Normally Fox sends its World Series coverage press release during the day, but it came into the Fang’s Bites inbox just shortly before 9 p.m. ET. Not that I’m complaining, I always like posting fresh content at night.
Anyway, for the 14th straight year, Fox will air Major League Baseball’s Fall Classic. This year, the Boston Red Sox, champions of the American League take on the St. Louis Cardinals, the champions of the National League.
Joe Buck, who has lived most of his life in St. Louis and Tim McCarver who played for the Cardinals and the Red Sox in his career, will be in the broadcast booth at Fenway Park in Boston and Busch Stadium in the Gateway City. They’ll be joined at field level by Erin Andrews and Fox Sports MLB insider Ken Rosenthal.
Fox will utilize MLB Network’s Matt Vasgersian and Harold Reynolds for the World Series pregame show which will originate from both Boston and St. Louis. Jimmy Rollins and AJ Pierzynski will join the Fox pregame which will air at 7:30 p.m. each night.
Fox Sports 1 will have its own pregame show, a half-hour before the Fox half-hour pregame, preceding Games 1 and 2 and then again if necessary for Games 5 through 7.
Here’s the Fox press release. Read it at your leisure.
NO ONE COVERS THE WORLD SERIES LIKE FOX SPORTS
Special Edition of FOX SPORTS LIVE on FOX Sports 1 Precedes Network Coverage
Buck, McCarver, Rosenthal & Andrews Call FOX Sports’ 16th Fall Classic
FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports Midwest, FOX Deportes and FOXSports.com Offer Extensive AnalysisNew York – FOX Sports’ exclusive coverage of Major League Baseball’s 109th World Series begins Wednesday, Oct. 23, with Game 1 between the American League Champion Boston Red Sox and the National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals live from Fenway Park in Boston.
Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, MLB on FOX’s Emmy Award-winning broadcast team, call their record 16th and final World Series together. Each broadcaster also sets individual benchmarks in World Series broadcasting with Buck calling the most Fall Classics by a play-by-play announcer and McCarver with his record-setting achievement of 24World Series behind the microphone. Reporters Ken Rosenthal, who works his eighth World Series for FOX, and Erin Andrews, who works her second, are stationed in each team’s dugout for in-game reports and postgame interviews. This year marks the network’s 18th straight as the television home for postseason baseball, and the 2013 Fall Classic will be FOX’s 14th consecutive and 16th overall.
World Series Champion catcher AJ Pierzynski, who joins FOX Sports postseason coverage for a third straight year, teams with Matt Vasgersian, Harold Reynolds and Jimmy Rollins for every World Series pregame (7:30 PM ET) and postgame show on FOX, live from each game site.
FOX Sports 1, America’s new national multi-sport channel, presents a special World Series edition of FOX SPORTS LIVE prior to weekday game coverage (Games 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7). Anchor Ryan Field, Pierzynski and Rollins offer special reports and up to the minute news from Fenway Park and Busch Stadium beginning at 7:00 PM ET. Following postgame coverage on FOX, Pierzynski and Rollins join Field live from the ballpark on FOX SPORTS LIVE with Gabe Kapler and Eric Karros offering more analysis from the FOX Sports 1 studios in Los Angeles.
Jon Paul Morosi teams with Rosenthal and Andrews to provide postgame interviews for FOX SPORTS LIVE and FOXSports.com. In addition, FOX Sports Midwest, the local home of Cardinals telecasts, also offers extensive coverage throughout the World Series including the CARDINALS LIVE postgame show.
As part of World Series coverage on FOX Sports Digital platforms, Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon McCarthy participates in live interactive chats on FOXSports.com and Kapler hosts weekly FOX Sports Facebook Q&As with fans. Rosenthal and Morosi provide on-site analysis and features.
Reaching more than 20 million cable and satellite households in the country, FOX Deportes has all the bases covered for the 2013 World Series. Pablo Ansina and José Tolentino call the game action while John Laguna hosts studio coverage from Los Angeles. FOX Deportes hosts a special pregame show prior to World Series coverage, showcasing Boston and St. Louis’ landmarks, culture and food and featuring special guests each night.
FOX Sports and Pearl Jam partner to for the soundtrack of this year’s World Series. The deal includes all 12 tracks from the recently released “Lightning Bolt,” plus 36 songs from the band’s catalog to be used during opening teases, commercial bumpers and montages, as well as additional promotional inventory across FOX Sports, FOX Broadcasting Company and its cable networks.
FOX Sports pulls out all the stops to bring the fans closer to the Fall Classic. Below is a sampling of the technical innovations FOX’s Emmy Award-winning production team has at their disposal:
FOX SPORTS WORLD SERIES TECHNOLOGY
CAMERAS: FOX employs 28 high-definition cameras to cover the World Series, including traditional long-lens, handheld, wireless and robotic, plus several special cameras:
- Diamond Cam: Sits 3mm off the ground on the grass fringe looking back at the catcher. This camera caught Red Sox catcher David Ross collide with Tigers catcher Alex Avila during Game 5 of this year’s ALCS.
- FOX Phantom Cam: The high-speed camera that averages 2,500 frames per second, it famously captured San Francisco Giants batter Hunter Pence’s “three-hit” swing in Game 7 of the 2012 NLCS. The slowed-down video showed Pence’s cracked bat strike the ball three times en route to a three-run double. FOX Sports features two “Phantom Cams” located at low first and low third.
- X-Mo: Also known as “hypermotion” cameras, X-Mo cameras shoot up to 300 frames-per second and are located at mid-first, mid-third and tight/tight center.
MICROPHONES: Approximately 200 microphones have been mounted in each ballpark to capture sounds on the bases, in the outfield, dugouts, along walls and the crowd. MLB has allowed FOX Sports to mike the umpires for the networks signature “Sounds of the Game” feature which caught Red Sox starting pitcher Jon Lester explain to umpire crew chief Joe West that he was not trying to “show him up” after expressing emotion for not getting a strike called in the second inning of ALCS Game 1.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- FOX HR Tracker: Calculates how long a ball travels
- Hit Speed: Calculates the speed of a ball after it’s left the bat
- Stro-motion Graphic: Technology enabling viewers to see the path of the ball leaving the pitcher’s hand. During the 2013 ALCS, “Stro-motion” was used to exemplify the arc (from top to bottom) of Red Sox pitcher John Lackey’s breaking pitches
MOBILE PRODUCTION UNITS: FOX Sports employs four mobile units that house the latest HD equipment. These mobile units are FOX’s primary rolling production facilities and have been used to broadcast Major League Baseball All-Star Games, MLB postseason, the Daytona 500 and the Super Bowl. The production truck features 78 channels of replay and a large post production unit with multiple edits and editors cutting together story lines for both pregame and game coverage.
AUDIO: Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound
109th WORLD SERIES ON FOX BROADCAST SCHEDULE
ALL TIMES EASTERNWednesday, October 23 — GAME 1: Fenway Park, Boston, 7:00 PM FS1 – 7:30 PM FOX/DEPORTES
Thursday, October 24 — GAME 2: Fenway Park, Boston, 7:00 PM FS1 – 7:30 PM FOX/DEPORTES
Saturday, October 26 — GAME 3: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, 7:30 PM FOX/DEPORTES
Sunday, October 27 — GAME 4: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, 7:30 PM FOX/DEPORTES
*Monday, October 28 — GAME 5: Busch Stadium, St. Louis, 7:00 PM FS1 – 7:30 PM FOX/DEPORTES
*Wednesday, October 30 — GAME 6: Fenway Park, Boston, 7:00 PM FS1 – 7:30 PM FOX/DEPORTES
*Thursday, October 31 — GAME 7: Fenway Park, Boston, 7:00 PM FS1/7:30 PM FOX/DEPORTES
The entire enchilada gets underway on Wednesday.
