ESPN Puts UmpCam, On-field RF Gimbals at All Four Venues for MLB Wild Card RoundWith ratings on the rise, the broadcaster faces a potential 12 postseason games in three daysBy Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Tuesday, September 30, 2025 - 10:25 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
ESPN rides into October on a baseball ratings surge (up 21% year-over-year), and now the stage gets even bigger.
The MLB Wild Card Series begins Tuesday, and with it comes four juicy matchups that put ESPN on deck to deliver as many as 12 games in just three days. ESPN is promising wall-to-wall coverage and rolling out high-end production enhancements, such as K-Zone enhanced UmpCams and on-field RF cameras, at each series.
An ESPN camera operator shoots a game at Dodger Stadium earlier this season. The Los Angeles Dodgers host the Cincinnati Reds in one of four MLB Wild Card series happening this week. (Photo: Scott Clarke/ESPN Images)
Having UmpCam with K-Zone enhanced available at all four sites gives our crews a storytelling tool that hasn't been seen in too many baseball broadcasts, says ESPN Lead Producer, Sunday Night Baseball, Andy Jacobson, who will sit at the front bench for the series between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. It's not just a novelty; it's a way to document the game in a way that helps fans understand it better.
ESPN introduced K-Zone on the UmpCam angle during a Sunday Night Baseball broadcast this month through a partnership with optical-tracking vendor Bolt6. Jacobson believes that enhancements like that and the on-field RF cameras shooting in shallow depth-of-field give the broadcast the big game feel to meet the moment.
That'll amp up the productions and make them look and feel big, he says.
Wall-to-Wall Coverage Poses a Scheduling ChallengeThe Wild Card Series has become a unique stretch on ESPN's baseball calendar. With games scheduled practically back-to-back from 1 p.m. through midnight ET, the network is deploying four separate crews to cover every pitch.
Tuesday's slate opens with Detroit Tigers-Cleveland Guardians at 1 p.m. on ESPN. San Diego Padres-Chicago Cubs follows at 3 p.m. on ABC, and Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees, naturally, is slotted in primetime at 6 p.m. from Yankee Stadium. Cincinnati Reds-Los Angeles Dodgers on the West Coast closes the night with 9 p.m. ET first pitch on ESPN.
That lineup repeats on Wednesday, with decisive Game 3's, if necessary, on Thursday. Baseball Tonight bookends coverage with live studio programming from the broadcaster's Bristol, CT, facility.
To produce four games a day in three time windows, ESPN is deploying three full onsite truck productions and a single REMI workflow: the game in Chicago is handled by a control room in Bristol. Jacobson and his team had to wait until the very last inning of the regular season to know exactly where they would be heading.
It feels like a cast of hundreds back at ESPN who are all diehard baseball fans, Jacobson says. To put these shows on less than 48 hours after the matchups locked in on Sunday is a herculean effort. We're super proud to be part of it.
Postseason Atmosphere, Elevated CoverageJacobson and his Sunday Night Baseball team will handle the series in the Bronx, which he considers a storyteller's dream. Although the classic rivalry ensures a wealth of storylines, he notes that this week is about more than matchups: it's about capturing the feel of October baseball and doing so with new perspectives.
The crowd's going to be phenomenal, he says. With UmpCam and the RF handhelds on the dirt, we're set up to document it in a way that feels fresh. For us, it's about sitting back, letting the atmosphere unfold, and making sure the technology helps bring fans even closer to it.
Here's ESPN's broadcast schedule heading into Tuesday:
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
30/09/2025
SVG All-Stars: Emily Colter, Producer, Postproduction, YES NetworkThe Fordham grad and Yankees fan is one of the New York RSN's vital talentsBy Brandon Cost...
30/09/2025
ESPN Puts UmpCam, On-field RF Gimbals at All Four Venues for MLB Wild Card RoundWith ratings on the rise, the broadcaster faces a potential 12 postseason games ...
30/09/2025
Prime Video To Open NBA Coverage With Interactive Broadcast Features1080p HDR streams will have live stats and betting overlays, shopping integration, and multi...
30/09/2025
Atlanta United Gains More Space for Productions, Creative Projects at New Emory ...
30/09/2025
LOS ANGELES, CA, September 30, 2025 - The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced...
30/09/2025
The following press release went live on Business Wire earlier today. You can al...
30/09/2025
Spotify and Merlin, the digital music licensing partner for the world's leading independents, today announced the renewal of their global, multiyear licensi...
30/09/2025
Earlier today, Founder & CEO Daniel Ek shared the following note with all Spotify employees. More detail can also be found in the press release here.
Team,
I...
30/09/2025
Johannesburg, South Africa, 29 September 2025: The National Film and Video Found...
30/09/2025
If IBC 2024 was a show with pace and purpose, IBC 2025 brought clarity. From the first visitor to the last meeting, conversations on our stand kept circling b...
30/09/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
30/09/2025
Blue Lucy's key takeaways from this year's show: Attendance at this year's IBC was apparently flat, and the numbers suggest market confidence is sti...
30/09/2025
Demystifying Control 2 What's in an Interface? Often at Apogee when we're talking about interfaces we're talking about the physical devices that br...
30/09/2025
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, announces that the company has initiated restructuring measures in Switzerland by filing for insolvency proceedings for...
30/09/2025
WASHINGTON The FCC today voted to seek public comment on whether to retain, modify, or eliminate several longstanding broadcast ownership regulations in light o...
30/09/2025
NEW YORK Actresses Drew Barrymore and Sheryl Lee Ralph and ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro are among the 15 broadcast, cable and streaming TV influencers, innovators...
30/09/2025
NEW YORK Dalet unveiled Dalia, the company's Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under a single, natural-language...
30/09/2025
WASHINGTON Amid a looming government shutdown, the Federal Communications Commission today is expected to vote to solicit public comment on updating TV and broa...
30/09/2025
Nominations for the 2025 annual Media and Entertainment: Best in Market Awards are now open. The awards are open to companies that launched a product/service or...
30/09/2025
Iconik Review, a set of enhanced review and approval features built into Iconik by Backlight, has been named a recipient of Future's Best of Show Award, pre...
30/09/2025
The SAG-AFTRA Foundation had a vision to bring its members together. That vision resulted in the Meryl Streep Center for Performing Artists. The Center they cre...
30/09/2025
Hiltron reports a high level of visitor interest in its wide range of satellite communication products, system integration skills and related services throughou...
30/09/2025
At SCTE TechExpo25, Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) and Mediacom Communications, the fifth-largest cable operator in the U.S., will showcase cutting-edge DOCSIS 4.0 tec...
30/09/2025
Ikegami reports a successful IBC 2025 show, held at its usual Amsterdam RAI location September 12-15. Making their IBC debut were the new UHL-X40 ultra-compact ...
30/09/2025
Two analysts from Needham Securities think Disney should move all of its TV content onto the Disney Hulu and ABC apps and shut down its broadcast operations, ci...
30/09/2025
NEW YORK Consumers of local broadcast news continue to deem it as a valuable source of information whether it's political races, local sports teams or weath...
30/09/2025
NEW YORK Locality has launched its Advanced Audience Engine, a proprietary identity and activation engine that redefines how advertisers engage local audiences....
30/09/2025
PHILADELPHIA Comcast Corp. today announced that Michael J. Cavanagh has been named co-CEO of the company, effective January 2026. He will serve alongside Brian ...
30/09/2025
BRANSON, Mo. Link Electronics has unveiled the Gemini Dual Caption Encoder, a next-generation captioning solution for broadcasters and institutions....
30/09/2025
Amplify Berklee 2025 Celebrates the Next Generation of Berklee City Music's ...
30/09/2025
September 30th, 2025
Tribeca Expands Fall Slate of Membership Events with New Additions
Advance Screenings of Harlan Cobens Lazarus and Lost and Found in...
30/09/2025
Tuesday 30 September 2025
This weekend was the most watched in Sky Sports history as 8.8 million viewers tuned in to an unmissable line-up of live entertainmen...
30/09/2025
Back to All News
Countdown Begins for the First Cross-Border Physical Showdown:...
30/09/2025
Back to All News
Introducing Netflix Creators Dojo in Japan to Support Talent Development
Entertainment
30 September 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to clip...
30/09/2025
Back to All News
Mystery Romance Series Had I Not Seen The Sun' Drops in T...
30/09/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Releases the Electrifying Trailer for Rulers of Fortun...
30/09/2025
Back to All News
Target Heads to Hawkins: Retailer Reveals Plans to Be Ultimate...
30/09/2025
LinkedIn Celebrates National AI in Work Day to Help Professionals Find Their Edge Published on Sep 30, 2025 Categories: Data and insights, Featured News
Li...
30/09/2025
FOX Sports Partners with Tubi to Stream 2025 NFL Thanksgiving Day Game: Green Ba...
30/09/2025
Editor's note: This blog is a part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused o...
29/09/2025
Live From the Ryder Cup: NBC Sports Tackles New World-Feed Philosophy as ST 2110...
29/09/2025
Paramount Announces Landmark Media Rights Agreement With Zuffa BoxingBy SVG Staff
Monday, September 29, 2025 - 10:04 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story...
29/09/2025
Creation and cooperation: World Rugby on looking ahead to increase diversity beh...
29/09/2025
ROOT Sports Bids Farewell After Broadcasting Seattle Mariners' Regular Seaso...
29/09/2025
Live From Dublin: Vikings-Steelers NFL Dublin Game Kicks Off 2025 Europe SlateAiring on NFL Network, the show was produced by FOX SportsBy Fergal Ringrose, SVG ...
29/09/2025
The Canon C50 delivers powerful cinema performance in a compact form factor. At Zacuto, we've designed a new line of Canon C50 accessories that give you fle...
29/09/2025
The Consumer Technology Association told the Federal Communications Commission last week that it believes the current Emergency Alert System is highly effective...
ESPN Puts UmpCam, On-field RF Gimbals at All Four Venues for MLB Wild Card RoundWith ratings on the rise, the broadcaster faces a potential 12 postseason games in three daysBy Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
