MLB Postseason 2021: MLB Network Excited to Be Back on Site for ALDS By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Thursday, October 7, 2021 - 1:02 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
It's playoff time for Major League Baseball and for MLB Network it's a chance to build great studio content around all of the action, hit the road for the World Series, and this week broadcast two games: the Chicago White Sox vs the Houston Astros in Houston on Friday night and the Tampa Bay Rays against vs the Boston Red Sox in Boston on Sunday afternoon.
MLB Tonight is already into full post-season mode and this weekend the network will broadcast two ALDS games.
These two games are our Super Bowl, says Chris Pfeiffer, MLB Network, senior coordinating producer, Live Events. They're a little bit different than a regular season game in June as every pitch means something and it's a different level. And it's more about what's happening on the field and making sure you document everything. That's what's most important and we take a lot of pride in that.
Jason Hedgcock, MLB Network, senior director, remote technical operations, says that the same production facility levels will be deployed in both Houston and Boston. Game Creek Video's Webby and Edit 3 trucks will be at Minute Maid Park in Houston while NEP's EN2 will be at Fenway Park.
We have different mobile unit vendors, but we are still partnering with Fox, so our camera complements are the same, says Hedgcock. In terms of specialty stuff, we're going to have two Phantom cameras in the low camera wells, and we will have a Megaladon to get great shots.
Adds Pfeiffer: Everything will be on site with the exception of our graphics operations like Viz and the score bug which will be done out of Secaucus.
MLB Network will have to compromise a bit on camera positions as fans are fully back in the stands. But Pfeiffer says there will be plenty of other bells and whistles.
There were a lot of really interesting things from a broadcast perspective that we were able to do last year without the fans in the stands, says Pfeiffer. And particularly in the first round of the Division Series we had camera angles that we don't have now interesting technology. So, there's a little bit of a walk back in terms of technology, but then there's also increased dependence on additional Statcast resources like 3D pitch and studio-based graphical elements which we're trying to fully integrate with our roadshows. Thankfully in August we were back on the road and able to come up with good workflows for the postseason.
Tom Guidice, MLB Network, VP, Remote Operations, says that there won't be an on-site studio show for the two Division Series games but that will change once the World Series starts at the end of the month.
We'll be on site with our large presence, on-the-field set and wall-to-wall coverage throughout the day from the field, he says. For the other games we will be on site with reporters for hits throughout the day with Ballpark Cam.
The lack of fans last year allowed all sports to experiment with new camera angles and now, as fans come back, the technology providers behind innovations like the Speed Cam that was a camera dolly on top of the dugout that could hit speeds of 25 mph are trying to figure out how to decrease the footprint so it can be part of the broadcast even with fans in the stands.
We are looking at how do we make that camera smaller, says Pfeiffer. Maybe in the future that camera is on the front lip of the dugout. It was just a cool angle that we always wanted to try, and we were able to do it last year.
The playoffs this year cap off another year that required maximum flexibility as world feed productions ruled early on and the MLB Network team was not back on site until the All-Star Game.
It makes a difference to be on site and we're all heading off to Houston and Boston, so we're excited about it, says Guidice.
The excitement also includes an original show open for the playoff games, something that has become a tradition over the years.
Normally we try to do some kind of nice open for our playoff games and get pretty creative with it, says Pfeiffer. And this year we were talking about comparing, the post-season, our biggest stage, biggest stage, to Broadway. So, we have some Broadway performers and even one of the music directors from Hamilton involved. It will be a cool comparison of the big stage and something you will see on Friday.
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...
07/08/2025
July 8 2025, 22:30 (PDT) Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, R...
12/07/2025
As the death toll continues to mount, with at least 120 killed and more than 170 people still missing on July 10 from devastating Texas floods, a number of broa...
12/07/2025
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., and MIAMI -DirecTV and TelevisaUnivision have signed a deal that will make the ad-supported premium subscription tier of ViX, ViX Premium wi...
11/07/2025
PARK CITY, UTAH, July 11, 2025 - The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the 11 producers chosen for its annual Producers Labs, returning to Ucross Fou...
11/07/2025
If you've ever wondered what might be playing in Clark Kent's headphones...
11/07/2025
L3Harris Technologies President of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Jason Lambert and General Manager of L3Harris Waco facility Sean Ling held a ce...
11/07/2025
ARLINGTON, Va. WETA, the flagship public media station in the national capital area, has launched WETA+, a new streaming service tailored for the local Washingt...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission has emerged as one of the central players in the broadcast TV landscape in 2025, with its deregulatory policies sparking h...
11/07/2025
Calrec will introduce usability, customization and system enhancements across its entire range of Argo consoles during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Amsterda...
11/07/2025
LONDON Encompass Digital Media said it will support live and on-demand viewing of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup across multiple global regions for sports enterta...
11/07/2025
Two-thirds of broadcast engineers reaped the benefits of a pay raise within the last year....
11/07/2025
CARY, N.C. SmallHD has launched the Quantum 27, a new 26.5-inch Quantum-Dot OLED monitor designed to deliver postproduction image quality in a compact, set-frie...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau and Tegna have entered into a consent decree that will settle an investigation into the accidenta...
11/07/2025
WASHINGTON Following news in early July that Paramount had settled President Donald Trump's lawsuit, Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Ben Ray Luj n (D-N...
11/07/2025
Model/Actriz Performs Lead Single Cinderella on The Late Show with Stephen Colbe...
11/07/2025
Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks ...
11/07/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Client...
11/07/2025
2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transit...
11/07/2025
A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP Leaders from the HuskerVision and Lawo share their IP learnings By SVG Staff
Friday, July 1...
11/07/2025
CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimble...
11/07/2025
Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-...
11/07/2025
Back to All News
Too Hot to Handle: Italy Is Coming on July 18 Only on Netflix
Entertainment
11 July 2025
GlobalItaly
Link copied to clipboard
July 11, 20...
11/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Will Release Death Inc. Seasons 1, 2 and 3
Entertainment
11 July 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Season 1
Season 2
Se...
11/07/2025
AI and Multimedia Authenticity Standards Collaboration launches two papers to guide the future of AI integration, today at the AI for Good Global Summit
The...
11/07/2025
Ceramics - the humble mix of earth, fire and artistry - have been part of a global conversation for millennia.
From Tang Dynasty trade routes to Renaissance pa...
10/07/2025
The current holder of the prestigious Thomson Foundation Young Journalist of the Year Award has been forced to stop reporting over fears for her safety in Afgha...
10/07/2025
Spotify is turning up the volume on Australian music with a multipronged initiative designed to highlight the dominance of Australian artists on the global stag...
10/07/2025
This is not a drill: Oasis is back on the road-marking its first live performanc...
10/07/2025
The music industry depends on fresh ideas, bold voices, and emerging talent. Yet across the U.K., too many young musicians lack the space to develop their craft...
10/07/2025
NEW YORK - July 10, 2025 - Nielsen, the global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, today announced that it appointed Richard Pacheco as head of ...
10/07/2025
Local newscasts don't exist in a vacuum. News directors and station management constantly evaluate what's working, what isn't and perhaps most impor...
10/07/2025
Lawo has announced that Stuttgart Media University (Hochschule der Medien, HdM) has comprehensively modernized its central recording studio after selecting an I...
10/07/2025
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has opened early-bird registration for the Media Technology Summit, which will take place in a ne...
10/07/2025
NASHVILLE, Tenn. TNDV Television has launched Aspiration 35, a new version of its 40-foot Aspiration truck reimagined for cinematic multicamera productions....
10/07/2025
BURBANK, Calif. Key Code Education, a provider of instructor-led postproduction training, is growing its curriculum with new programs for beginner and intermedi...
10/07/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. Actus Digital will demonstrate how broadcasters can transform compliance monitoring from a necessary expense into a strategic revenue driver at...
10/07/2025
The Federal Register has published a summary of the Federal Communications Commission's Public Notice seeking comments on its ownership rules that lists a d...
10/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Presents the Official Trailer for SuperestarPlay Video
Play Video
Entertainment
10 July 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard...
10/07/2025
In the race to understand our planet's changing climate, speed and accuracy are everything. But today's most widely used climate simulators often strugg...
10/07/2025
As one of the world's largest emerging markets, Indonesia is making strides toward its Golden 2045 Vision - an initiative tapping digital technologies and...
10/07/2025
10 Jul 2025
VEON and Cohen Circle Secure Investor Commitments for Kyivstar Listing Kyiv, New York, Dubai, and Philadelphia - July 10, 2025 - VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq:...
10/07/2025
5G for all? What the DFL's use of Easy5G and RefCam could mean for events in...
10/07/2025
Save the Date: PGA TOUR Studios Welcomes SVG Remote Production Summit on Oct 14-...
10/07/2025
Cloud on the Road: How Remote-Production-Service Providers Are Adapting to a New...
10/07/2025
Seattle Kraken's Ryan Schaber on the NHL Team Taking Live Game Productions I...
10/07/2025
FOX Sports Reboots Small Control Room in Los Angeles as Hub for Vertical-First P...
10/07/2025
SVG Sit-Down: MSE's Zach Leonsis, ViewLift's Rick Allen Go Deep on Joint...
MLB Postseason 2021: MLB Network Excited to Be Back on Site for ALDS By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
