Major League Baseball on TBS while longtime play-by-play announcers Skip Caray and Pete Van Wieren had their participation on the broadcasts reduced. This was done in an attempt to combat criticism of Caray's on-air "home team" bias and to market its baseball coverage to fans of MLB teams other than the Braves. Meanwhile, the brand Braves Baseball on TBS was replaced by Major League Baseball on TBS. The move was strongly criticized by Braves fans, Atlanta area media outlets and Braves manager Bobby Cox. Over 90% of Braves fans who voted in an online poll conducted by the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" preferred Caray and Van Wieren
Bobby Rose (baseball) and announced his second retirement in March before the start of the regular season. Rose is remembered as one of the best foreign players in Japanese baseball history. He was 71 at-bats shy of passing Leron Lee for the top spot in career batting average (at least 4000 at-bats are required to qualify for the record), and hit over .300 for seven of his eight seasons in Japan. He also hit three cycles during his career (the most in Japanese baseball history). In 2018, Rose was hired to be the hitting coach for the single A Delmarva Shorebirds. Bobby Rose