Joey Votto is finalizing a deal with NBC Sports to join the network\u2019s MLB coverage, ending the speculation about where baseball\u2019s most entertaining retired player would land.<\/p>\n
According to Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports<\/a>, NBC is finalizing deals with Votto, Clayton Kershaw, and Anthony Rizzo to anchor coverage as it takes over Sunday Night Baseball from ESPN and returns to MLB for the first time since 2000. The network secured a three-year, $600 million deal last fall that includes exclusive Wild Card playoff rights.<\/p>\n The former Cincinnati Reds first baseman emerged as the top broadcasting prospect available this offseason. McCarthy originally reported in November 2025 that Votto was generating significant interest<\/a> from NBC and Netflix, MLB\u2019s new media partners, preparing to launch coverage in 2026.<\/p>\n We previously wrote that Votto could be baseball\u2019s version of Tom Brady<\/a> \u2014 albeit for Fox \u2014 someone perceived as stoic who revealed a completely different personality once microphones entered the equation. As a player, Votto wasn\u2019t for everyone. But as a broadcaster, the pieces are clearly there.<\/p>\n Networks noticed. Votto told Dan Patrick in March 2024<\/a> that he\u2019d received 10 times more analyst job offers than baseball offers that offseason. He turned them all down to sign a minor league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays and chase one more season as a player.<\/p>\n That decision delayed the inevitable by a few months. Votto retired last August after 17 seasons. According to FOS, ESPN had even considered building a Pat McAfee-style show around him years earlier.<\/p>\n As for the rest of Votto\u2019s soon-to-be colleagues, Kershaw is nearing a deal to work a limited schedule<\/a> for NBC. The 37-year-old three-time Cy Young winner will appear on select events like Opening Day, Labor Day, and Wild Card games. Rizzo joined NBC\u2019s plans earlier Thursday<\/a>, after it was previously reported<\/a> that he was already on the network\u2019s radar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joey Votto is finalizing a deal with NBC Sports to join the network\u2019s MLB coverage, ending the speculation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[3882,5,1147,27630,33941],"class_list":["post-545048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baseball","tag-anthony-rizzo","tag-baseball","tag-clayton-kershaw","tag-joey-votto","tag-mlb-on-nbc"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115981540712368629","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}