Cubs fans will appreciate a familiar touch in Wild Card broadcast crew against Padres

After spending the entire regular season with familiar voices and presentation, Major League Baseball does away with that as soon as the playoffs start. While the Cubs' radio broadcast, including the Hall of Famer, Pat Hughes, will still be available on The Score, their Wild Card series against the Padres will be on NBC Sports Network and Peacock.

NBC has made it a point in recent years to include voices from each team. For the Cubs and Padres, that certainly will be the case. While San Francisco Giants' play-by-play voice Dave Flemming will be on the call, he will be joined by Cubs' color commentator Jim Deshaies and Padres' color commentator Mark Grant. Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw will also be a part of the broadcast, as well as John Fanta, a voice of NBC Sports.

Jim Deshaies delays offseason hip surgery, will be part of Wild Card broadcast team for Cubs vs. Padres

As the Cubs' broadcast team was signing off for Marquee Sports Network on Sunday, Deshaies made a point to reveal that he put off offseason hip surgery to be able to call the Wild Card series this week.

What's been a problem in the past has been national broadcasts sounding out-of-touch when talking about teams they've barely covered throughout the regular season. Earlier this month, for TBS, Pedro Martinez made reference to the Cubs waiting for the return of Ben Brown this season and the impact it could have on the team's playoff run. Brown, of course, had been ruled out for the remainder of the season.

The hope is that by having Deshaies a part of the broadcast, there will be a general sense of how the Cubs got to the Wild Card series, and what needs to happen in order for them to find success.

That being said, there is one quite aspect of the broadcast team that doesn't make the most sense. Kershaw being involved feels like a way for NBC to troll Padres fans. Though, considering the Dodgers have a first-round bye and Anthony Rizzo is already a part of the presentation for the series between the Red Sox and Yankees, it feels like NBC was left with no other option but to include Kershaw for the Cubs vs. Padres.

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