NBC to Hire Brendan Burke to Broadcast ‘MLB Sunday Leadoff,’ per Report

The announcer reportedly replaces Jason Benetti as the main play-by-play broadcaster.

NBC is expected to hire Islanders announcer Brendan Burke as the lead play-by-play broadcaster for Peacock’s MLB Sunday Leadoff, The New York Post’s Andrew Marchand reports.

Last year, NBC aired a baseball game every Sunday morning during the regular season on its Peacock streaming service as part of a new deal with MLB. The network had play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti at every game, along with two color commentators from each team playing that day. 

Benetti, however, left NBC and ESPN in the fall for a full-time job at Fox Sports where he now works baseball, football and college football games as one of the network’s top broadcasters.

Burke has been the Islanders play-by-play announcer since 2016, and also worked for NBC when the network still broadcasted hockey. He is now also one of TNT’s main play-by-play announcers for its national hockey broadcasts throughout the season.

Peacock’s first MLB game this season will be on Sunday, April 23 when the Phillies play the Rockies in Philadelphia at noon ET.