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MLB: Fox to offer alternate ‘analytics-driven’ NLCS broadcast

By Ed Carroll

Oct 18, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak (second from left) hoists the National League championship trophy while standing next to chairman William DeWitt, Jr. (left) and manager Mike Matheny (right) after game six of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David J. Phillip/Pool Photo via USA TODAY Sports
Oct 18, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak (second from left) hoists the National League championship trophy while standing next to chairman William DeWitt, Jr. (left) and manager Mike Matheny (right) after game six of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David J. Phillip/Pool Photo via USA TODAY Sports /
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If you follow MLB regularly, you’re probably aware of the growing movement in the sport towards advanced metrics, often called “sabermetrics” or “Moneyball stats,” in both evaluating and predicting player performances, particularly in online baseball reporting and analysis.

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Sites such as Baseball Prospectus and Fangraphs chart these “new-school” stats daily, though the statistical revolution hasn’t yet made its way to most MLB television broadcasts, until this year’s National League Championship Series.

In NLCS Game 1, FOX Sports, which will broadcast the entire NLCS either on local FOX affiliates or on the cable-based FOX Sports 1, will offer a traditional baseball broadcast of the game on FOX, as well as an alternate, “analytics-driven” broadcast on Fox Sports 1.

FOX is naming the October 11 broadcast of NLCS Game 1 the unwieldy moniker of “Just a Bit Outside presents NLCS on FOX Sports 1,” with heavy emphasis on the new JABO blog, which features columnist Rob Neyer and other authors, notably columnists from Fangraphs.

Though FOX has only announced the alternate broadcast for Game 1, the network isn’t cutting corners for the analytics show’s crew, with Neyer joining host Kevin Burkhardt  and analysts (and former MLBers) C.J. Nitkowski and Gabe Kapler rounding out the crew, though FOX did say other guests would join the NLCS broadcast.

Though there will assuredly be fans completely turned off by the idea of an analytical broadcast, it’s(yet another) indication that advanced metrics are here to stay in MLB (as if nearly every team employing some sort of expert in the growing field wasn’t a big enough sign).

It’s curious to see the two “worlds” of old-school baseball thought and newer analytic analysis blended together, and how this broadcast performs could be a sign of how often we could see more advanced metrics in a traditional broadcast.

Some fans will likely howl at changing their beloved baseball TV broadcasts, but props to FOX Sports for trying something new and taking the plunge by having an entire alternate broadcast with the new format.

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