Category: Television

One familiar Phillies voice will replace another this weekend during the team’s series against the Los Angeles Angels.

Tom McCarthy, in his 20th season as the TV voice of the Phillies, will call Friday night’s game on NBC Sports Philadelphia alongside Ben Davis. Scott Franzke, the team’s longtime radio announcer on 94.1 WIP and other stations throughout the Delaware Valley, will take over Saturday and Sunday alongside Davis, with Gregg Murphy calling the game on radio with Kevin Stocker.

So where will McCarthy be? He’ll be on Peacock and NBCSN calling a noon matchup between the Washington Nationals and Miami Marlins, part of an NBC Sunday triple-header. Joining him in the booth is one-time Phillies radio announcer Kevin Frandsen and four-time World Series champion Jeff Nelson.

But unlike John Kruk, McCarthy has no issues wearing a suit.

McCarthy initially though he might call Saturday night’s Phillies game, then take an overnight flight to Miami. But the notorious workaholic thought better of trying to navigate such a narrow window.

“It just wasn’t prudent to get in at 5:30 a.m. to do an early game,” McCarthy said. “I like to work. I like the opportunity. I like the adrenaline rush. But I also thought it was probably better for everybody if I didn’t do that.”

The late-season shifting is nothing new for McCarthy or Philly fans. In addition to his role calling Phillies games, McCarthy is also entering his 13th NFL season as a play-by-play announcer with CBS. This year he expects to call around 10 games, but he won’t do it alongside Ross Tucker, who was promoted to the network’s No. 2 booth alongside Ian Eagle.

“I’ve known him since he was 18 years old. I’m very proud of him,” McCarthy said of Tucker. “He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever been around.”

Instead, McCarthy will call games with former Seattle Seahawks and Indianapolis Colts running back Robert Turbin in his first season as an NFL color analyst.

Because the start of the NFL season was pushed back by a late Labor Day, McCarthy will actually end up missing fewer Phillies games this season.

His first NFL game is the Week 1 matchup between the Cleveland Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars on Sept. 13, somewhat appropriate because he once called Browns preseason games. As a result, he’ll miss all three games of the Braves-Phillies series that weekend.

He’ll also work Week 2 and Week 3 for CBS, though the network hasn’t publicly announced which games he’s calling. But thanks to national broadcasts, McCarthy will only miss a total of three Phillies games on NBC Sports Philadelphia those two weekends, though it does include the season finale against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sept. 27.

“The Phillies are great about it,” McCarthy said. “I don’t miss any games during the regular season, kind of by design. Unless it’s my kid’s graduation. … I save it for football season.”

The Eagles have two games scheduled to air on CBS, though the Birds’ Week 11 matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers will be a national 4:25 p.m. game. The other is a Week 6 matchup against the Carolina Panthers.

While McCarthy has called Eagles games on the radio for Westwood One, he’s never had the opportunity to broadcast the Birds on CBS. The streak will likely continue this season, since McCarthy isn’t assigned any games that weekend.

“I would love to do an Eagles game. I think it’d be a hoot,” McCarthy said. “But I just roll with wherever they send me.”

McCarthy’s absence is a Phillies tradition that goes back to the late, great Harry Kalas, who called Notre Dame football games in September and national radio games for Westwood One. He also missed games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to do voice-over work for NFL Films.

It was actually one of those absences where McCarthy got his first opportunities to call the Phillies on TV.

While Sunday is McCarthy’s first-and-only regular season game for NBC, he’ll call a wild-card series next month for the network. That means for the first time, McCarthy has the chance to actually call some Phillies postseason games.

“I don’t know if NBC would put me there or not, but I think there’s a possibility,” McCarthy said. “It would be awesome.”

Phillies’ standings and NL playoff picture

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If the season were to end today, the Phillies would be the No. 2 wild card in the National League. That would currently mean a best-of-three series against the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field, with the winner advancing to the National League Divisional Series.

Here’s how the wild-card race in the National League currently shakes out:

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Phillies news

• Bryce Harper is having a monster August, just when the Phillies needed it.
• On the flip side, ace Zach Wheeler is struggling. But the Phillies don’t think big changes are needed … yet.
• The cornstalks at the Field of Dreams game seemed to have a sagelike effect on the Phillies. One fan decided to bring corn to the games.
• Who do the Phillies trust in the bullpen? The bridge to Jhoan Duran is taking shape.

Remaining Phillies TV schedule

• Phillies at Angels
• Phillies at Diamondbacks
• Braves at Phillies
• Astros at Phillies
• Phillies at Braves
• Phillies at Nationals
• Phillies at Mets
• Brewers at Phillies
• Rays at Phillies