I have watched quite a bit of baseball in the past few days. Playoff baseball is always exciting and I enjoy watching the games.
My wife has a hard time watching these games with me because while I am watching the game, I am also noticing the telecast.
“That was great.”
“I can’t believe they missed a pitch.”
“Nice.”
“Did you see that?”
There have been some beautifully cut moments in the telecasts and some of the shows have had a nice flow to them. I have seen some excellent replay sequences, but, there have been too many rote sequences for my taste. Centerfield for the pitch, tight centerfield for the swing, dissolve to the high home camera for the play. I just saw the exact same thing in the live cut only in slow motion. Mix it up!
With the equipment allotted to the crew in the playoffs, more “chances” should be taken.
I think the best thing about the replays in these playoff telecasts has been the use of real time replays. When the crowd is going nuts, these replays capture the excitement and the moment as good as they can be captured.
The importance of the games and the atmosphere of the ballparks create a situation where a Director can get fired up and over cut.
In one of the series, I prayed that no runner would reach base because the Director was scared to death whenever there was a runner on first. The high third base camera was continually taken showing the pitcher in the stretch and the runner leading off first base. The pitcher would throw home and by the time the Director took the centerfield camera the ball was at home plate. In fact, once, the runner did attempt to steal and the Director cut to high home camera for the throw to second base BEFORE the ball reached home. In essence, a pitch was missed. If, in this situation, the runner attempts a steal and the Director does not show the “jump” live, well, that camera is most certainly in a tape machine.
What made this situation more maddening was the fact that the Director kept showing the pitcher/runner from the high third base camera even when there wasn’t a steal situation and/or the runner at first was NO threat to steal. WITH TWO OUTS AND THE PITCHER AT THE PLATE, THE RUNNER IS NOT GOING TO STEAL.
Know the situation. Know the game.
The Director for one of the other series certainly knows the game and cut terrifically in certain situations. When the game came to a pivotal moment, this Director delivered with crisp shots at a great pace. The Director mixed in shots of the two teams in an equal fashion with telling tight shots. These memorable shots were effectively cut at a pace that captured the moment and heightened the excitement. The immediacy of the replays and the quality of the replay sequences contributed to the success of this telecast.
I enjoyed this Director’s cut even in “down” situations where the action slowed a bit. The Director continually worked hard and the cut had a purpose with a nice smooth flow to it.
I look forward to viewing more of this Director’s work.
I also look forward to watching more playoff baseball.
Unfortunately, my wife will not watch with me.

Yesterday was our final telecast of the season.
This telecast was an important one in that the team we cover could clinch the Division title with a win or a loss by the second place club. The second place team’s game started an hour earlier than our game. Because of this, our first segment of the game Open was live. Out of the Open animation we showed some tight faces of the home team during batting practice as they prepared for the game. Then, before we went on camera, we displayed the score of the second place team’s game.
A second theme established in the Open was the fact that a rookie pitcher was hurling for the home club in this ever important game.
During our telecast, we constantly updated the other game with a lower 1/3 graphic. (Lower 1/3 means that the graphic takes up the lower 1/3 of the screen)
The rookie starting pitcher did not make it out of the first inning and visitors led 4 – 0. This made the other game all the more important.
We were in the sixth inning of our telecast when the second place team lost their game, thus, the team we cover was the Division champion.
We still had three innings to televise, but the focus in the truck turned to the coverage of the post-game celebration in the clubhouse.
Permission was already granted for our feed to be the exclusive television feed for the first 15 minutes of the celebration. We teased the celebration with a shot of the clubhouse in the top of the ninth inning as the clubhouse personnel prepared the room.
Our TV production crew has had experience with post-game celebrations as the team we cover has been in the post-season 7 times in the past 11 years and 6 of the past 7 seasons.
Covering a locker room celebration never gets old.
Covering the celebration of a championship team is as good as live TV gets.
It is interesting to note that before each interview, our announcer said to the guest, “We are live on (station call letters and channel number). One of the players answered, “Thanks for letting me know this is live. I am pretty excited and I’ll be careful with what I say.”
After 30 minutes of celebration, our production team signed off on our 153rd and final telecast of the season.
Through 153 Open segments, 153 telecasts with no two the same, pre-tapes, rain delays and extra innings, airplanes, hotels, cabs, subways, dual feeds, different crews with different skill levels….through all of this….our team delivered with excellent baseball coverage.
During the spraying of the Champagne and the dousing of the beer in the clubhouse, I looked at the Producer, my partner on the telecasts and a good friend, and I said, “Just think, Spring Training is just around the corner.”
If looks could kill….