FOX Sports’ lead NFL sideline reporter Erin Andrews, who had covered the 2014 and 2015 World Series for FOX Sports, has decided to take a step back from MLB coverage. She happens to be Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s longtime friend and unexpected matchmaker in their romance. Given how well-respected a figure Erin Andrews is in the sports world, having reported on some of North America’s biggest sporting events, her decision to never return to MLB caught everyone by surprise.

The 47-year-old veteran reporter signed a contract extension in July 2025, which, unlike her previous deal, allowed her to step away from baseball. While she enjoyed covering MLB all this time, Andrews felt she wasn’t qualified enough for this role. Even though she has a significant history of covering baseball since signing with FOX Sports, her primary focus has always been the NFL. She believes someone who covers baseball full-time should take over now.

She even made an honest confession on her podcast. Andrews admitted that she often felt like she was behind and was always trying to catch up.

“I found that coming in at the end of the year, after you know, covering football and then jumping in, I felt like I was doing a disservice to people that were watching at home. I felt like there were other people that had covered it all throughout the year that knew the ins and outs.” According to Andrews, she wasn’t contributing as much as she could—or as much as someone like Ken Rosenthal could.

Rosenthal has been an MLB insider for FOX Sports since 2005, and in addition to covering October baseball for the network since 2006, he also covers the biggest articles for The Athletic during the regular season.

Now, talking about Erin Andrews leaving MLB, we cannot help but remember the rumors about her close friend and international icon being close to owning an MLB team in Nashville.

As revealed by Andrews herself, Swift has been a great support through all the thick and thin of her life. From cervical cancer to infertility, Taylor Swift’s friendship has been a major source of resilience for Andrews. “Taylor talked about how we should think of our energy as expensive, that it’s a luxury.” And with that message, Erin came through.

But keeping everything aside now, we definitely didn’t see such an Andrews update coming!

What’s next for Erin Andrews after stepping back from MLB?

Since the news spread, the reaction from sports media has been divided. Some netizens respect her choice, emphasizing that modern broadcasting often works better when you focus on one area. Meanwhile, the other half thinks that being versatile has become rare lately.

When Erin Andrews took a step back from Major League Baseball in 2016 to focus only on the NFL, she never looked back.

Andrews has been Fox’s lead sideline reporter for over ten years now, and she will continue to do so. Recently, on the New Heights podcast, she revealed, “If you’re looking to get away from me this football season, best of luck.” That’s enough for us to know where she’s headed!

Previously, she has worked with stars like Tom Brady, Troy Aikman, and Kevin Burkhardt. She also hosts Fox NFL Kickoff and the pregame show for Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football.

Talking about baseball, Andrews covered MLB’s Colorado Rockies in 2007 before focusing on football. She compared her brief baseball assignments to jumping into the NFL playoffs without knowing what had happened during the regular season. “I almost felt stupid, and the catch-up was really, really hard,” she admitted earlier.

While many on X have taken her decision as a rejection of baseball, that might not be true. It’s more about how she wants to choose where she can do her best work. She’s made it her priority to stay rooted in one sport, and frankly, baseball is technical and requires the broadcaster to be active all the time.