As residents of Phoenix, Ariz. enjoyed a summer filled with swimming, sports and sunscreen, Siera Santos was grounded. She had dropped out of high school and received her general education diploma while in a treatment center in Utah, and upon her return, was essentially confined to her home. One of the sole digressions from the mundane nature of everyday life was watching the Arizona Diamondbacks play baseball, and she subsequently became invested in the team and an avid reader of the sports section of the newspaper.
When summer turned to autumn, her heightened love of sports led her to ask her father for Phoenix Suns season tickets. Steve Nash, Shawn Marion and Amar’e Stoudemire positioned the Suns to compete for an NBA championship, and Santos felt compelled to become a fan. While her father declined to purchase the tickets because they were too expensive, he acquiesced before the start of the next season.
“We went to a bunch of playoff games, but it was in the first half of that season that I said, ‘Oh my gosh, I want to go to games for the rest of my life,’” Santos said. “I enrolled in community college [and] had a 4.0 GPA; that got me into the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. I graduated as the most outstanding undergraduate student and with honors, and the rest is history.”
When she was out of school, Santos looked for ways to penetrate the industry, serving as a multimedia journalist during high school football season and a production assistant at FOX Sports Arizona among other roles. Yet she had difficulty finding a full-time job in sports media, sending her reel all across the United States and did not receive any calls back.
Santos moved to Colorado Springs. where she worked as a news multimedia journalist for KOAA-TV – writing, shooting and editing news stories for air and the web. While she had landed a coveted full-time role, she was crestfallen. It caused her to question whether reaching her end goal would be realistic, and if what she was doing was worth continuing.
“I wanted to quit so bad because I did not want to do news,” Santos said. “I [had] a hard time compartmentalizing all the horrible things that I would report on during the day and then not taking that home at night. My dad was just like, ‘Hang in there; hang in there.’”
Just over a year into the job, Santos departed to become a sports reporter, producer and photographer at KWTV in Oklahoma City. Although her dad gave her the option to return home to Phoenix to find a job there, she stayed persistent and gained invaluable experience in covering different sporting events. Her work ethic and passion for sports a chance to try out for a job in Los Angeles. Following an audition process where she was convinced she did not get the job, Santos received a big break and quickly worked to learn how to cover sports in the area for KCAL.
Three years earlier, MLB Network had debuted its new afternoon talk show titled Intentional Talk, and it quickly became a staple of the network’s daily lineup. Co-hosts Chris Rose and Kevin Millar had an undisputable chemistry. The show also featured entertaining segments incorporating the personalities of players and temperament of fans, some of which were tilted “Kevin’s Highlights,” “Got Heeem” and “How Pro Is That?”
While Millar hosted the show from his home studio in Austin, Texas, Rose did the same in Los Angeles, but the dynamic duo worked through the challenge to become must-watch television. Then in a stunning turn of events amid the onset of a devastating global pandemic, Rose received a call from MLB Network president Rob McGlarry informing him that his contract would not be renewed. It was an unforeseen conclusion to a 10-year run, and the start of a new era for a show centered around the synergy of its hosts.
“He taught me everything in television,” Millar said, who played 12 years in the major leagues. “He had done a lot of stuff from The Best Damn Sports Show Period and national college football championships to obviously being on the Super Bowl and World Series, but he was an ultimate pro and taught me a lot – so I learned a lot. Chris – when that happened, it was devastating.”
Millar had played 12 seasons in the major leagues and helped the Boston Red Sox break an 86-year championship drought in 2004. Throughout his career, he had the reputation of being affable and convivial while maintaining a championship mindset. From the time he started working in sports media, Millar maintained those characteristics and brought them to audiences both locally in Boston on NESN and nationally with FOX Sports and MLB Network.
Upon the exit of Rose, Millar was paired with MLB Network host Stephen Nelson for the second iteration of Intentional Talk. Nelson had previously co-hosted the show on a fill-in basis and had chemistry with Millar, but the consensus was that it did not feel the same without Rose.
“It was definitely a learning experience,” Millar said. “Stephen Nelson was able to transition, and it was just kind of a little odd because we were coming off COVID and the inconsistencies of what was going on with the world.”
As Millar hosted the program with Stephen Nelson, one of the show’s recurring guests was former starting pitcher Ryan Dempster. Millar had been teammates with Dempster for parts of five seasons with the Florida Marlins. In fact, he remembers how devastating it felt when Dempster was traded to the Cincinnati Reds, especially since they meshed and became close friends.
When Dempster retired from the sport after the 2013 season, he joined MLB Network as a studio analyst and primarily contributed to MLB Tonight. Once Marquee Sports Network launched in February 2020, Dempster signed on to serve as a game analyst and studio host. At the same time, he also started hosting a talk show, Off the Mound, which is modeled after late-night programming and features interviews with baseball players and personnel. Naturally so, Dempster and Millar remained in touch with one another and were finally given the chance to collaborate when Nelson was hired by the Los Angeles Dodgers as a play-by-play announcer.
“We’re family – I’ve watched his kids grow up. He’s watched my kids grow up,” Dempster said of Millar. “To be able to talk about the game we love so much – it’s an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
Dempster, who remains with Marquee Sports Network, made sense to tab as the new co-host of Intentional Talk; however, there was somewhat of a quandary in that the show had never solely contained two former players as the tandem. Adding an experienced television host to the fold though would create a hosting trio, something that would surely require experimentation before officially taking the air.
Meanwhile, Siera Santos was hired by NBC Sports Chicago. She held multiple roles for the network, but it was her studio work with Luke Stuckmeyer on In The Loop that made her more comfortable and self-referential in front of the camera.
From NBC Sports Chicago, she went to FOX 32 across town. From there it was back to Phoenix. Sure, it was home, but continuing to bounce around local marketplaces brought back some of that despondence and left her reevaluating her path altogether.
“I wasn’t really sure that this is what I wanted to keep doing,” Santos said. “I was like, ‘I’m not even sure if I’m ever going to get to a national network.’ And that’s when my agents more so pushed me and were saying, ‘You’re going to get to a national network. You’re talented enough to get there.’”
Prior to the first pitch of the 2022 Major League Baseball season, Santos flew across the country to Secaucus, N.J. to take an audition with MLB Network. Following a second audition, she was offered a job as a studio host and reporter. Accepting the role was a no-brainer.
From the beginning, she was eager to make a good impression on those at the network and its viewers. Throughout the year, she could frequently be seen hosting Quick Pitch, MLB Tonight and a variety of additional programming while also interviewing players and reporting on MLB Network Showcase games. Amid the 162-game season and ensuing postseason matchups, Santos found a bonafide home – but she did not interact with Kevin Millar, perhaps its most spirited tenet, until the World Series.
“We were all taking one of those black [Suburbans] back to the hotel,” Santos described following a World Series game. “I get in the car with him, and I forget what he was going off about but I’m like, ‘Yo, this guy’s crazy.’ A 12-minute car ride was one of the wildest conversations that you would ever hear in your life, [and] I realized that was a very small sample size.”
When the network was revamping its programming lineup during the offseason, executives tabbed Santos to join Millar and Dempster as a co-host of Intentional Talk. When Santos was told of the idea, she immediately asked if Millar was okay with it, skeptical whether or not it was a legitimate possibility. Once she was officially on board, the network scheduled rehearsal episodes for the show, something that had never been done in the program’s history. All three members of the show described it as a shrewd decision and a critical aspect in becoming familiar with each other’s proclivities, strengths and shortcomings.
“We probably did four or five shows on the rehearsal side of it and really got a chance to see each other’s mechanics and laughs and when to stop talking,” Millar said. “You’re doing this from three locations and it’s pretty amazing how everybody behind the scenes makes this go because they do such a great job.”
Before the official premiere of the third rendition of the show, a group chat was created with Millar, Dempster, Santos and their two producers. To this day, the text messages range from the sublime to the ridiculous while also serving as a fundamental component to keep one another informed and brainstorm ideas. For Santos, it also represented a place where she felt part of the family.
“They really accepted me, which I have to give credit to them, and they brought me into the fold,” Santos said. “They aren’t filtered in what they say just because I’m in there or anything like that.”
Through their conversations, Millar and Dempster discovered that Santos was a fan of the Florida Panthers amid the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final. During commercial breaks, Millar implores his co-hosts not to look at their phones but rather use the time to converse to get to know each other. After all, Millar has had to establish chemistry with co-hosts in the past, but was now looking to refine he and Dempster’s relationship to give Santos room to interject and display why she was selected to join the show.
“Kevin’s done an amazing job of really harvesting that within our group, and I think that’s really important because we’re working together every day,” Dempster said. “My hat’s off to him for really making that effort to bring her in and accept her and know she’s doing a great job – and challenge her. She’s young in this game, and she has a chance to do some really special things.”
Millar, Dempster and Santos have all participated in shows based on a script and utilized a teleprompter to make sure they stay on script. Most of Intentional Talk, aside from sponsored material, is an unscripted program and relies on background knowledge and effective conversation skills. The show does not solely focus on baseball, sometimes garrulous towards other parts of sports and pop culture.
“There could be something that is brought up about Mike Trout, and then all of a sudden we’re talking about windsurfing,” Santos said. “That’s the nice thing is that it’s built to allow those tangents to kind of unfurl organically.”
“We have a tremendous edit crew behind the scenes that [is] able to clean stuff up, but that’s really the only battle when you’ve got an earpiece in that if it’s not caught up,” Millar said. “I think that’s when you learn, and you learn that nothing’s perfect, and I think that’s the great part about the show. Even the mistakes – they’re viewed and you can laugh at it.”
The principle is the backbone behind the “Best Interview in Baseball,” an eight to 12-minute conversation with a major league player about more than just their own on-field performance. Questions are more focused on personality and provide a bit of levity. Millar and Dempster know its importance, and Santos can understand it from her time as a beat reporter.
“Fans want to hear something different than talk about their delivery or their mechanics or how many home runs they have,” Millar explained. “We know that – I want to know who’s cheap [or] who’s the worst dressed. I want to know, ‘Would you rather be a massage therapist, toll booth attendant or a manicurist?’ You’ve got to put them on the spot; you’ve got to challenge these players and it brings out a lot of personality.”
Although one of the greatest compliments Santos ever received was in being called “the poor man’s Molly Qerim,” referring to the host of First Take on ESPN, she does not see most shows as comparable to Intentional Talk. In today’s generation of instant gratification, comparing the show to a podcast is most applicable, especially since it is entrenched in the camaraderie of the hosts.
“Millar has a fantastic way of when we’re doing our little intro and saying ‘Hi’ and getting them all mixed up and everything; of making a guy feel really relaxed right before he goes on,” Santos said. “That’s just because he is so personable. No one at the Network has a bad thing to say about Kevin Millar because he’s got a genuinely good heart – and he’s funny as hell.”
In order to continue growing the game, Millar feels the show needs to broadcast on the road at select collegiate stadiums. College baseball is growing in popularity across the United States, and Millar feels that other sports work to showcase the next generation of players much better than baseball does. Last year, Intentional Talk broadcast from the University of Texas and welcomed former all-star shortstop and current Longhorns assistant coach Troy Tulowitzki as a guest. As time progresses, Millar continuously looks to grow the show while also staying cognizant about what the audience wants and centering coverage around the player.
In fact, Major League Baseball has made strides to better promulgate its superstars and young players. MLB Network programming such as Intentional Talk facilitates this goal through driving the conversation beyond the perplexing sabermetrics and trivial financial details.
“We don’t care if you’re hitting .130 or .430 – there’s no insecurities here,” Millar said. “You have fun – bring up any foundation; whatever you’ve got to do – your kids; your dog; your wife; say hello to your uncle. That’s what it’s about.”
There is a production meeting held in the morning before the show airs at 5 p.m. EST/2 p.m. PST, and everyone has free reign to talk about compelling topics or divulge pejoratives about the show rundown. Being former players themselves, Millar and Dempster have an idea of the vernacular in clubhouses and often identify what will resonate or move the metaphorical needle.
Santos never played sports professionally, but she brings the perspective of a seasoned journalist and producer with a knack for adequately presenting topics and guiding discussion. Her bilingual abilities are a much appreciated bonus. A host that speaks Spanish fluently gives Latin-born players the comfort to authentically express themselves.
All parties involved believe the show is on the right path, and legitimately enjoy the work they are doing. Santos described hosting the show with Millar and Dempster as her “dream job,” and aims to constantly improve while staying true to herself. Additionally, Millar and Dempster seem to have picked up right where they left off as teammates, but the reality of the situation is that they never were not working together.
“Sometimes I have this protective cover of the positive-everything. I am a positive thinker, and it’s not talking about the negative; it’s just the real side of things and he brings that out in me,” Dempster said of Millar. “I just enjoy that and I think that’s because he’s my teammate in life.”
“There’s no place I’d rather be, and the network is wonderful,” Millar added. “I’m not just saying that; I am telling you they have created just a network that, for the baseball fan, you have it all.”
Derek Futterman is an associate editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, email Derek@BarrettMedia.com or find him on X @derekfutterman.
