John Franco excited to be in broadcast booth for Mets-Phillies on 'Sunday Night Baseball'
Former Met John Franco throws the ceremonial first pitch before a game against the Detroit Tigers at Citi Field on May 13. Credit: Jim McIsaac
John Franco was one of baseball’s best all-time relievers, so he was used to getting the call in the late innings of a game.
Franco recently got a call that requires him to be there for the whole game. Not on the mound, obviously, but as a booth analyst for Sunday's Mets-Phillies game on NBC’s “Sunday Night Baseball.”
NBC, which took over the Sunday night package from ESPN this season, has been using local talent as its analysts — one from each team.
Franco, the Mets Hall of Famer who is a rookie game announcer at age 65, will be joined by former Phillies legend John Kruk and regular NBC play-by-play man Jason Benetti.
“It came out of leftfield, really,” Franco told Newsday in a telephone interview. “They contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in doing some analyst stuff and I was like, ‘Great.’
“I've done some stuff with the Mets years ago on SNY pregame and postgame, but as far as [game] analyst, I'm looking forward to it. I always wanted to give it a shot and see what it's about. I see Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez, the way they do their job and they have fun doing it, but they're also very informative of what they're talking about.
"Once I found out, I also made a phone call to the great Howie Rose to get his advice. He gave me some great advice: Just be yourself. You know the game of baseball and have fun with it. He also spoke very highly of Jason, and he said Jason is a real professional and he'll make things easy for you.”
Kruk was known as a character during his playing days and that has continued in the booth with his work for NBC Sports Philadelphia and ESPN.
“I know John a little bit,” Franco said. “It should be fun. We're both lefthanded, so a little screwy. I think it'll be fun.”
Most of NBC’s early-season Sunday night games were only shown on its streaming service Peacock as the network aired NBA games. But as summer heats up, NBC is carrying an MLB slate with a distinct New York flair — either the Mets or Yankees will be on NBC for five straight weeks.
On June 28, the Yankees visit the Red Sox. On July 19, it’s Dodgers-Yankees, and a week later the Yankees visit the Phillies.
The Mets, in addition to Sunday’s game, have a 12:30 p.m. matchup on July 5 against Atlanta.
On July 5, every MLB game will be on either NBC or Peacock as what the network is calling “Star Spangled Sunday.” The Yankees-Twins game at 1:30 will be on Peacock only, as will 12 of the other 15 games. The only ones on NBC will be Mets-Atlanta and Padres-Dodgers at 7.
The Mets appeared on NBC on Opening Day against the Pirates, with Al Leiter the Mets-themed analyst and Neil Walker bringing the Pirates pedigree.
Analysts for the other Yankees and Mets NBC and Peacock appearances have yet to be revealed by the network.
Previous analysts this season have included Luis Gonzalez and Orel Hershiser for Diamondbacks-Dodgers, Albert Pujols and Jim Deshaies for Cardinals-Cubs and new Hall of Famer Andruw Jones and Corey Kluber for Atlanta-Cleveland.
It’s a nice concept by NBC, especially after viewers were subjected for decades to the various ESPN “Sunday Night Baseball” booths. Some of the NBC guest analysts are quite good, and some of them sound like first-timers.
But for years viewers had a legitimate complaint that ESPN’s announcers didn’t know enough about the teams they were watching. That won’t be a problem for Franco, who bleeds Mets orange and blue and talks like an ad for New York. It should be interesting.
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
