How consumers watch and listen to Marlins games is changing significantly this season, with Miami among several teams that are moving their games from FanDuel Sports Networks — whose financially strapped parent company is on life support — to MLB’s in-house media arm.
And more changes are coming, according to multiple sources:
1). The Marlins are close to finalizing a deal with a new flagship radio station. WQAM (which has the signals for both 560 AM and 104.3 FM) has emerged as the strong front-runner to replace WINZ 940 as the team’s radio rights-holder, according to two industry officials.
Because WQAM has two signals, it believes it will be able to accommodate juggling Marlins, Heat, Panthers and Miami Hurricanes games, a source said.
Because no radio deal is complete, radio broadcasts of many of the Marlins’ spring training games will be available only on MLB.com (and WAQI 710 in Spanish). That includes Saturday’s 1:10 p.m. spring opener against the Mets in Port St. Lucie.
2). The Marlins are tinkering with their talent lineup on TV and radio.
The most significant of those changes: The Marlins are giving more TV games to Jeff Nelson and Tommy Hutton and have moved Rod Allen to an in-game radio analyst role and pregame and postgame TV commentary.
Nelson, a former big-league pitcher who has never been in the Marlins booth for more than 60 games in a season, will now call 69 games alongside Kyle Sielaff. That increase is the reflection of the Marlins’ high regard for Nelson, who also worked some Yankees games in recent years before leaving their YES network after 2025.
Meanwhile, Hutton — considered the most popular TV analyst in Marlins history — will work 60 games, an increase of 10 over last season.
Former Marlins and Miami Hurricanes player Gaby Sanchez will be Sielaff’s partner on the remaining 28 TV games. His package of games is much smaller than Nelson’s and Hutton’s because he also works college baseball games for ESPN, ACC Network and ACC Extra, as well as the Little League World Series.
Allen, a former big-league outfielder whose storytelling and soothing delivery made him popular with some viewers, has worked a substantial package of Marlins games the past four years, including as many as 50 two years ago.
He handled his reassignment with class in a phone conversation on Thursday evening, saying he’s “grateful for the opportunity” to remain with the team for radio and TV studio work.
Besides the move involving Allen, the other significant talent changes include an expanded radio role for former Marlins closer AJ Ramos and a bigger role for Craig Mish, who will work the majority of Marlins home games.
For the first time, Mish will split TV pregame and postgame duties with Craig Minervini, who will anchor the majority of those shows.
Mish also will get packages of games working as a TV studio analyst and a TV sideline reporter.
Mish has cultivated a significant social media following as a Marlins insider and previously co-wrote a baseball column for the Miami Herald. His expanded role gives the Marlins a unique dynamic: an information man who can offer something distinctly different than former players.
Here’s the full Marlins talent lineup:
▪ Television game announcers: Sielaff, in his second year as the team’s TV play-by-play announcer, will call 154 of the 157-game package. Minervini will call the other three.
Nelson (69), Hutton (60), and Sanchez (28) will share TV analyst duties.
▪ Television pregame and postgame announcers: Minervini and Mish will share hosting duties. Mish, Allen, Ramos and Nelson will alternate as analysts.
▪ Television sideline reporters: Kelly Saco, Minervini, Mish and Jeremy Tache will share that role.
▪ Radio announcers: Play-by-play announcer Jack McMullen will call all 162 games. Allen and Ramos will handle the majority of games alongside McMullen.
Saco, Nelson and pregame host Stephen Strom (three games) will work smaller packages alongside McMullen.
The Marlins will stream 157 regular-season games on Marlins.TV. Five games will be streamed exclusively on Peacock.
Though anyone with broadband or decent internet service can access Marlins games on Marlins.TV ($99.99 for the season; half off for season ticket holders), the Marlins and MLB continue to negotiate with South Florida cable and satellite providers to carry the games on additional platforms.
No deals have been signed, but DirecTV, Comcast and Fubo are expected to carry the games for their subscribers, likely at an additional cost. It’s undetermined if the Marlins will strike deals with the region’s other major providers, including Breezeline, YouTube TV, Hotwire and Dish Network.
Keep in mind that anyone with a Smart TV or Firestick can stream the games on a television.
Marlins.TV will not begin carrying spring training games until mid-to-late March. MLB Network will nationally televise Marlins road games against St. Louis on Monday and Philadelphia on Feb. 27.
On-field news
▪ Pitcher Janson Junk’s ankle injury — diagnosed as a Grade 1 sprain — increases the chances of Braxton Garrett and Max Meyer claiming the final two rotation spots behind Sandy Alcantara, Eury Perez and Chris Paddack.
On Thursday, Junk told MLB.com that he does not expect to miss multiple weeks. But unless he begins the season on in the injured list, Junk is a cinch to make the team because he was effective last season and because he’s out of minor league options.
▪ Left-handed pitcher Robby Snelling, one of the team’s top prospects, will start Saturday’s spring opener against the Mets. Though there’s a narrow path for Snelling to make the rotation (if he’s great this spring, if Meyer or Garrett struggle badly or if there’s an injury), he’s more likely to begin the season at Triple A.
Baseball America rates Snelling the 41st-best prospect in baseball.
Snelling, who throws a mid-90s fastball as well as a slider and change-up, “could be someone’s No. 5 starter right now,“ said longtime evaluator Keith Law, who writes for The Athletic. Law says Snelling has “a realistic ceiling of a No. 3 and [there’s] a chance he becomes even more if his command continues to improve, and he develops the change-up more.”
Alcantara is set to start the Marlins’ second spring game at 1:10 Sunday against Washington in Jupiter.
This story was originally published February 20, 2026 at 10:36 AM.
Miami Herald
Barry Jackson has written for the Miami Herald since 1986 and has written the Florida Sports Buzz column since 2002.