With the postseason tiebreaker puzzle finally settled, ESPN is now homed in on producing its lone postseason telecast: the American League Wild Card Game tonight. For the second consecutive year, the Wild Card Game will serve as the cap to ESPN's MLB season, with three full hours of Astros-Yankees onsite pregame coverage from Yankee Stadium and the network's full arsenal of production tools at its disposal.
It's a great pinnacle to our season in that it's a one-game winner-take-all event. That's as dramatic as it gets. It feels like a Game 7; it certainly serves as our Game 7 and a great exclamation point on our year, says ESPN Coordinating Producer Phil Orlins. We certainly threw all our bells and whistles at this game last year, but we have really progressed: for example, we were not there with live K-Zone on every pitch last year. With the added scrutiny on a game like this, that becomes an even more important tool when it comes to pitch locations and close pitch calls.
In addition to high-tech production tools, ESPN's AL Wild Card telecast will feature Jessica Mendoza as the first female analyst to call a nationally televised MLB postseason game.
In the second year carrying an MLB Wild Card Game as part of an eight-year rights deal, ESPN considers the game a chance to showcase the cavalcade of new technology it deploys throughout the season on Sunday Night Baseball and its other MLB properties, including Sportvision K-Zone live pitch-tracking graphics, Dejero cellular-based-transmission camera system, and Sony HDC-4300 4K/ultra-slo-mo cameras.
This [is] my first year with ESPN baseball, but I think it's clear that we are always looking to push the technology factor, says Paul Horrel, MLB remote operations manager, ESPN. We have introduced some things on baseball this year, such as the Dejero wireless cellular camera, the live K-Zone [graphic] through Sportvision, and the [Sony HDC-]4300 cameras that are just amazing.
Inside the Compound
ESPN has deployed NEP's EN2, its Sunday Night Baseball mobile unit, to serve as the core of the Wild Card Game production. In addition, Sure Shot Teleproductions' KMHD production/uplink truck is on hand to serve three hours of Baseball Tonight and SportsCenter pregame coverage, which will begin from ESPN's on-field set (weather permitting) at 5 p.m. ET.
Baseball Tonight and SportCenter will be a hybrid REMI [remote integration] production, says Horrel. A lot of the production is being done onsite, but the show is ultimately being integrated with graphics and some tape rolls in Bristol. Cameras and most tape rolls will happen onsite from our Sure Shot truck onsite. They have done that at times during the season when Baseball Tonight was out on the road.
Upping the Camera Complement
ESPN's 34-camera complement will include four Sony HDC-4300 4K/high-speed cameras (two running at 360 fps, two at 240 fps), which were standard on Sunday Night Baseball shows this season, as well as an NAC/Ikegami Hi-Motion II unit added specifically for the Wild Card Game.
In addition to the pair of RF wireless handheld cameras deployed on all Sunday Night Baseball telecasts, ESPN has rolled out a M VI three-axis-gyro-stabilized camera to capture more of the ambiance in the stands in the Bronx.
It gives us a little more flexibility to get Steadicam-type work in the crowd, says Orlins, and make it a little easier in tight areas in the stands.
Also on hand for ESPN will be Dejero and TVU cellular-bonded-transmission backpack camera systems to capture action outside the ballpark.
K-Zone on Every Pitch: One Year in the Books
The Wild Card Game will mark the culmination of ESPN's inaugural campaign featuring the K-Zone graphic live on every pitch in every MLB telecast. Orlins says having K-Zone live for every pitch - a tactic that has generated no shortage of debate this year - has been a resounding success and notes that the system had technical issues in just one of the 90-plus games it was used.
[K-Zone] has gone about as I expected in that there were certainly some people that didn't embrace the change, but it has become much more accepted, says Orlins. I think it's become a signature for us and a huge differentiator. This is obviously the first time we get to roll it out during a playoff game, so that is a big step forward.
In addition, the network's 3D K-Zone graphic has evolved from a pitcher/batter wide shot using miniature Marshall POV cameras into a closer shot using a standard HD camera.
The 3D angle has been a little more complicated. Originally, we tried to frame the pitcher and batter and trace the entire flight of the ball, but we felt like the entire strike zone looked too small, says Orlins. So we have gone to more of a batter/catcher shot with a traditional camera rather than the tiny Marshall cameras. The shot was so wide that the strike zone itself looked tiny. But now you can see a great three-dimensional strike zone up close.
Mendoza Makes History in the Booth
ESPN's AL Wild Card telecast will feature a groundbreaking move in the booth: Jessica Mendoza will become the first female analyst to call a nationally televised MLB postseason game when she joins analyst John Kruk and play-by-play veteran Dan Shulman, the voice of Sunday Night Baseball. ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney will be reporting.
Baseball Tonight will air live from the host team's stadium from 5 to 6 p.m. and then again from 7 to 8 p.m., leading into the game. Host Karl Ravech will be joined by analysts Aaron Boone, Eduardo Perez, reporter Tim Kurkjian, and Tampa Bay Rays All-Star right-hander Chris Archer. SportsCenter, hosted by Lindsay Czarniak, will air live from Yankee Stadium from 6 to 7 p.m.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
With the postseason tiebreaker puzzle finally settled, ESPN is now homed in on producing its lone postseason telecast: the American League Wild Card Game tonight. For the second consecutive year, the Wild Card Game will serve as the cap to ESPN's MLB season, with three full hours of Astros-Yankees onsite pregame coverage from Yankee Stadium and the network's full arsenal of production tools at its disposal.
