Apple TV Pluses, Minuses, Neutrals

[G-Fafif]

From SI:

For the first matchup between the Mets and Nationals at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, Melanie Newman (play-by-play), Chris Young (analyst), Hannah Keyser (analyst) and Brooke Fletcher (reporter) will call the game. Stephen Nelson (play-by-play), Hunter Pence (analyst), Katie Nolan (analyst) and Heidi Watney (reporter) will call the second game of the night between the Astros and Angels at 9:30 ET.

[Edgy MD]

I think Katie Nolan was the mother in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Great stuff.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Hello, Newman

https://twinsdaily.com/uploads/monthly_2021_05/7425d665e8882a303207ced2923ac72f.jpg.7f50cf5acfb2f6f9198e1ba93644b8f4.jpg>

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

So it appears I can't get apple TV on my Amazon box, which means full Howie for me. Only, my boom box doesn't work anymore and I can't find the transistor radio ...

[Edgy MD]

You should be able to get free radio feeds through MLB.com

[ashie62]

So no SNY for tonight.

[Lefty Specialist]

Nope. The Apple pre-game is as vapid, annoying and as full of irrelevancies as anything from Fox or ESPN. It's a low bar but they're limboing for dear life.

[Lefty Specialist]

Lights not working so we may be starting a bit late. They're actually shilling for Apple products during the delay. Ay caramba.

[Frayed Knot]

Maybe we can use this delay TO GET US AN I-G-T!!!

[Lefty Specialist]

Apparently this is a Juan Soto Game, with some other guys too.

[Frayed Knot]

If I leave Apple TV, like between innings or such, even for just a few seconds, I have to re-boot it up.

Not a huge deal but kind of annoying.

[Edgy MD]

https://twitter.com/HannahRKeyser/status/1512448179282792452

[Frayed Knot]

In what can only be descried as a sign of the times, there's an article in the NY Post today explaining why MLB's package on PEACOCK+ is better than the one on APPLE+

... only I can't tell you what it says because, rather than being part of the regular NYPost sports section, the article sits behind a pay wall on NYPOST SPORTS+

[Lefty Specialist]

Only one Mets game on Peacock+ this year, 6/26 against the Marlins. And the games start at noon. So if they think that'll be enough to pay 5 bucks a month, they can osculate my Peacock.



Baseball is literally doing everything they possibly can to drive fans away.

[TransMonk]

After two games, I've decided that I have little use for Apple's coverage of MLB.



I like the Apple font for the text graphics and the broadcast does look beautiful on an iPad. But, last night I watched on my TV and there is this weird vignette filter they use when the corner probability stats pop up. I'm sure some marketing focus group told them that it looked "classic" and draws attention to the center of the screen. It looks foreign and obscuring to me.



Also, about those probability stats...those are SUPER distracting to me. First, they rotate what they're simulating: probability this batter will reach base, probability they will ground into a double play, probability they will score an RBI, etc. I wish they would stick to a constant presentation. Second, it is obvious that their probability is modeled on the current batter and it changes by count. But I find myself wanting to know more about how they calculate these odds and what data they are including. When Pete Alonso's probability of reaching base drops when the count goes from 1-0 to 2-0, I spend the rest of the at bat wondering why that would be. Are they taking into account the current opposing team, pitcher, defensive abilities, shift alignment, runners-on situation, inning and outs, weather, time of day, day of the week, stadium, current season or career stats, performances in games after a day off on the road, etc. I doubt they are looking that level of situation, so how meaningful are those probabilities? Are they just a gimmick or can they add value to the fan viewing experience? I'm skeptical. Oh, Pete just stuck out. I guess Apple was right after all.



Unlike the Phillies game earlier in the year, I didn't turn the announcers' volume on. My wife, daughter and dogs were peacefully sleeping and it was a west coast game, so I kept the volume at a murmur. I'm guessing that actually added to my viewing experience.

[Edgy MD]

While I certainly celebrate the gender line broken in the broadcast booth, I wasn't really clear on what Katie Nolan's role was. Her contributions felt more like interruptions in the flow. Her baseball knowledge was there, but it seemed more studied than understood.



I don't want to be one of the twitter cavemen burying for her very existence, crying that they will go apeshit if the Mets ever put a woman in the booth, and it's quite possible I just need to get used to the standard voice of baseball not always ringing with the sonorous and sensual baritone of Lorn Brown.



I'm an old male dude, and Archie Bell & the Drells references make more sense to me than Gilmore Girls references, but I accept that, you know, it's not only my world.

[G-Fafif]

You can disdain a distaff announcer without dismissing all who are practically pioneers. Katie Nolan was awful. She didn't make woman announcers look bad. She made announcing look bad. And the game sound worse.



Wayne was wonderful. Pence filled his goofy recently retired player who knows a few things seat more than adequately. They could have stopped there.

[Ceetar]

nah, Katie was fine. I like her. She's intelligent and competent. (speaking broadly as a person in sports, not specifically to her role on the apple broadcast) And broadly across both broadcasts I love the fresh voices that speak about baseball both differently than I'm used to, but more akin to how I consume the game on my own.



I was listening for most of the middle innings, less so early on as I was doing stuff away from the TV and it's hard to stream, and I fell asleep late.



I feel like i need to listen to a non-Mets game (especially one without Wayne) to really judge, but it's still light years better than any broadcast I've ever heard on ESPN or Fox. Those frequently take me out of the game, make me hyper aware of the broadcast itself (which, granted, is their goal). This was a little more seamless, though a little less interesting too. It doesn't feel like it has a full identity yet either, both from a booth standpoint and from a total 'What Apple wants to put out there' (mostly they just want you to sign up for Apple TV+, but secondary goals)



this is aside from the machine learning WRONG probabilities nVenue is providing. But this is a trial run for you being able to click "Bet $5 that this guy reaches base" on the screen, so I guess we'll see. This speaks to Transmonk's comment about the vignette. It's likely with an eye towards wrapping the broadcast in other things, whether gambling, ads, etc. akin to how Youtube and Facebook were doing it.

[Fman99]

As bad as it was, it was still better than a GKR game on WPIX that I would have to go digging into the Internet's dingiest corners just to be able to watch live...

[Ceetar]

=Fman99 post_id=95657 time=1654998344 user_id=86]
As bad as it was, it was still better than a GKR game on WPIX that I would have to go digging into the Internet's dingiest corners just to be able to watch live...

[Fman99]

=Ceetar post_id=95672 time=1655002916 user_id=102]
=Fman99 post_id=95657 time=1654998344 user_id=86]
As bad as it was, it was still better than a GKR game on WPIX that I would have to go digging into the Internet's dingiest corners just to be able to watch live...

[Ceetar]

I'm surprised the app is smart enough for that.

[G-Fafif]

August 12's Mets-Phillies game will be growing the MLB brand.



https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/07/apple-and-mlb-announce-august-friday-night-baseball-doubleheader-schedule/https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/07/apple-and-mlb-announce-august-friday-night-baseball-doubleheader-schedule/

[kcmets]

Thought we were done with this nonsense for the rest of the year.

[Ceetar]

maybe they'll develop a mobile app one of these days for it at least.

[bmfc1]

=kcmets post_id=99779 time=1657846954 user_id=53]
Thought we were done with this nonsense for the rest of the year.

[metirish]

You'll need a paid subscription to Apple TV+ to watch MLB games this seaon



Apple's “Friday Night Baseball ” doubleheaders will return on April 7, the second Friday of the 2023 MLB season, the streamer announced Wednesday. Here's what you ened to know:



The exclusive games will no longer be free for all viewers as they were in the package's first season last year. They will be available without local blackouts for subscribers to the $6.99-per-month Apple TV+ service.

The revamped broadcast crew includes Wayne Randazzo (play-by-play), Dontrelle Willis (analyst), Heidi Watney (sideline reporter), Alex Faust (play-by-play), Ryan Spilborghs (analyst), and Tricia Whitaker (sideline reporter). Game assignments will be announced weekly.

The package, produced by MLB Network in conjunction with Apple, will open with Rangers at Cubs (2 p.m. ET) and Padres at Braves (7 p.m. ET). Apple announced the schedule through the first half of the season Wednesday, listed below.

Other details of the broadcasts

Lauren Gardner and Siera Santos will host live pre-and postgame coverage. Former MLB players Xavier Scruggs and Matt Joyce will serve as analysts alongside baseball reporter Russell Dorsey. Former MLB umpired Brian Gorman and Dale Scott will join the coverage to “break down MLB's new rules,” Apple said.



The Athletic

[kcmets]

No interest in Apple TV whatsoever. Last year the replays were available the

following morning on my MLB Extra Innings subscription. Wonder if MLB/Apple

is gonna dick us out of that in 2023 now that it's pay only...

[Gwreck]

Presumably MLB is doing this because they want the money but it is still a mystery to me what sort of extra subscription bump Apple will actually get.



How many people are paying extra for the two or three games their team has on Apple TV? (Or the Peacock games?) It can't be that many, right?

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I don't know the figures but it's good for Apple's legitimacy to broadcast baseball and Apple's audiences are good for baseball in that they are young cordcutters with $$.





. I'd consider adding Apple TV when/if we break up with cable not just for mlb but Ted Lasso plus Mlb