July twenty eighth, 2023
The MLB Central crew reached a giant milestone: 750 episodes collectively.
Robert Flores, Lauren Shehadi and Mark DeRosa, the hosts of MLB Community’s flagship morning present, celebrated their 750th episode on Wednesday.
“For me, that is probably the most pleasant present {and professional} expertise I’ve ever had,” Flores mentioned. “And clearly it is due to the folks I work with. So I am thrilled. I am simply so tickled that we’re making this 750th present a factor. As a result of it truly is plenty of enjoyable.”
“I like that folks have grown to like watching our present,” mentioned DeRosa. “We attempt to be informative, however make folks chuckle, not take it too severely, love on the gamers.”
“And I really feel like everyone can discover one thing and discover some pleasure in it,” Shehadi mentioned. “From my mother, to my grandma, to the 5-year-old child who throws within the yard with their dad, to the gamers. This present runs the gamut, and everybody can get pleasure from it.”
The trio first hosted MLB Central collectively in 2018, when Flores took over for Matt Vasgersian, who had been a number alongside Shehadi and DeRosa because the program debuted in 2015. 5 years later, they’re nonetheless going robust.
MLB Central with Flores, Shehadi and DeRosa airs reside each weekday morning through the MLB season from 9 to 11 a.m. ET.
On Wednesday’s 750th episode, Flores, Shehadi and DeRosa appeared again at their memorable moments from their time collectively on MLB Central. A particular piece about milestone numbers in baseball, written by Flores and narrated by Bob Costas, aired through the present.
Flores, Shehadi and DeRosa threw out the primary pitch earlier than Wednesday’s Orioles-Phillies sport at Residents Financial institution Park.
It is a good celebration of the three hosts, who’ve made MLB Central what it’s now.
“I feel it is the chemistry of the three of us,” DeRosa mentioned. “I do know what makes Lauren tick; I do know what makes Robert tick. … They’re nice at what they do. So I allow them to be nice at what they do, and so they attempt to let me be nice at what I feel I can do.”
The three hosts have welcomed greater than 900 company to MLB Central over time, together with over 300 energetic large league gamers and 13 Corridor of Famers.
They’ve additionally hosted their fair proportion of movie star company, from Matt Damon to Jon Hamm to Nick Jonas to Man Fieri to John Elway to Will Smith.
Alongside the way in which, there have been loads of highlights for the trio, just like the breaking information of final yr’s Juan Soto blockbuster unfolding on the present, or when DeRosa was announced as the manager of Team USA for the 2023 World Baseball Basic, reside on MLB Central.
“The enjoyment Robert and I obtained for him — as a result of we all know him, we all know he is a pacesetter, we knew what sort of influence he was gonna have — it was a particular second in time, as a result of I really feel like we have been by way of his baseball profession with him,” Shehadi mentioned.
Flores, Shehadi and DeRosa have even taken MLB Central past the MLB Community studios. MLB Central has gone to London, for the 2023 London Collection between the Cardinals and Cubs, and Los Angeles, for the 2022 All-Star Recreation.
“We had been within the [London] Stadium, and naturally, soccer is all the fashion there in Europe, however baseball took middle stage,” Shehadi mentioned. “It actually did. Seeing the followers popping out, in all totally different jerseys, it was simply cool to have a front-row seat to the sport going worldwide.”
“It is totally different when you may have an opportunity to speak with gamers in a extra relaxed setting,” Flores mentioned. “You choose up and listen to various things simply from, as DeRo likes to say, having boots on the bottom. We’re very appreciative after we get to place the present on the street. It has been a pleasant evolution of the present.”
The three hosts have introduced MLB Central a slate of signature segments. DeRosa’s breakdowns of MLB’s star gamers specifically have grow to be a staple of MLB Central. DeRosa, who performed 16 years within the Main Leagues, makes use of movies, stats and his personal expertise to investigate the ins and outs of a participant’s sport in an accessible manner for every type of baseball followers.
“I like DeRo’s breakdowns,” Flores mentioned. “I’ve had an opportunity to work with among the finest analysts within the trade, not simply baseball however in all different sports activities, and I feel DeRo is among the many most original and among the many finest I’ve ever labored with.”
These breakdowns usually include perception from the gamers themselves, as large leaguers be a part of DeRosa within the MLB Community studio to clarify how they method the sport.
“I simply wish to give folks at residence type of a instructing second,” DeRosa mentioned. “I am not attempting to point out you hit a baseball, I am attempting to point out you that there are other ways to do it. These Skyboxes exhibiting how Austin Riley does it compared to J.D. Martinez compared to Ronald Acuña Jr. — whoever it could be — there’s some child at residence that is gonna run outdoors and try and do one thing.”
Flores, Shehadi and DeRosa have earned acclaim because the hosts of MLB Central from fellow sportscasters like Ernie Johnson — the host of TNT’s standard “Contained in the NBA” studio present alongside Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith — who was lately named a 2023 inductee to the Sports activities Broadcasting Corridor of Fame.
“Actually, the most important praise I ever obtained was from Ernie Johnson,” Flores mentioned. “He texted me a few years in the past and mentioned how a lot he enjoys the present, and I used to be blown away. As a result of in my thoughts, I like this present as a baseball model to ‘Contained in the NBA.’ I like the chemistry that Ernie has together with his co-hosts, and I like the chemistry that I’ve with mine.”
They could not do it alone, after all. Flores, Shehadi and DeRosa made particular point out of the behind-the-scenes MLB Community crew that makes MLB Central occur — folks like producer Mark Capalbo, researcher Eric Nehs, video producer Jacob Bader, director Lucas Altman, affiliate director Margaret Murphy and extra.
“I feel we deliver the perfect and showcase the perfect that the sport has to supply,” Flores mentioned. “On the finish of it, it is at all times concerning the sport. There’s sufficient that occurs across the sport the place you may add your persona or colour or taste. I feel we do job of creating positive that the gamers and the sport are at all times on the middle of it.”
Now that they’ve carried out 750 episodes, what’s subsequent?
“Let’s examine if we are able to get to 1,000,” Flores mentioned.
