Boog Sciambi made his Chicago Cubs TV debut for Marquee Sports Network. Here’s how he did.

Jon “Boog” Sciambi made it clear Tuesday where he stands in his debut as the TV voice of the Chicago Cubs on Marquee Sports Network.

Boog doesn’t believe in the boogeyman.

Like his predecessor Len Kasper, he will not hide information from viewers because of some silly superstition. When there’s a no-hitter in progress late in a game, he will acknowledge it.

The subject came up because the Cubs had yet to surrender a hit to the Kansas City Royals going into the final inning of their Cactus League home opener. In this case, the last inning was the seventh, and it was a spring training exhibition, so it wasn’t as if any of it mattered.

“I’ll do the PSA right now,” Sciambi said in the bottom of the sixth. “Len Kasper and I share this sensibility. Any time a Cubs pitcher has a no-hitter, I’m going to say it’s a no-hitter a lot … all the time.”

His Marquee analyst (and former pitcher) Jim Deshaies shares that perspective and also suggested the whole debate is a little nuts.

“People think there’s a no-hitter jinx,” Deshaies said. “It only applies to the dugout. Only a player or someone in the dugout can jinx a no-hitter. A broadcaster cannot jinx a no-hitter. That’s proven scientifically.”

It’s baffling that this is even a discussion — half serious or not — but so it goes.

One would think Sandy Koufax’s four no-hitters for the Dodgers (including one perfect game) between 1962-65, despite the great Vin Scully telling his audience exactly what was at stake, would have put this idiocy to rest. Alas, it has not.

“The other thing is this, especially so in 2021, as much as we might like to think otherwise, people do not watch this like it’s a movie all the time from start to finish,” Sciambi said. “They come in and come out.”

Deshaies said it would be a disservice to viewers not to let them know something dramatic was going on.

“Now you could tiptoe around it” Deshaies said, making an eerie sound of sorts. “Something exciting happening here today folks.”

Pressed by Sciambi, Deshaies said the eerie sound was evocative of the late, erstwhile Cubs announcer Milo Hamilton.

Because these things happen, the Royals mustered two hits in their final inning off the Cubs’ seventh pitcher of the game, Jake Jewell, including a two-run homer by Edward Oliveres that cut the Cubs’ lead to 3-2.

“Let me have it, everybody,” Sciambi said. Then he imitated an imagined fan at home, muttering: “I knew I didn’t like that guy! I knew I didn’t like that guy!”

In reality, everyone should have liked Sciambi, who was every bit as good as expected when hired to succeed Kasper, who left the Cubs after 16 seasons to be radio voice of the crosstown White Sox.

There were, of course, other winners and losers in Sciambi’s Marquee debut.

Winner: Eerie coincidence

After the pandemic upended everything, all of Sciambi’s ESPN assignments last season had him working remotely from a studio. The last in-person announcing he did, as it turned out, was an Angels-Cubs exhibition. Not only was it at Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz., like Tuesday’s game, it was exactly one year ago to the day.

That telecast was memorable for the in-game contributions of the Cubs’ Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, who were each wearing a wire. Among their revelations were that Bryant’s road-hotel alias was Hamilton Porter, the name of the catcher in the 1993 movie “The Sandlot,” while Cubs manager David Ross liked to register as Jake Taylor, the aging catcher from 1989 1/4 u2032s “Major League.”

“The Emmy’s in the mail, fellas,” Sciambi had said as he signed off.

The fellas wound up with Sciambi, but no award.

Loser: Cord cutters

A year ago many wondered whether — and when — the Cubs and TV partner Sinclair Broadcast Group would reach a carriage agreement with Comcast to put Marquee on Xfinity, the largest TV service provider in the team’s designated market.

This year, it’s cord cutters feeling the pinch. A Marquee spokesman confirmed AT&T TV is at present the lone stand-alone streaming service offering the Cubs channel. That keeps streamers from shopping around for a better deal until, and unless, Marquee comes to terms with Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV and/or Sling.

Winner: Hecklers

Jed Hoyer, the Cubs president of baseball operations, noted the reduced crowd at Sloan Park was a blessing for hecklers who could be heard far and wide with crystal clarity. Viewers with the volume up already had noticed this.

Loser: Deshaies’ weather source

Deshaies said he heard it was “not the prettiest day back in Chicago,” We know Cubs announcers lost their hotline to meteorologist supreme Tom Skilling when they left WGN-Ch. 9 in 2019, but J.D. clearly needs better weather info.

For the record, Chicagoans had no reason to complain. It was more than 30 degrees cooler than in Mesa, yet it was in the 40s and the sun was shining, which in early March qualifies as perfectly lovely.

Winner: Taylor McGregor

When Marquee decided not to send reporter Taylor McGregor to Arizona because of COVID-19 protocols, it would have been easy to leave her off its spring training telecasts. Instead, channel bosses planted her in their Chicago studio for an occasional anecdote and to contribute to in-game interviews. Going to the trouble of working her into the telecast seems like a big vote of confidence.

That said, she could have corrected Deshaies on the relative prettiness of Chicago’s weather.

Loser: Everyone who wanted more baseball

The Cubs and Royals agreed to play only seven innings, though it was a full seven as the Cubs batted in the bottom of the inning despite a one-run lead.

Sciambi: “They decided that Chicago was not ready for nine innings of us, so baby steps for us, J.D.”

Deshaies: “Less is better, Boog. I’ve long held that philosophy.”

Sciambi later would note that Wednesday’s 2 p.m. Cubs practice game on ESPN is set to go nine innings. Make of that what you will.

Winner: ESPN

Guess who’s calling that Mariners-Cubs exhibition for ESPN? None other than Jason Benetti, voice of the White Sox, and he’ll be joined by analyst Jessica Mendoza, along with reporters Jesse Rogers and Kiley McDaniel.

Note to Cubs fans: If you’ve never heard Benetti call a baseball game, he’s really quite good.

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