Starkville | Inside the Chaos of Broadcasting MLB games w/ Jason Benetti
Rates & Barrels: A show about Baseball
The Athletic
4.7 • 873 Ratings
🗓️ 30 May 2026
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
An Astros pitcher accomplished something this week that hadn’t been done since 1892. Jayson Stark and Doug Glanville break down the historic feat, explain where Bumpus Jones fits into the story, and discuss what made it so remarkable with Sunday Night Baseball voice Jason Benetti. The guys also talk about Benetti’s chaotic travel schedule, how the ABS challenge system is changing the way he calls games, and the baseball cliché he can’t stand.
Rundown:
1:26 Joey Votto’s Visit to Starkville
4:40 The Miz Brings the Heat
8:13 Jason Benetti Joins the Show
9:19 Benetti’s Chaotic Travel Schedule
15:25 NBC’s Sunday Night Baseball Coverage
31:39 The ABS Challenge System
36:19 The Up-and-Down Detroit Tigers
38:31 Tigers Manager A.J. Hinch
41:40 Favorite (and Least Favorite) Cliché
44:46 Strange But True with Jason Benetti
Follow Jayson on Bluesky: @jaysonst.bsky.social
Follow Doug on Bluesky: @dougglanville.bsky.social
E-mail: starkville@theathletic.com
Starkville Hotline: (347) 313-8371
Subscribe to The Athletic: theathletic.com/ratesandbarrels
Hosts: Jayson Stark & Doug Glanville
With: Jason Benetti
Producer: Jason Potere
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Coming up on the next Starkville, the great Jason Benetti is here. |
| 0:04.7 | We'll be talking about Bumpus Jones, his favorite cliches. |
| 0:09.7 | Santa coming to town? |
| 0:11.7 | You better not pout to Starkville. |
| 0:27.7 | I'm Jason Stark. |
| 0:29.1 | I write about baseball for The Athletic. |
| 0:32.1 | And I'm joined once again by my good friend, writer, substacker, a man who once got 1100 hits in the major leagues, |
| 0:41.5 | and our favorite voice of baseball on ESPN radio, Doug Glanville. |
| 0:48.9 | Doug, how are you, my friend? |
| 0:51.0 | How many minutes ago did your plane land? |
| 0:53.8 | Not many. Two hours ago, maybe. But it was not a red |
| 0:58.1 | eye, so not too bad. Milwaukee, Detroit, and then get to Connecticut. So, yeah, it was nice, |
| 1:05.0 | beautiful day, sunny, no complaints. And I'm wide awake. Yeah, good. So between you and our special guest this week, Jason Benetti, we have some wacky travel |
| 1:15.8 | schedules going and I bet that will come up when we talk with Jason in just a few minutes. |
| 1:22.0 | But first a couple things. |
| 1:24.4 | One, I just wanted to mention we've gotten such a cool response to last week's show |
| 1:29.3 | when Joey Votto was here. If you missed it, go back and watch it or listen to it. It's special. |
| 1:37.0 | The more I think about that conversation with Joey, I think it was one of the most memorable |
| 1:42.3 | conversations that we've ever had with any player. |
| 1:46.6 | I know he's an ex-player now, but just the perspective on life, on the world around him, |
| 1:53.1 | and obviously how he thinks about baseball, just loved talking to him. |
| 1:57.9 | Doug, how about you? |
... |
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