Marquee Sports Network has mostly gotten the Cubs broadcast right. The chemistry is there, the voices are familiar, and the booth has had plenty to sell in a year that’s given Chicago a parade of highlight material.
Boog Sciambi and Jim Deshaies remain the center of it all, with Alex Cohen filling in when needed, and the group has handled everything from the Cubs’ league-leading 13 walk-off wins to the kinds of defensive gems Pete Crow-Armstrong, Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner and others keep turning into nightly staples. The product has come a long way since Marquee launched, and that’s showing up in the way fans and media talk about it.
Sciambi in particular has earned more local respect with time. The Chicago Sun-Times even placed him atop its power rankings of Chicago sports personalities earlier this year, calling 2025 his best season in the booth.
He came in with a strong reputation when he replaced Len Kasper in 2021, and he’s only deepened that standing as his chemistry with JD and Taylor McGregor has grown. He can still drift into the feel of a national voice at times, but for the most part he fits the job the way Cubs fans want.
Still, one frustration keeps hanging around: the booth changes too often.
That issue is less severe than it used to be. Marquee once leaned on a rotating third voice, which made things feel crowded.
Cohen has now settled in as the steady backup, a clear upgrade from the old setup. Even so, it’s still jarring how often one or both of the main voices are unavailable.
That complaint showed up again in Awful Announcing’s latest MLB broadcast rankings. The Cubs came in as the fifth-best TV experience with a B grade, but the absences of Boog and JD kept the booth from climbing higher. Respondents called the pair an “elite pairing,” while one of the sharper criticisms landed on the rotating cast around them: “There is a high percentage of broadcasts without one or both of them, and things fall off a cliff.”
That’s the downside of a booth that keeps changing. The stand-ins rarely get the chance to build the same connection with viewers that Sciambi and Deshaies have already established.
Cohen is the clear exception, which is why he’s the only other name to draw consistent praise. One grader put it bluntly: “Jim Deshaies deserves more recognition,” another grader told Awful Announcing.
“Informed, entertaining, humorous, experienced. Boog is great, and Cohen deserves his own booth.”
For now, though, this doesn’t look like a problem the Cubs are going to solve by changing the voices at the top. Sciambi and Deshaies both signed multiyear extensions in 2022, and they continue to rate well with viewers. Marquee can live with the rotation because the regular pairing is strong enough to justify it, and the two have already called plenty of memorable moments, including Mike Tauchman’s home run robbery of the Cardinals and the recent walk-offs against the White Sox.
There’s also a future case for Cohen if the booth ever shifts again. As the former announcer of the Iowa Cubs, he already has a built-in connection with the fan base, and his style feels closer to the local voices Cubs fans have long embraced, like Kasper or Pat Hughes. He’s also shown he can handle the biggest spots, drawing praise for his work during the Cubs’ series win over Milwaukee in June and the next series against the Padres.
So yes, there’s still an annoyance attached to the Marquee broadcast. But it’s the kind of annoyance that comes with having a good problem: too many capable voices, not too few. For Cubs fans, that’s a pretty solid place to be.
In Other News...
Cubs Just Ended Up On The Wrong Side Of A Bizarre MLB First
Randy Arozarena put together one of those nights that can turn a game, and maybe a little bit of baseball history, into a spectacle. He opened against the Cubs with a first-pitch leadoff home run, then kept stacking impact moments from there, finishing 3 for 4 with a walk and even helping preserve Seattles chance with a key home run robbery in the field.
The bizarre ending made the Cubs the answer to a trivia question they probably would have preferred to avoid. Arozarena capped the Mariners 5-4 win with a walk-off home run, becoming just the third player in MLB history to pair a first-pitch leadoff homer and a walk-off homer in the same game, a rare feat that left Chicago on the wrong side of a night packed with swing, glove and late drama. [Read more 🡒]
Cubs Suddenly Have A Real Jaxon Wiggins Roster Decision
Jaxon Wiggins path through the Cubs system has taken an interesting turn at Triple-A Iowa, where the organization has shifted him to the bullpen and he has responded with three scoreless innings, five strikeouts and no hits allowed. It fits with the broader plan Chicago has for him right now: manage the innings, see how his stuff plays in shorter bursts, and keep a close eye on whether his performance can help push him into the conversation for a September call-up.
The more immediate wrinkle is what this means for the rest of the offseason picture. Wiggins is Rule 5 eligible this winter, so the Cubs will have to decide whether his recent work in relief makes him worthy of a 40-man roster spot. If the bullpen look keeps going well, Chicago could have a real decision on its hands long before the winter meetings arrive. [Read more 🡒]
Shelby Miller Could Become The Bullpen Help Cubs Desperately Need
Shelby Millers rehab has become one of the quieter but more encouraging developments in the Cubs organization, especially for a bullpen that has spent much of the year looking for help. Recovering from his second Tommy John surgery, Miller is moving through his minor league assignments ahead of schedule, which is a noteworthy step for a pitcher whose path back to the majors has been long and carefully managed.
The Cubs are being deliberate with his recovery, and for good reason. If Miller comes back healthy, he could offer the kind of bullpen support Chicago has been missing, with the potential to matter in 2026 if everything keeps trending the right way. For a relief corps that has struggled to find consistency, even the possibility of a useful late-inning arm is a meaningful one. [Read more 🡒]