FOX Sports gets the Yankees-Dodgers for the first time since 1981.
FOX first aired the World Series in 1996 and has continuously done so since 2000. Play-by-play announcer Joe Davis, analysts Tom Verducci and Ken Rosenthal, as well as long-time producer Pete Macheska give insights on how they will approach the 2024 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees.
Every World Series offers a chance to dig into storylines. For 2024, MLB on FOX will have more to tap into than nearly any in recent memory. With Cubs and Red Sox ending their World Series winning droughts, Dodgers-Yankees provides a plethora of content, not just this season, but historically. Depending on whether the series gets to at least 6 games, this year’s Fall Classic could see the largest viewership audience since the Cubs won in 2016. Given the prominence of the storied brands involved, this year’s World Series is set to a water cooler discussion that reaches well beyond core baseball fans.
All of this sets up how FOX Sports will approach the series.
“We’re going to pull it back a little bit more towards the casual in explaining it,” said Pete Macheska who has been producing the World Series on FOX for 20 years. “We’ll likely pull back more from diving deep into some of the analytics with this one. We’re going to focus more on the players, which we’ve pulled back from in the last couple of years. We’ll be telling the story in broader strokes.”
Given the broader audience, and star power in this year’s Fall Classic, the focus of going with personalities, and the wider view makes sense.
“It’s not just the historic nature of the markets, in my opinion,” said Ken Rosenthal. “There’s the historic nature of the rivalry, which goes back many years. It’s that there are going to be players on the field future Hall of Famers that’s on either side. You’ve got two MVPs; the two highest-paid pitchers by gross in Yamamoto and Cole by total contract dollars. And it just seems to me that is going to captivate people. At least it should captivate people.”
For Tom Verducci, who has been covering the game since the 1980s, he sees this match-up as the most significant of his career.
“To me, it’s the biggest World Series I’ve covered, just in terms of star power narratives, and history,” he said to me. ”Now I say that knowing that the 2016 World Series, to me – it was, and always will be –super special because of the context of the Cubs not winning it 108 years and the Indians on their streak. That was a great 7 game series. You couldn’t beat that one, just for a baseball historical drama. But I think given the markets and the histories of the World Series between these two teams and the star players – especially with Otani and judge, getting there for the first time – two of the most popular players in the game finally get on the biggest stage in the game. I think nothing beats the build-up to this series, and hopefully the games are matched because, it doesn’t always happen, but I think it will.”
Joe Davis Continues To Be The Voice Of The Fall Classic
If there was someone with a single-minded desire to get to the booth to call games on baseball’s biggest stage, Joe Davis would be at the top of that list. He has worked his way up from manager of broadcasting for the Schaumburg Flyers baseball team of the independent Northern League, through calling minor league games, to making the jump to ESPN in 2012 at age 24. Since being hired by FOX Sports in 2014 he has called football and basketball, plus Major League Baseball and select National Football League games. He is calling his second World Series this year after Joe Buck stepped away.
“I tell people that I’m doing exactly what I always dreamt of, and I’m not kidding when I say that, “Davis says. “As a kid, I wanted to be a broadcaster. And if you asked what I would want to call, it would be the World Series. So, I’ve always known that I wanted to be a broadcaster, and I’m pinching myself all the time these days because I’m doing exactly what I envisioned and dreamt of within that realm”
A key part of Davis’ career has been as an alternate play-by-play for the Dodgers since 2015. I asked if doing that makes calling this year’s World Series any different.
“You have to sort of rewire your way of the way that you present them,” Davis said to me. “It’s different when you’re calling the team for the fan base that is watching it every day, than it is when you’re presenting them to a national audience — especially when you get into the postseason. It definitely allows me to bring another level of perspective, but it also requires almost more work, because I have to reorganize the thoughts and all the stuff that I take for granted.”
Davis has been well-received nationally, and a large part of that is his understanding of where he sits in the order of things. “The players are the show. And I’ve always wanted to stay out of the way,” he says. “Nail the basics, capture the big moments, and get out of the way. Let the sound of the crowd do the talking.”
As to this historic matchup, how Davis will go about it follows what Macheska eluded to. That you can’t tell the story of the 2024 World Series without also looking back.
“To tell the story of this World Series properly, you have to tell the story of the history of the Dodgers of Yankees,” Davis said.
That comes in added layers of preparation for Davis. That to talk the 2024 World Series you have to talk 1941 he’s got to be able to talk Mickey Owen’s triple. There’s talking Don Larson’s World Series perfect game. There’s Jackie Robinson stealing home. There’s Mantle and Drysdale and all the things that have happened with the Yankee-Dodger rivalries.
“These are killer franchises in baseball, because so much of their history is intertwining because of the World Series, adds Davis. “So I think that’s what makes this different from a from a play by play preparation standpoint.”
Inside How Dugout Interviews Happen – Will The Yankees Allow It?
A significant change to the postseason broadcasts has been the use of live dugout interviews, which will fall on Rosenthal and Verducci. An element that has its detractors, the ground rules for them means not all teams and players are available for them. As Verducci, Rosenthal, and Macheska all said, it’s paramount to not distract from the games themselves, and pick and choose particular moments that matter most. As c said, pedestrian plays in the early innings aren’t going to warrant dugout interviews. Those interviews are carefully selected based on the moment and whether the player is available.
Lost in the ALCS was the fact that the Yankees declined to allow dugout interviews. Clubs aren’t required by the league to do so, and it is unclear whether they will allow during the World Series. Rosenthal and Verducci are given a list of players that have agreed to allow dugout interviews, but even if one of those players are on the list, FOX Sports and the analysts respect that in a given moment the player could decline to speak on camera at that time.
Still, the interviews provide emotion on the spot at the time that it happens. Rosenthal pointed to the NLDS with Kike Hernandez about the joy of signing with the Dodgers and being able to be part of the postseason
“In certain moments, it can be really valuable in showing player joy; in revealing what he was thinking during a game in all kinds of different ways,” Rosenthal says. “And from that perspective – even though I was not necessarily all that comfortable initially walking into the dugout in the middle of the game — I understand there is value in it for the viewer. And that’s what we’re talking about here. The viewer is getting more insight into what is happening.”
Showcasing The Big Match Up
For FOX and Major League Baseball, the Yankees-Dodgers World Series will provide a bounty. FOX has seen high interest from advertisers, commissioner Rob Manfred and the league are using the moment to market MLB around the globe, and should the series get to at least six games, it will provide a massive television audience.
For Macheska and the FOX Sports production team, they’ll be pulling out all the stops. While they won’t be flying over the field, aerial production drones — used for the first time ever in the World Series last year – will be incorporated to give views over the ballpark and out toward Chavez Ravine when playing at Dodger Stadium.
And while not in use by all umpires, an improved UmpCam with 1080p HDR video that will help with some of the motion blur compared to prior versions will be used.
Other aspects will be cameras buried in the dirt, 10 high speed cameras, and graphics enhancements such as wing Path and Pitch Trax that leverage PitchCast technology between MLB, Hawkeye and Virtual Eye video, will be available.
All of it adds up to drama. It’s hitting the jackpot for Major League Baseball.
“How can you not be fascinated with Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton and Juan Soto and Mookie Betts?” Verducci said. “That’s what gets me. Tt’s not just the iconic franchises, but the stars that people want to see.”
