Joe Buck had been the voice of MLB on Fox Sports for more than two decades but that came to an end as he left Fox for ESPN to become the voice of “Monday Night Football.”
Buck was named Fox Sports’ lead MLB play-by-play announcer in 1996 and had been in that role ever since, calling 24 World Series and every All-Star Game.
With Buck’s decision, Fox Sports is now looking for a new national broadcaster for MLB and NFL games, and they could look to the Los Angeles Dodgers broadcast crew to replace Buck on the MLB side.
Dodgers play-by-play man Joe Davis is currently considered the favorite to replace Buck, according to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post:
Joe Davis is the clear favorite, according to sources, to be offered the lead MLB job. Other candidates could include Adam Amin internally and ESPN’s Dan Shulman and MLB Network’s Matt Vasgersian.
Davis was long considered one of the best up and coming announcers in sports prior to joining the Dodgers before the 2016 season, and he has maintained working in a national role with Fox Sports while working in L.A.
If Davis does take the lead job at Fox, it seems unlikely he would be able to continue as the voice of the Dodgers, or at least not on a full time basis. Davis has previously missed games in the past due to his role with Fox.
The likelihood of Davis potentially replacing Buck has seemingly improved with Kevin Burkhardt being tabbed to take over as Fox’s lead NFL play-by-play man rather than the baseball role.
Dodgers hire five new broadcast crew members
It appears the Dodgers have begun to prepare for a potential departure or scaled-back role for Davis as they hired Adrián Gonzalez, Eric Karros, Jessica Mendoza, José Mota and Dontrelle Willis as new additions to the broadcast crew. They will hold various roles across Spectrum SportsNet LA, AM 570 L.A. Sports Radio and KTNQ 1020 AM.
Along with Davis, the Dodgers broadcast team returns Hall of Famer Jaime Jarrín, Orel Hershiser, Fernando Valenzuela, Charley Steiner, Rick Monday, Nomar Garciaparra, Pepe Yñiguez, Jerry Hairston Jr., John Hartung, Tim Neverett and Kirsten Watson.
González joins as an analyst for SportsNet LA’s live studio programs, “Leadoff LA” and “Access SportsNet: Dodgers” pregame and postgame shows.
Karros will call select home and road games alongside Davis on SportsNet LA. Karros additionally will appear on “Leadoff LA” and the “Access SportsNet: Dodgers” pregame and postgame shows. Karros has been a FOX baseball analyst since the 2007 season.
Mendoza sill serve as a SportsNet LA analyst in the booth with Davis for select road games.
The son of Manny Mota, José will will call select games for both the Dodgers’ Spanish and English radio stations.
Willis will call select road games with Davis on SportsNet LA, and also appear on “Leadoff LA” and “Access SportsNet: Dodgers” pregame and postgame shows.
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