After debuting Statcast-themed broadcasts in 2018 to wide acclaim, ESPN is going back to the well in this shortened MLB season.
On Tuesday, the network announced that a pair of August Sunday Night Baseball games would have the alternate Statcast-focused broadcast on ESPN2. As in the past, the Statcast feed will be called by the trio of Jason Benetti, Eduardo Perez, and Mike Petriello.
The two games getting the Statcast treatment will be the August 16th Red Sox-Yankees matchup and the August 30th Braves-Phillies contest.
If you’re a fan of the regular Sunday Night Baseball broadcast featuring Matt Vasgersian and Alex Rodriguez, you can still watch the games on ESPN with those two on the call.
The Statcast broadcasts are generally more fun and loose, though it remains to be seen how well that will translate with the games being called remotely. While the advanced stats and data from Statcast are all over the broadcast, they’re explained quite well in an easily digestible manner. The trio works well together (and our readers seemed to agree, given their placement at the top of the 2018 MLB Postseason broadcaster rankings), and while the Statcast broadcasts might lose their luster on a weekly basis, they’re just what the doctor ordered a few times a year.
[ESPN]
About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.