After the popularity of ESPN’s Manning Cast during the most recent NFL season, the network debuted a baseball equivalent during the first Sunday Night Baseball of the season tonight. The Kay-Rod Cast sees MLB legend Alex Rodriguez and Yankees play-by-play commentary Michael Kay provide some additional insight, guest interviews and more during the game.
Kay and Rodriguez got started just before the first pitch, showing off their brand new set and teasing what we would see during tonight’s game. They let fans know that this broadcast would be interactive, with live polls an even interactions via Twitter. Kay even let us know that they would even interact with the mean tweets that come through and showed one they got before the game even started.
Once the game started, the pairing did take a little while to get warmed up. Kay is a seasoned commentator and can call games with the best of them, but this new dynamic clearly took him and Rodriguez a few reps before they cold settle in. After a few awkward silences and delayed calls though, they got into their rhythm.
The Kay-Rod Cast had some great guests for their first ever broadcast, including Big Papi’s Places host David Ortiz, legendary pitcher Roger Clemens, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum President Bob Kendrick and young Seattle Mariners star Julio Rodriguez. Each guest was brought in virtually for an interview while they continued to call the game.
In the early going, with Ortiz as the first guest, the crew struggled with their rhythm again for a bit. Oddly enough, for a game that is constantly criticized as being too slow, the action was coming too fast for Kay and Rodriguez to conduct their interview and call the game. Eventually though, they found the right balance and started letting some of the balls-and-strikes call pass by while focusing on their interview. They really found their groove during the Clemens interview.
One of the highlights of the interview segments was the reveal of Roger Clemens’ side job as “DJ No Request.” He was genuinely shocked to see that Kay and Rodriguez had footage of him working this gig and dancing and it made for a big laugh.
Kay and Rodriguez kept their promise to show some more mean-spirited tweets later on. Their willingness to acknowledge the hate for this broadcast was another highlight of the night.
One of the big storylines of this Yankees-Red Sox games was the star players that both teams failed to sign to a contract extension prior to the start of the season. Rodriguez shared his insight on the situation, specifically Yankees star outfielder Aaron Judge turning down an offer that would have given him more than $30 million per year. It was interesting to hear about this kind of situation from a guy who certainly knows a thing or two about signing a huge contract.
Overall, it was a pretty solid showing for the inaugural Kay-Rod Cast. These two guys will only get better at this with more time and once they open up and have a little more fun, it’s going to become even more entertaining. That will also come with the broadcast opening up to more different types of guests, not just limited to the world of baseball. The Manning Cast has seen all types of different celebrity guests and it makes the show a lot of fun. It will be exciting to see what guests they have on in the future.
The Kay-Rod Cast will occur for select Sunday Night Baseball games throughout the 2022 season on ESPN 2.