How cool would it be to be able to watch a ball game from the dugout? I’m not talking about your kid’s little league game. I’m talking about watching a legitimate baseball game. Imagine being in the Rockies’ dugout, sitting on the right-hand side of manager Walt Weiss, seeing the game how he sees it, keeping up with every statistic you need like you’re part of the team.
Imagine being able to trump every one of your buddies when it comes to a sports debate. Sure, they can tell you it’s time to trade Jorge De La Rosa—but can they tell you he’s got 60 strikeouts in eight games this year with a 4.59 era? Can they tell you how that might play out going into the next series? Can they keep up with all of the stats they need for their fantasy baseball matchups for the night at once?
Not as well as you can. That’s because you have X1 and they’re like Rob Lowe and they’ve got DirecTV or some other piece of tacky satellite junk on their roof. Good for them.
XFINITY’s X1 platform is legitimately making moves to change the way we watch sports, starting with America’s favorite pastime: baseball. The XFINITY Sports App on X1 has always been a convenient and helpful companion to the game, but as of last Wednesday they’ve made dramatic improvements to the experience for baseball lovers by re-engineering the app in a way that gives fans more data and statistics than ever before.
Here’s what was available before—live updates of whatever games you want to check in on without leaving the one you’re on:
But now, we’re working with something a little more serious. Here’s a peek:
This new edition, called Baseball Extras, offers essentially every statistic or piece of information about the game a true baseball lover would want to know:
•Pitch counts
•Strikeout percentages
•Hit zones
•Spray charts
•Pre-game analysis
•Post-game recap
Wife and kids don’t want to watch the game? You can still keep up even when they’re watching Despicable Me or something:
It’s all there—everything you need to feel like you watching the game in the dugout like a member of the staff.
In a blog post last week, Preston Smalley, Executive Director, Product, Comcast Silicon Valley in TV, noted that this new feature was built in partnership with a local Philadelphia tech startup called OneTwoSee. They are able to achieve all of their information by pulling in and aggregating data from several sources to rate games based on team records, computing each team’s win probability and previewing pitching matchups.
The best part is that it’s not even difficult to use. If you’re on X1, all you have to do is launch the Sports app, select a game and click “Extras.” From there, a series of real-time stats and visualizations (as seen above) will appear on the right side of the screen in a rotating, carrousel fashion. “Just like the sports graphics and news tickers fans are familiar with watching on TV,” Smalley wrote.
All I can really ask for, at this point, is something similar for football by the time the NFL season comes around. I’ve already got RedZone, but for a true football guy like myself, being able to watch the whole Broncos game while simultaneously keeping up with my fantasy team would be the dream. From what it sounds like, it may be on the horizon:
“We’re just getting started. Look for us to reimagine even more experiences within the sports app later this year.” Smalley wrote, “There’s a budding coach or manager in every fan and we’ll continue to improve the XFINITY Sports App so fanatics like me can get the most out of every bunt, swing and called third strike this season.”
Come on, Comcast: only a month and a half until football! NFL Extras, anyone?!
