With Jerry Remy gone and Dennis Eckersley retired, the Red Sox broadcasting booths feel different—but Lou Merloni on TV and Will Middlebrooks on radio have won over audiences with candor, analytics, and a willingness to criticize when it matters.
There are voices you don’t just miss because they’re gone—you miss because they were part of your routine, part of how you learned to watch a season unfold.
Jerry Remy and Dennis Eckersley had that kind of reach. Their peak together came in 2020. when the NESN booth pairing with play-by-play voice Dave O’Brien delivered one of the most satisfying baseball broadcasts many fans said they’d ever heard. especially during the abbreviated. pandemic-scrambled season. Remy and Eckersley brought charisma and candor on their own. In the shared booth. it seemed multiplied. and the broadcasts were often as memorable for what they said off the field as what they called on it—talking openly about their own insecurities during their playing days.
Remy died in October 2021. Eckersley retired following the 2022 season to spend more time with his grandchildren. The gap they left still lingers, and it’s hard not to wonder what they would say now about a Red Sox team the author calls disjointed.
And yet. the article argues the franchise has made a smart choice in how it keeps its audiences connected to the game. The Red Sox have gotten it right with their color analysts in both the television and radio booths. On NESN, Lou Merloni has become the main analyst. The piece credits him with an ability the author ties to Remy—anticipating what will happen and why it will happen—while also suggesting Merloni’s instincts would have suited a managerial path.
On the radio side, Will Middlebrooks has, “most of the time,” become an easy listen. The author singles out how Middlebrooks brings analytics into the broadcast without turning it into a lecture. As an example from Thursday night. Middlebrooks offhandedly noted that Red Sox starter Payton Tolle had thrown some version of his fastball 96 percent of the time in that particular game—an unusually high number. presented in a way that didn’t feel forced.
The author doesn’t pretend it’s flawless. There’s “a little too much boosterism” on both broadcasts, described as an epidemic across sports. But Merloni and Middlebrooks, the author says, don’t hedge from criticizing when circumstances call for it. And this season, they’ve had plenty of circumstances that demand it. There will never be another Eckersy/Remy duo—two people at their peak together can’t be replaced. Still. Merloni and Middlebrooks. in the author’s view. deserve the kind of acknowledgment that comes from doing the job day after day and landing the tone right.
The piece then shifts to a wider look at American sports media, starting with Boston radio. Friday was Adam 12’s (Adam Chapman) final day as executive producer of 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Toucher and Hardy morning show. The station announced Thursday that he’s moving to WROR—also owned by Beasley Media—to co-host in the mornings with Lauren Beckham Falcone. beginning Monday.
The move makes sense on several levels, the article says. Adam 12 is a longtime Boston radio on-air personality, known for his time at the late, great WBCN. He ended up at the Sports Hub in September 2024 after his on-air role at Rock 92.9—another Beasley station—ended when the signal switched to Bloomberg Radio.
The author credits Adam 12’s fit with Toucher and Hardy. noting that he was already good friends with hosts Fred Toucher and Rob “Hardy” Poole. His upbeat nature. described as authentic and decent. and his discipline. are said to have helped the show find its bearings after the messy departure of Rich Shertenlieb a few months earlier.
In a text Thursday afternoon. Adam 12 said. “Leaving is bittersweet.’’ He continued: “I got to make radio with my buddies every morning and laugh my [butt] off. But this was too good of an opportunity to pass up.” On Friday’s show. Adam 12 said the new role comes with a bump in pay. a rare occurrence in radio nowadays. It’s unclear, right now, who will be elevated into the executive producer role.
Elsewhere in sports publishing, the article points to more job losses. Sports Illustrated. the magazine that grew up with Generation X and older. “ceased to exist” several ownership changes and personnel bloodlettings ago. The magazine described once arriving in mailboxes every Thursday afternoon is now relegated to a monthly. with the author saying it supports an array of relentless popup ads thinly disguised as a website. Even so, SI has kept a small core of writers on staff. On Friday, several of those survivors lost their jobs in another corporate slashing.
The article lists the writers let go as Stephanie Apstein, Michael Rosenberg, Greg Bishop, and Mike McDaniel.
Finally, the author turns to television ratings with one question on the mind of anyone who follows the business: what does it all look like now that the playoffs and their audience have finally shifted into full view?
The piece says it’s watching the Nielsen ratings and viewership numbers for Saturday night’s Game 7 showdown between the Spurs and Thunder on ESPN. At the time of writing, final viewership data for Games 5-6 isn’t available. Through the first four games, the series averaged 9.6 million viewers, including 10.3 million for Game 4. The author says the series is on track to be the most watched Western Conference finals on record—though that claim comes with a caveat because Nielsen changed several aspects of its methodology in recent years. including finally including out-of-home viewing.
Red Sox Lou Merloni Will Middlebrooks Jerry Remy Dennis Eckersley Dave O'Brien NESN Toucher and Hardy Adam Chapman Sports Illustrated layoffs Nielsen ratings Spurs vs Thunder Game 7