As the color commentator on FOX's No. 1 broadcast team, John Smoltz spent the better part of October 2022 in Philadelphia as the Phillies went on an unexpected run to the World Series.
After doing the American League playoffs a year ago, FOX's No. 1 team of Joe Davis and Smoltz are back on the National League beat this year. And this time around, there's no sneaking up — Smoltz knows there's a good chance he'll be at the forefront of another Red October.
"I should probably rent an apartment, because I'm gonna be here a lot," Smoltz said. "I got the National League this year, and this is a great team in Philadelphia. Obviously, the history the last two years gives them the leg up on a postseason run. So yeah, I anticipate being here a lot."
Smoltz spoke exclusively with On Pattison prior to calling this past Saturday's Phillies-Atlanta Braves game on FOX.
During the parts of 20 seasons that Smoltz spent with the Braves — much of which he was part of one of the greatest rotations in MLB history with Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine — there wasn't a real rivalry between Atlanta and Philadelphia.
The Phillies did defeat the Braves in the 1993 NLCS. But the Braves moved to the NL East in 1994, and proceeded to win the division 11 years in a row. During the period from 1995-2006 — there were not playoffs in 1994 because of the player's strike — the Phillies didn't make the postseason once.
Times are different now, though. There's three Wild Card spots in each league, in addition to the division. That's allowed the Phillies to meet, and subsequently upset, the Braves in the postseason in each of the last two years. The Phillies appear likely to snap Atlanta's latest run of NL East dominance with a division title in 2024, but the Braves are still on track to sneak in as a Wild Card representative.
An electric series at Citizens Bank Park this past weekend where the Phillies ultimately won three of four made it pretty easy to envision, if not anticipate, a third consecutive meeting between the two rivals in the postseason.
"It's been special the last couple years because what's happened is Philadelphia took down the best team in baseball last year [the Braves], you can make an argument, and then [also] the year before," Smoltz said. "So it's really grown, even if you don't win a division, you know that in the postseason you can undo the other team's hopes—which is what Philly has done."
If this past weekend was any indication, Phillies fans won't be thrilled by Smoltz being in the booth for a series against the team he spent two decades pitching for.
Watching this Fox Sports broadcast and so far Brandon Gaudin is doing a great job staying neutral. John Smoltz, dude I get that you pitched for the Braves but if you can’t broadcast a Phillies v Braves game neutrally than don’t pick up the game at all. C’mon it’s just horrendous!
so the Braves local PxP guy and a guy who pitched for the Braves for 20 years doing a national broadcast of a Braves-Phillies game in Philly? Pretty embarrassing stuff from Fox tbh If you paid me 1/20th what John Smoltz get paid, I could at least pretend to be neutral.
The Hall of Famer says that he doesn't believe he struggles to set aside his history with the Braves when calling their games. Smoltz, though, doesn't think he needs to run from his past in the name of objectivity.
"Oh, it's easy to do because it's my job, first and foremost," Smoltz said.
"And there's nothing in the job title that tells you or erases your past, right? But my job is to bring a baseball game into their homes."
Smoltz — the 1996 NL Cy Young Award winner — says that fans of all teams struggle to adjust from local broadcasts where their announcers clearly have a slant towards one team to national ones where the broadcasters have to be excited regardless of what team is winning.
"What happens in baseball, especially in the postseason, is everyone is used to their local broadcasts," Smoltz said. "And they're not used to a play-by-play [announcer] they think rooting for a home run. They call a home run enthusiastically for both teams.
"As a play-by-play announcer for a home team, you're like 'ugh, that ball is gone,' right? People don't understand the nuances of broadcasting a game. But I can't erase my past, so they associate me with my past."
Granted, this past Saturday's FOX broadcast did have a very Braves feel. Smoltz was paired with Brandon Gaudin, the play-by-play announcer Atlanta. Gaudin is the primary voice of "Madden" and one of FOX's NFL announcers, in addition to his role with the Braves. Given that he was already in town, it's not particularly surprising that the network tabbed him to call this past Saturday's game.
There weren't a lot of complaints or suggestions of bias from Phillies fans earlier this season when Tom McCarthy — the team's play-by-play voice — called national games involving the them for both Apple TV+ and Roku. McCarthy was even joined by John Kruk and Taryn Hatcher as part of the June 21 broadcast against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The local broadcasters already know the teams involved in the series, and networks don't have to pay for additional travel/lodging expenses. It's a fairly normal practice from media companies.
Still, Smoltz knows the accusations of bias are inevitable. He represented the Braves eight times at the MLB All-Star Game. His postseason partner in the booth, Davis, is the TV voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Both teams could be opponents of the Phillies in the playoffs, and Smoltz will be in the booth with Davis.
"There's a great chance that this postseason, Joe Davis and I will have the task of broadcasting the team that he does play-by-play for, and the team that I played for," Smoltz said. "So, I don't buy it. I don't have any social media, so I don't care what people think. But it's kind of foolish to think what I say could be spoken into existence based off of rooting. It never goes that way, and that's not my role."
This is Smoltz's ninth season in FOX's No. 1 MLB broadcast booth, his third with Davis. Prior to that, his partner was Joe Buck. When he first joined Buck — an announcer who every fanbase has portions of that think he roots against their team — the legendary play-by-player told him the definition of a good broadcast is when 50% of the people think you're rooting for the other team.
At a certain point, it is what it is. There's probably not an announcer in sports history that could call national games without being accused of bias or criticized in some other way in the social media era.
Smoltz, though, says he loves visiting Philadelphia. He had a 4.06 career ERA across 44 1/3 innings pitched at the stadium. But as a broadcaster, the 57-year-old is amazed by the energy at Citizens Bank Park that he says isn't topped at any other stadium.
"Yeah, this was a very tough place to pitch, mainly because there was a good team we were pitching against with a good offense," Smoltz said.
"The fanbase here is second to none," Smoltz continued. "I said the greatest environment I've ever been part of as a broadcaster was here a couple years ago."
