing.