MLB Opening Day: ESPN Brings Sunday Night Baseball Into Analytic Age With Volumetric Replays, ‘Win Probability’ in Scorebug

SNB will also make the leap from 720p to 1080p this season

Baseball may be America’s Pastime, but ESPN is focused on bringing the game into the present — and, for that matter, into the future.

Over the years, ESPN has integrated an array of new technologies and advanced metrics into its MLB broadcasts to cater to the modern fan. That effort hits a new level this season with the addition of an omnipresent “win probability” metric to the on-screen scorebug and more Statcast-driven features, such as exit-velocity data and pitch probability. In addition, ESPN will introduce new volumetric video replays during its “MLB Statcast” alternative broadcasts beginning in July.

“We always want to be a little bit more aggressive,” says Phil Orlins, VP, production, ESPN. “I’m not saying we want to be completely off the rails from what people traditionally expect from a broadcast, but, if you want to put us on a bell curve, we want to be on the progressive end of that.”

ESPN will exclusively televise all Sunday Night Baseball games in 2023, plus five additional exclusive games, including Opening Night tonight as the World Series champion Texas Rangers host the Chicago Cubs at Globe Life Field.

ESPN’s first MLB outing of the season tonight will feature all the technological accoutrements, including a live drone (similar to ESPN’s College World Series and FOX Sports’ World Series coverage) and UmpCam, which ESPN expects to use periodically throughout the season depending on the matchup and the ump’s willingness to wear it for four or more innings at a time. The UmpCam was also seen for the MLB Seoul Series last week and will be on hand for the St. Louis Cardinals–L.A. Dodgers SNB broadcast this weekend.

Statcast Goes Volumetric: Altcasts To Feature New Data-Fueled Replays

ESPN will produce more editions of its MLB Statcast alternative presentation than ever before, beginning with the Home Run Derby on July 15 and continuing with nine out of the following 10 SNB games. These Statcast altcasts will feature play-by-play caller Kevin Brown and analysts Trevor May and Mike Petriello in the booth. They will be produced in close collaboration with Major League Baseball, which provides all Statcast data and animations.

ESPN will aggressively use volumetric-data–created replays that allow viewers to see replays from any position on the field, including in the batter’s helmet, behind the pitcher, and over the shortstop’s shoulder.

Instead of creating an entire alternative telecast based on an animated world — like ESPN’s Toy Story-themed NFL Funday Football and NHL Big City Greens Classic altcasts — SNB will focus on integrating volumetric-video replays in the Statcast presentation to aid in telling the story of the game.

“There are some similarities to what we’ve done with the NFL and NHL,” notes Orlins, “but it will be more of a replay and database and human approach versus the cartoon approach. But, from a technology standpoint, [we are] using that collection of data to re-create things from any camera angle and embed data into that. I think, from a visual standpoint, it’s going to differentiate those shows.”

The volumetric replays will be used throughout the Statcast presentations, but Orlins hopes the production team will “find effective and important usages for it” in the main ESPN broadcast.

ESPN MLB Producer Andy Jacobson similarly hopes that the volumetric re-creations will be available as a first replay in many cases, adding a valuable new tool to the front bench’s storytelling arsenal. “Immediacy is something we’re extremely hopeful for,” he says. “To me, one of the differentiators would be, sure, we see Statcast 3D show up in a lot of places but do we ever see it in a first-replay sequence or very soon after it happened? That’s one of our goals we’re working on: not just frequency but immediacy.”

This will mark the latest attempt by MLB and its broadcast partners to create a more immersive baseball-watching experience, following the launch of the Gameday 3D virtual ballpark last season. Declining to get into specifics on the technology until closer to the first Statcast of the season in July, Orlins says MLB is working on “some pretty fundamental changes coming to the technology and engines, [which] are evolving the look pretty drastically and allowing the graphic to be better embedded in the whole scene.”

‘Embrace the Differentiation’: Win Probability Gets Full-Time Scorebug Treatment 

This season, for the first time, ESPN will display “win probability” in its scorebug graphic at all times during MLB broadcasts. ESPN’s in-house statistics and information team will provide the real-time win-probability data for the graphic.

“I think it speaks to the way people think about sports right now,” Orlins explains. “[Win probability] is on every website. After a lot of debate, we want to embrace the differentiation there.”

Although ESPN is bullish on the ubiquitous presence of win probability on-screen, Orlins is setting reasonable expectations for fans’ initial reaction. He compares it to the debut of the K-Zone Live graphic over the plate in 2015, which created an uproar on social media early on but is now a standard component of nearly every live baseball telecast.

“[Win probability] will cause some reaction,” he predicts. “It will probably not be mostly positive at the outset, but I think, over time, it will connect with the psyche and intentions of the viewers. I’m 100% sure that backlash will diminish over time and people will get used to it and ultimately begin to expect it. It will become more of the future of the way people think about the game.”

Other key metrics expected to be frequent on SNB broadcasts include exit velocity upon contact for hitters, pitch-selection probability for pitchers, and, also for pitchers, what Orlins calls a “blended scouting report” incorporating both hitter and pitcher strengths and weaknesses.

Embrace the Unpredictable: Miked Players Are Back in the Mix

In addition to a focus on data and technology, ESPN will continue to offer plenty of fun each Sunday night. The production team will integrate in-game miked-player interviews that have become an on-air staple of Sunday Night Baseball.

“To me,” says Orlins, “the signature of Sunday Night Baseball is that it embraces the special entertaining nature of the game. The player mics are probably the most recognizable part of that, but [it’s also] the things that [Jacobson] does that surprise the audience.

“There’s a degree of unpredictability and surprise and embracing of entertainment,” he continues. “Risk taking, willingness to embrace the unusual, and unpredictable entertainment define this show. We embrace surprise, and we embrace the unpredictable.”

Orlins expects ESPN’s booth team of Karl Ravech, David Cone, and Eduardo Pérez to conduct at least one player interview during every game this season, barring unforeseen logistical issues. Orlins says that, over the past two years, players have become more comfortable and accepting of wearing a mic during the game. He estimates that roughly a third of players love it, a third staunchly oppose it, and a third are simply open to the idea.

“I think it has been one of the great enhancements in broadcasting over the last several years,” he says. “Partly because of Eduardo, guys who speak foreign languages first or are uncomfortable with English are [more] comfortable going on and being translated and so forth. It opens up access to the stars of the game.”

Jacobson, too, credits Perez and his boothmates for cultivating strong relationships with the players in an effort to make them more comfortable with the in-game interviews: “They work the field. They work the clubhouses. They have relationships. [For example, for] the Martin Maldonado [interview last season], Eduardo brought Martin Maldonado on to our weekly production Zoom call to talk to the crew about what it was going to be like and what we were going to do with him.

“Just the relationships they have,” Jacobson continues, “and they make these guys comfortable not only during the interviews but in the process leading up. Without those guys leading the charge, we [wouldn’t] have nearly the success we have.”

In addition to in-game player interviews, ESPN will continue to bury mics throughout the infield each Sunday night to capture the sounds of the game.

Operations Update: SNB Moves to 1080p as REMI, REMCO Models Mature

Although one new wrinkle this season will be the move from 720p to 1080p, SNB’s overall production workflow will closely resemble last season’s. NEP NCP11 (A and B units) will be onsite for all games, with REMI control rooms at ESPN’s Bristol, CT, campus providing a mix of REMI (remote integration) and REMCO (remote-controlled) workflows. Each week, ESPN will have 42 transmission paths to handle the REMI and REMCO operations running on a blend of JPEG2000 uncompressed fiber paths and IP multicast paths.

“We will be enhancing the REMCO EVS [replay] integrations giving Bristol-based EVS operators more local control of EVS machines and systems in the truck,” says Paul Horrell, remote production operations manager, ESPN. “We plan to have all three super-slo-mo EVS operators in Bristol this season and no EVS operators in the truck. This may change on occasion based on Bristol operator schedules, but we expect it for most games this season.”

The SNB remote-operations team of Mike Miner, Chip Sego, Steph Santora and specialist Kevin Cleary return for this season, serving as boots on the ground week to week. The broadcaster has also been able to maintain a consistent core tech crew, and “the importance of that cannot be overstated,” says Horrell.

“As you can imagine,” he notes, “with a REMI this large and especially with the REMCO integrations, it can quickly get a bit complex with technologies, personnel, and schedules. But our Bristol-based crewing, traffic, mobile, and REMI management teams have all been tremendous in working through a lot of the challenges, and we’re all looking forward to another great MLB season.”