Fox Sports Saturday night for Game 1 of the NLCS will debut its alternate, sabermetrics-inspired broadcast of the game on FS1, borrowing from its new online baseball blog, "Just a Bit Outside." The coverage will air parallel to the traditional game broadcast of Giants-Cardinals on Fox, and feature real-time analysis of the game, emphasizing statistics, graphics and open debate. Host Kevin Burkhardt will join analysts Gabe Kapler and C.J. Nitkowski, wtiter Rob Neyer and Padres manager Bud Black (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer).
Fox Sports Exec Producer John Entz said, "If we're doing our job right you will see every pitch, you just won't see it in the traditional ways" Although Entz "acknowledges this telecast appeals to a select audience," he said that it "could be a precursor to the way mainstream baseball telecasts eventually look" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 10/10).
Meanwhile, Coldplay will provide the musical soundtrack for Fox Sports' NLCS coverage (Fox).
Game 1 of the Royals-Orioles ALCS set for 8:07pm ET tonight at Camden Yards "might not actually be played" as "weather outlets are reporting that rain is very likely throughout the night, possibly heavy rain that would cause a stop in play" (CBSSPORTS.com, 10/10). NEWSDAY's Erik Boland tweeted around 1:30pm, "Just started drizzling in Baltimore. Chance of rain for 8:07 pm first pitch 50% and goes up from there. Game 1 definitely looking iffy" (TWITTER.com, 10/10).
