MLB Postseason 2024: ESPN Begins Wild Card Sprint Early With Monday's Mets-Braves Doubleheader in Atlanta Hurricane Helene adds two games to stretch of 12 potential broadcasts in four days By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor
Tuesday, October 1, 2024 - 2:29 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
The Major League Baseball Wild Card seems to become crazier every season, but this year's edition is definitely the most chaotic. ESPN will produce a guaranteed total of eight games in two days, and that could stretch to 12 in three days if all four series go to a winner-take-all Game 3. And, as if those responsibilities weren't enough, there was a playoff-impacting doubleheader on Monday between the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves, thanks to last week's postponements due to Hurricane Helene.
There were many scenarios that we considered, says Paul Horrell, operations manager, remote production, ESPN, but, by Friday night at around 6 p.m. ET, the two games on Monday materialized. When we pulled the trigger [on this plan], we put an ops team together, secured a mobile unit that arrived on Sunday, and got everything set up on Monday morning before the two games.
Punched Tickets: Last-Minute Doubleheader Relies on Dome Spring, Atlanta-Based Crew When the MLB season begins, many people see the day following the conclusion of the regular season as a time to get ready for the excitement of the playoffs. Mother nature - plus a three-way tie between the Braves, Mets, and Arizona Diamondbacks - spurred other plans in 2024.
Unforeseen circumstances forced a doubleheader with multiple possible outcomes. The winner of Game 1 would automatically earn a postseason berth, and the loser would need to win Game 2 to snag the final Wild Card spot. To sneak into the dance, the idle DBacks needed the Game 1 winner to sweep both games. In one of the best games of the 2024 campaign, the Metropolitans won a back-and-forth contest in Game 1 to clinch the No. 6 seed and face the No. 3 Milwaukee Brewers in Wisconsin. The Braves won their matchup to clinch the No. 5 seed and square off against the No. 4 San Diego Padres in California, denying the defending National League Champions a playoff appearance.
NEP ND6 traveled from Notre Dame Stadium to Oriole Park at Camden Yards for the Kansas City Royals-Baltimore Orioles series.
Before a pitch was thrown, the most complex aspect of this show-and-go production was ESPN's getting everything in order operationally. This included finding a separate crew, with a majority coming from Atlanta since most regular MLB on ESPN staffers were preparing for Tuesday's start to the Wild Card round. To execute the production, the network opted for a REMI (remote-integration) model that leveraged the enhanced-world-feed model deployed during the COVID-19-impacted season in 2020.
We took the clean feed and a handful of isos from Bally Sports South's home mobile unit, which was Mobile TV Group's 35HDX, Horrell explains. We also added three of our hard cameras, including high first, high third, and centerfield.
One control room in Bristol, CT, was used for this one-off regular-season finale, and Dome Productions Spring mobile unit onsite sent the video feeds to the offsite crew. The truck was available after producing ESPN's college-football coverage between Florida State vs. SMU in Dallas on Saturday afternoon and making the nearly 12-hour drive to the capital of Georgia. Also onsite was the Sunday Night Baseball booth, housing Karl Ravech, Eduardo Perez, and David Cone. After the doubleheader, the on-air crew followed the Braves to San Diego to meet their colleagues.
Clearer Picture: Confirmed Sites Allow Crew To Create Tech, Production Roadmap With all eight seeds locked up and the regular season in the rearview mirror, attention shifts to the Wild Card. Luckily, unlike in previous years, the four stadiums - Houston's Minute Maid Park, Baltimore's Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Milwaukee's American Family Field, and San Diego's Petco Park - hosting a maximum three games each were determined before the season's final weekend. This not only gave the team more time to focus on the workflows and production elements to implement in the Wild Card effort but also made Monday's doubleheader less stressful to handle.
We were trying to strategically come up with a plan throughout the week, notes Horrell. When the host sites were unknown, we considered placing a truck halfway between two cities and take a crew. MLB's new playoff format is a bit more broadcast-friendly, but it was nice having one of the leagues locked up before we headed into last weekend.
The most difficult task for Horrell and his operations team is coordinating the sites' specific mobile units. Two mobile units coming from NEP Group's Field Shop in Pittsburgh - Alpha and NCP11 - are ready to go in Houston and Milwaukee, respectively. NCP11, used throughout the SNB season, was also in Milwaukee for last year's Wild Card featuring the Brewers and Diamondbacks. The other two trucks are coming off productions from last weekend: NEP ND6 headed to Baltimore from Saturday's college-football matchup between No. 22 Louisville and No. 14 Notre Dame in South Bend, IN, and NEP EN3 stayed on the West Coast to assist the series in San Diego.
The audio section of the ND6 mobile unit
On the broadcast-technology side, ESPN will augment broadcasts with various specialty cameras. A MindFly AI BodyCam, which debuted at the 2024 NCAA Men's College World Series, will be deployed in Houston. UmpCam will make its return in Milwaukee, Baltimore, and San Diego. And DEFY WireCam - a workflow used during the regular season at numerous MLB venues - will be tapped in Baltimore, Houston, and San Diego.
On the talent side, the network is deployin
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
12/05/2026
Beyond the Hype: A Strategic Post-Hoc Analysis of NAB 2026 If NAB Show 2026 had an underlying theme, it was a quiet, industry-wide pivot from the high-energy sp...
12/05/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D), a Panoptec Technologies Group company, and CT Square, led by Chandresh Shah, have announced a joint venture to distribute G&D and V...
12/05/2026
With 30 days until the start of the FIFA World Cup 2026, Telemundo, the exclusive Spanish-language home of the tournament in the United States, has announced th...
12/05/2026
The NHL has announced the return of Stanley Pup for its third consecutive year, a 90-minute special featuring adoptable rescue dogs competing on a miniature rin...
12/05/2026
NBCUniversal presented its 2026 Upfront to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall, detailing upcoming programming across NBC, Peacock, Bravo, and Versant properti...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced funding for the Fandom and Social Connection Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Publ...
12/05/2026
TNDV and Live Media, both divisions of Live Media Group, supported live broadcast coverage around NCAA Final Four weekend in Indianapolis, including the March M...
12/05/2026
The European Football Alliance (EFA) has announced a content distribution agreement with Fubo Sports Network, the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel ...
12/05/2026
For the first time, Spanish-speaking fans in the U.S. will have two separate tel...
12/05/2026
CP Communications led a comprehensive spectrum management initiative on behalf of Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week, coordinating RF assets across the ...
12/05/2026
LiveU has announced a strategic partnership with DRONERESPONDERS, a 501(c)3 non-...
12/05/2026
Open Broadcast Systems has announced that BMC TV, a specialist in IP transport of broadcast content, has selected the Open Broadcast Systems 5G Flyaway solution...
12/05/2026
NEP Europe, part of NEP Group, has announced it will deliver broadcast solutions...
12/05/2026
Grass Valley has announced continued collaboration with Ravensbourne University ...
12/05/2026
Stats Perform has announced the launch of Opta Pulse, an AI-assisted video creation and distribution platform for leagues, rights holders, and broadcasters. The...
12/05/2026
FOX Sports has announced a collaboration with Sesame Workshop to integrate Sesame Street characters into FOX Sports' FIFA World Cup 2026 programming. Conten...
12/05/2026
To date, NHL Productions has produced 19 broadcasts with commentary in American Sign Language
NHL in ASL (American Sign Language) may be just one show, but the...
12/05/2026
Google's Brian Albert: creators, athletes, highlights, nostalgia, second-scr...
12/05/2026
A still from Past Lives by Celine Song, an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute | p...
12/05/2026
Spotify is where fans and artists come together, turning discovery into somethin...
12/05/2026
Features patented Marco-MMC clocking technology
Black Lion Audio's latest release combines the company's expertise in clocking with their renowned p...
12/05/2026
New Track Panel, sequencer upgrades & more
Following their recent public beta release, Reason Studios have announced the full release of Reason 14. With the...
12/05/2026
One month to go! SBS reveals expansive FIFA World Cup 2026 lineup beyond the pi...
12/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz presents its advanced solutions for power electronics testing at...
12/05/2026
aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, has developed a modified fund raising p...
12/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/05/2026
Tyrell Corporation, specialists in high-end live sports and entertainment broadcasts, was tasked with delivering compelling broadcast coverage of premier equest...
12/05/2026
Registration is now open for IBC2026 as the global media, entertainment and technology community prepares to converge on the RAI Amsterdam from 11 14 September ...
12/05/2026
Ross Video, a global leader in live video production technology, will present its latest innovations and integrated production workflows at BroadcastAsia 2026, ...
12/05/2026
500 selected leaders from around the world across start-ups, corporates, and venture capital. Over 50bn in assets under management among attending investors, a...
12/05/2026
CVP, one of Europe's leading suppliers of professional video and broadcast solutions, has appointed Randy Koeman as Sales Manager, Netherlands, marking anot...
12/05/2026
Taiwan Television has expanded its HD content ingest workflow capabilities by investing in the PlayBox Neo Suite - a leading multi-channel multi-server UHD/HD/S...
12/05/2026
Jigsaw24 is strengthening its media team with the appointment of Tom Laker as Client Director and Ashish Chauhan as Project Manager. These strategic hires bring...
12/05/2026
Broadcast playout leader showcases hybrid IP infrastructure and workflow automation with Videoland deployment as regional benchmark...
12/05/2026
dzjinius, the all-in-one production management platform for the media and entertainment industry, will showcase its centralised approach to production workflows...
12/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/05/2026
NUGEN Audio will debut Version 1.1 of DialogCheck, its intelligent dialog intelligibility and compliance tool, at the 2026 Media Production & Technology Show (S...
12/05/2026
The reactive visuals can adapt to any stage or screen setup and comprise 50 layers of Notch content
Today, Disguise announced that its high performance GX 3 m...
12/05/2026
Snapgrid , Snapbag & Airglow Expand Creative Control for the ARRI Modular LED BarFollowing the launch of the ARRI Omnibar, DoPchoice introduces a dedicated li...
12/05/2026
May 12th, 2026 Press Materials Available Here
TRIBECA FESTIVAL UNVEILS 2026 GAMES PROGRAM
Tribeca Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary With World Premieres and Pl...
12/05/2026
May 12th, 2026 Press Materials Available Here
MADONNA BRINGS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF CONFESSIONS II TO 2026 TRIBECA FESTIVAL
The Global Icon Will Unveil a Cine...
12/05/2026
Customer demand for data continues to grow in the first quarter of 2026 at Magya...
MLB Postseason 2024: ESPN Begins Wild Card Sprint Early With Monday's Mets-Braves Doubleheader in Atlanta Hurricane Helene adds two games to stretch of 12 potential broadcasts in four days By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor 
