It won鈥檛 take long this season for Major League Baseball to irritate some Cardinals fans with its broadcast policies.
The team鈥檚 second game of the season, and its first at night, will be exclusively streamed on Apple TV+ 鈥 meaning there will be no coverage on Cards local telecaster Bally Sports Midwest or any other traditional television network.
BSM has the opener, against the Dodgers at 3:10 p.m. (St. 不良研究所导航网址 time) Thursday in Los Angeles. Apple then exclusively streams the teams鈥 matchup the next day as the back end of a doubleheader for its first 鈥淔riday Night Baseball鈥 session that is set to start at 9:10 p.m. (St. 不良研究所导航网址 time).
It follows the Yankees-Astros contest, which begins three hours earlier, and is the first of two Cards games Apple has so far on its streaming-exclusive schedule that has been set through July. They鈥檒l also be on April 26, when they are on the road to face the New York Mets.
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Meanwhile, MLB鈥檚 deal with Peacock to exclusively stream games late on Sunday mornings has expired, a package the Cardinals were picked for once in each of the two years. It remains to be seen if a similar arrangement resurfaces at some point this season.
On the air
Where Cardinals telecasts end up in 2025 is unclear, what with Bally Sports Midwest parent company Diamond Sports Group in bankruptcy but in line for an infusion of cash from Amazon that could make it a viable candidate to continue.
Things appear status quo for this season, and there will be stability in the team鈥檚 broadcasting booths.
Chip Caray returns as the primary TV play-by-play broadcaster, with Tom Ackerman filling in occasionally 鈥 beginning with the Cards-White Sox series May 3-5. Brad Thompson and Jim Edmonds rotate as the analysts.
There will be a change in BSM鈥檚 studio shows, as former Cardinals Tom Pagnozzi and Mark Sweeney are joining returnees Al Hrabosky, Ricky Horton, Thompson and Edmonds in the rotation for pregame and postgame programming. Scott Warmann and Alexa Datt are the primary hosts, with Jim Hayes serving as the lead game reporter.
John Rooney and Rick Horton form the main radio on-air team, with Mike Claiborne again filling in when one is absent. Matt Pauley and Joe Pott are the hosts of the pregame/postgame shows and KMOX (1120 AM) again is the flagship of the team鈥檚 148-station network. also will stream the broadcasts.
In addition, the Cardinals鈥 home games are scheduled for Spanish-language radio broadcasts, with Polo Ascencio and Bengie Molina back for their ninth season. Those productions air locally on WIJR (880 AM) as well as seven affiliates and also are streamed on as well as other locations.
Ratings rut
Spring brings optimism in baseball, as even fans of teams preparing for what likely will be a 100-loss season still think this could be 鈥渢he year.鈥 Well, last season was 鈥渢he year鈥 for the Cardinals 鈥 albeit in reverse order.
They clunked to their first last-place finish in more than three decades, stretching their streak of winning a grand total of one postseason game to eight years. All that contributed to record-low ratings for the club鈥檚 local television package according to figures that go back to 1990, when TV audience size began being measured on a daily basis.
Nielsen, which tracks viewership, said that an average of 5.2% of the St. 不良研究所导航网址 market (66,000 households and 102,000 people) tuned in to the 150 Cards games that Bally Sports Midwest carried last year. That was a 16% decline over the previous low for a full season (6.2 rating in 2021) and is even worse than the overall bottom 鈥 5.4 for BSM鈥檚 58 telecasts from the coronavirus-shortened 2020 schedule. It was a 29% season-to-season drop, from a 7.3 rating in 2022.
The ratings average for the past four full seasons is 6.3. It was 8.2 for the previous four.
Nationally speaking
The club鈥檚 woeful season led to the Cardinals appearing just one time on ESPN鈥檚 鈥淪unday Night Baseball鈥 national showcase package, on which they used to be prominently featured. They made seven 鈥淪NB鈥 appearances in 2015 and 鈥17, and ESPN picked them at least five times from 2013 to 2019.
But following the short 2020 season because of the coronavirus pandemic, they made only four appearances in 2021 and 鈥22 and measly one last year although they also were on ESPN for a Sunday morning (St. 不良研究所导航网址 time) game in London.
However, they already have been scheduled for two games this year and could have more because the 鈥淪unday Night Baseball鈥 schedule is set only through middle of June. It won鈥檛 take long for them to equal their number of appearances last season 鈥 they will be on next weekend for the opening Sunday night telecast of the season, at 6:10 p.m. March 31, as their series in Los Angeles concludes. They are set to return May 26, when they entertain the Chicago Cubs.
Fox (KTVI, Channel 2 locally) also has nationally exclusive games, and the Cards made five such appearances last year, one under the maximum allowed per team, and are scheduled for all six this season beginning with their road game April 27 against the Mets. Fox also shows their contest June 20, a Thursday, when they will be taking on the Giants at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, which is the former home of the Negro Leagues鈥 Birmingham Black Barons. The facility, with the first game played in it Aug. 18, 1910, is billed as the oldest ballpark in the country.
Wainwright on the air
Recently retired Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright has joined Fox as an analyst after having made cameo appearances in three postseasons, and his first regular-season assignment will be May 4, a Saturday night, when he鈥檒l work alongside play-by-play announcer Adam Amin for the Mets-Rays game. It will be the first of about 15 he is to call for Fox or its FS1 cable outlet.
Wainwright also will make some appearances this season as a commentator on MLB Network鈥檚 studio programming and is set to begin Thursday, opening day for most teams. He鈥檚 scheduled to be on 鈥淢LB Tonight,鈥 which follows the network鈥檚 game coverage that afternoon 鈥 Cards-Dodgers to most of the country but Blue Jays-Rays in St. 不良研究所导航网址 because BSM has the Cardinals local rights. So Wainwright鈥檚 appearance likely will begin in the 6-7 p.m. block, and he鈥檒l also be back the next morning on 鈥淢LB Central,鈥 which starts at 9 a.m.