Sunday Night Baseball: It’s not just for an American audience.
This Sunday, prime time baseball is returning to viewers across the pond thanks to Bases Covered Live, a series that brings marquee MLB matchups to TV and streaming worldwide. The kickoff game this year is the Dodgers-Mets series finale, opening a slate that will include 10 regular-season games and two postseason doubleheaders. Other notable days on the calendar include Red Sox-Yankees on Aug. 30 and the jam-packed final day of regular-season play on Sept. 27.
All Bases Covered Live broadcasts begin at 6:30 p.m. UK time (1:30 p.m. ET) and are available to watch on the BBC and TNT in the UK, plus in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy, South Africa and India. Fans can stream the games live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport app.
At the helm of these broadcasts are play-by-play announcer Melanie Newman, former MLB player and current analyst Xavier Scruggs and cricket podcaster and musician Felix White.
The broadcasts, which will be filmed at the MLB Network studios in Secaucus, N.J., will cater to audiences who don’t live in baseball-forward countries by going deeper into on-field explanations than a typical broadcast. Fans will have the opportunity to send in questions that Newman, Scruggs and White will answer on the air. The commentary will also aim to break down action in a way that resonates with both lifelong and newer baseball fans around the world.
“I've seen how special this game is in so many different markets and how it needs to continue to be celebrated,” Scruggs said. “I think us having the responsibility of communicating and documenting these games is something that we don't take lightly.”
Another goal of Bases Covered Live is to dig into the root of sports fandom and discuss what connects fans so deeply with their favorite teams. Leading up to the season premiere, Newman and Scruggs traveled to London to learn firsthand about the fan experiences for two of the biggest sports in the UK, cricket and football (what Americans call soccer).
They spent last Sunday at Lord’s Cricket Ground, a historic venue in London, to take in a match between England and India. White also gave them a tour of the grounds and on-site museum, which put into perspective, for two Americans relatively unfamiliar with cricket, just how beloved this sport is elsewhere in the world.
Scruggs joked that, though he has “zero background” with cricket, Sunday’s events gave him a newfound respect for the athleticism of cricket players. Could an on-screen cricket demo during a Bases Covered Live broadcast be in the works?
“Let's just say that your boy will be putting that into play here pretty soon,” he teased.
Newman also remarked about how fans at this cricket match were bringing in their own bottles of wine and popping champagne throughout the match. This “Kentucky Derby garden party” atmosphere was juxtaposed by section-wide chants happening all over the stands. It was a sight not typical of baseball games, though she said it reminded her a bit of the raucous crowds at Fenway Park that burst into song for “Dirty Water” and “Tessie.”
“The passion is just at a different scale at times,” Scruggs said of UK sports fandom. “These fans are committed. They're not there to have a business meeting or a conversation and just a family outing. No, they are committed, and they will be cheering the whole time.”
On Monday, Newman and Scruggs took a tour of Craven Cottage, the home of the Premier League’s Fulham F.C. and the oldest football stadium in London. It has sat on the bank of the River Thames since 1896, making it over a decade older than MLB’s two oldest stadiums, Fenway Park (1912) and Wrigley Field (1914).
For Newman and Scruggs, touring a stadium that predates every MLB park gave them a newfound respect for the aura that hangs over other countries’ beloved sporting venues and franchises.
“Seeing Craven Cottage, and you feel it. Even though it's not a match day and it's quiet, you feel it,” said Newman. “You see the ghosts that have been there before.”
After spending the week immersing themselves in English cricket and football culture, the Bases Covered Live crew has both physical footage and internal context necessary to enrich their baseball coverage. They may not know most of the people who will be watching on TV, but they’ll strive to give a “family” feel to the broadcasts nonetheless.
“At the end of the day, we want it to feel like the Tartan Army,” Newman said. “It starts with one kilt, and [soon] it's a full stadium.”