Toronto Blue Jays announcer Ben Wagner sits in the broadcast booth in Toronto, on April 10.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
When Toronto shortstop Bo Bichette snagged a liner in the ninth inning of Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Texas Rangers, Blue Jays broadcaster Ben Wagner called the play with the energy of an observer who was clearly on the scene.
The natural rise in his voice and quick sharpness in the description worked in perfect harmony with the roar from the home crowd. It provided a great example of why the radio medium works so well from the baseball broadcast booth.
It’s a call that likely wouldn’t have sounded quite the same if the Blue Jays were playing away from home.
While Sportsnet’s television simulcast on the radio for part of last year appears to be a one-and-done experiment, the rights-holder is not sending Wagner on the road even though dedicated radio broadcasts have returned for the full season.
For the Blue Jays’ 81 road games, he’ll call the action off screens from a studio at the company’s downtown headquarters.
“I’m thinking about it as a broadcaster and thinking I feel as if what I’d be missing is that 1,000-foot view,” said longtime newscaster Paul Cross, a radio professor at Toronto’s Humber College. “That experience, that overview of the stadium, I can see the entire field, I can feel what the crowd is feeling. I can hear it, I can smell it, I’m immersed in it.
“I think it’s going to be a real challenge. It’s going to be a testament to the skills of the broadcaster to (call the action) in front of a screen.”
COVID-19 concerns and travel restrictions meant remote broadcasting was the reality for many TV and radio broadcast crews when sports first returned in the pandemic’s early days. The difference was noticeable but viewers and listeners had to accept it given the unusual circumstances.
Almost all big-league baseball radio crews are back travelling again this season. Toronto’s is not, at least for now.
“On radio specifically you are the eyes for the fan,” Wagner said in a recent interview. “You are the eyes for that medium.
“It is your No. 1 goal out there to paint the pictures and provide accurate play-by-play descriptions and that’s why those intricate details are so important.”
Broadcasters who aren’t on site can miss opportunities that only in-person staffing can provide. And it’s not just the call of the game that can be affected.
There are pre-game conversations with players and coaches by the batting cage. There’s batting practice viewing and watching all the little things that happen across the diamond. It’s also an opportunity to work contacts and interact with the other team.
Face time can be particularly invaluable, especially on the road where things tends to be more relaxed and access can be better.
“I think that you’re really at a disadvantage if you’re not with the ball club so I’m really disappointed that we’re not travelling at the start of the season,” Wagner said. “I hope that’s open to further consideration as the season continues.
“Hopefully with the expectations and the level of excitement around this team, that is something that is consistently re-evaluated.”
Sportsnet is sending television crews and its baseball insiders on the road this year. The network declined an interview request to discuss radio plans for the 2022 campaign.
The Blue Jays, who opened the regular season with a three-game home series, will kick off a four-game series Monday night in New York. A six-game road trip with stops in Boston and Houston is set for later this month.
“Not having that on-site piece will significantly impact the feel of that broadcast the consumer will notice for sure,” said Mike Naraine, an assistant professor with Brock University’s department of sport management.
Wagner, who was been calling Blue Jays games since 2018, is alone on the call with the exception of occasional guests.
He watches two 60-inch monitors during road games. One has the regular Sportsnet feed and the other has an overhead shot of the ballpark.
Additional feeds can also be used (scoreboard feed, bullpen cams, etc) but it can be difficult to jump between monitors during in-game play, Wagner said.
Quick cutaways on the TV feed can also be challenging. It can be easy to miss things like an umpire’s call or who’s walking to the on-deck circle.
“When you’re calling a game off of a monitor, you’re trying – hopefully – to see some reaction from a player,” Wagner said. “You know, a pumped fist from Vladdy (Guerrero Jr.) on a bang-bang play because he knows he got the out. Or a runner that’s running through and the camera follows that person and you don’t see the umpire and (the player) slams his bat or his helmet down.
“Bang-bang plays are just awful. You don’t see runners coming around third heading toward the plate while the ball is tracked in the corner. For a radio broadcast, there are massive obstacles in the in-game mechanics of doing the broadcast.”
Cross said that baseball doesn’t seem to be considered as important on the radio these days, adding the Blue Jays’ radio broadcasts used to serve as the soundtrack of Toronto summers back in the team’s early-90′s glory days.
“You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing the game,” he said. “It just sounded so big and so live and so fantastic because they were right there. So if it doesn’t feel big and live and important coming out of the radio, maybe listeners will have something to say about that.
“But I also think in terms of money, if you can send the TV crew, you can send the radio guy.”
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings signed forward Lucas Raymond to an eight-year, $64.6 million contract Monday, completing a deal with one of their best young players less than 72 hours before training camp begins.
Raymond will count $8.075 million against the salary cap through 2032. The 22-year-old was a restricted free agent without a contract for the upcoming NHL season and was coming off setting career highs with 31 goals, 41 assists and 72 points.
The Red Wings have another one of those in defenceman Moritz Seider, who won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2021-22.
Detroit is looking to end an eight-year playoff drought dating to the Original Six franchise’s last appearance in 2016.
Raymond, a Swede who was the fourth pick in 2020, has 174 points in 238 games since breaking into the league.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kirk Cousins led a flawless last-minute drive for Atlanta and connected with Drake London for a 7-yard touchdown with 34 seconds left to give the Falcons a 22-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.
Saquon Barkley dropped a short pass that stopped the clock with 1:46 left and forced the Eagles to settle for a field goal instead of a game-sealing first down. That was plenty of time for Cousins — especially against an Eagles defense playing soft coverage with a nonexistent pass rush.
The 36-year-old veteran, playing his second game since tearing his Achilles tendon last Oct. 29 while playing for Minnesota, shook off an uneven effort and hit Darnell Mooney for 21 and 26 yards on consecutive plays during the decisive drive.
Cousins found London on a short pass to his right for the tying score, and Younghoe Koo put Atlanta (1-1) on top with a 48-yard extra point after London was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. The go-ahead drive took just 65 seconds.
Jalen Hurts had his final pass intercepted by Jessie Bates III to seal Atlanta’s win and set off a wild celebration on the sideline.
The Eagles (1-1) went ahead on Hurts’ 1-yard tush push score with 6:47 left. Barkley finished with 95 yards on 22 carries in his home debut for Philadelphia, but his drop provided the Falcons with some hope.
And then Cousins started playing like the QB Atlanta thought it was getting when it signed him to a four-year, $180 million contract.
Cousins finished 20 of 29 for 241 yards and two touchdowns. Atlanta’s first TD was a 41-yarder from Cousins to Mooney, who finished with three catches for 88 yards.
Hurts was 23 of 30 for 183 yards, including a touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith. With No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown out with a hamstring injury, Smith led the Eagles with seven catches for 76 yards and a score.
Jake Elliott kicked two field goals for the Eagles. His 28-yarder with 1:39 left made it 21-15.
Atlanta kept stalling in the red zone, getting three field goals from Koo, before Cousins fired over the middle to Mooney, who shook loose from C.J. Gardner-Johnson and left him on the turf before he somersaulted into the end zone with 1:21 left in the third quarter for a 15-10 lead. Cousins failed on the 2-point conversion pass.
Hurts had some juice in his step during a second-quarter TD drive, running with abandon for big plays much like he did in the 2022 season. He spiked the ball in a rare, raw show of emotion on a 23-yard run, earning a delay-of-game penalty. He shrugged off the 5-yard setback and scrambled for 9 yards and 15 yards to move the Eagles to Atlanta’s 19.
With comedian Shane Gillis and actor Bradley Cooper among the fans cheering on the Eagles, Hurts connected with Smith in the back of the end zone for a 7-yard TD that made it 7-3.
Under new defensive coordinator Vince Fangio, the Eagles have established an early knack for allowing long drives that end with three points instead of seven. Koo kicked field goals of 39, 22 and 34 yards, the last one enough for a 9-7 lead in the third quarter. In their opener, the Eagles held the Packers to just three field goals when they drove inside the 20.
Questionable call
Rather than take a chip-shot field goal from Elliott, the Eagles’ fourth-and-4 gamble at Atlanta’s 9-yard line in the first quarter failed when Hurts threw an incomplete pass.
Elliott kicked a 29-yarder with 4:31 left in the third quarter for a 10-9 lead.
Running wild
Bijan Robinson ran for 97 yards for the Falcons. The Eagles stuffed him late on fourth-and-1 at the Atlanta 39.
Barkley was quiet until the go-ahead drive, a week after he rushed for 109 yards and scored three touchdowns against Green Bay. Eagles fans booed when the opening drive of the game ended without Barkley touching the ball. They went wild when he had consecutive 9-yard runs to open the second drive. Barkley had 40 yards rushing in the first half.
Foles honored
Former Eagles QB Nick Foles, who led the franchise to its only Super Bowl title, served as an honorary captain and led the crowd in a rendition of “Fly, Eagles, Fly.”
Injuries
The Falcons played without LB Nate Landman (calf, quad).
Up next
Atlanta hosts Super Bowl champion Kansas City on Sunday.
TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.
The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.
Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.
Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.
“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”
Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.
Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.
Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.
Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.
Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.
Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
