NHL ups technology for ‘Big City Greens Classic’ 2
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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
The NHL is returning to “Big City Greens,” this time using two types of puck and player tracking technology to bring the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins into the animated world.
The second “NHL Big City Greens Classic” will air March 9 on ESPN+, Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney+ when the Penguins visit the Bruins at 3 p.m. ET. The broadcast is a real-time volumetric animation of NHL players and teams modeled after characters on Disney Channel’s animated comedy “Big City Greens,” whose characters skate alongside animated versions of the NHL players.
The game at TD Garden will be re-created in a virtual environment, featuring 3D animated players whose movements are synced with the real-life Penguins and Bruins.
The traditional game telecast will be available on ABC and ESPN+.
Last season’s game featuring the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers was the first of its kind, as fans watched characters Cricket, Tilly and Gramma and a chicken referee create a unique alternative viewing experience.
“We learned a lot from last year, and thankfully it was pretty much all good,” said David Lehanski, the NHL’s executive VP for business development and innovation. “The whole point of this is to bring the game to a new audience. The composition of the audience from the data that we got proves that it worked.”
The most notable data point, Lehanski said, was that while NHL viewership typically skews 60% male, the “Big City Greens Classic” flipped that to 60% female. He also said the number of viewers who watched the full game, or later watched it on video on demand, was in “the hundreds of thousands,” meaning the game had staying power during and beyond the initial broadcast.
The big innovation for this edition of the “Big City Greens Classic” is in the NHL’s puck and player tracking technology. Last season’s game featured the league’s NHL Edge tracking system, which collects data through sensors on player uniforms and inside the puck itself. That allowed the broadcast to track the locations of players and the puck, but not necessarily all of their movements.
This season’s game will use the league’s new Hawk-Eye Innovations optical tracking system with NHL Edge to better capture how the players’ arms and legs move, as well as their sticks. The system tracks a minimum of 24 points on the body, from the neck down to the toes, with other tracking points on the stick.
“The players and the ‘Big City Greens’ characters are going to move in a more realistic manner. They’re going to move very similar to, if not exactly like, the players on the ice, with their stick and body position and their limbs,” Lehanski said.
The NHL has big plans for the Hawk-Eye system. Lehanski said that it’s installed in around six to eight arenas currently but that the NHL plans to have it installed in all 32 arenas near the start of the 2024-25 season.
The optical tracking system will add valuable context to what happens on a play that the NHL Edge location tracking doesn’t capture.
“If you have the puck and you’re skating towards me and I’m playing defense, we’ll see that data. But if the puck all of a sudden goes into the corner, we don’t really know in real time why that happened. Did I stick check it? Did you mishandle it? Did you fall? Like, what actually happened? Now, we’ll see that,” Lehanski said.
He said the optical tracking will allow teams to better understand the body position of their players and better define things like shot type in the tracking data.
“When you take that NHL Edge positional data and you add in the stick and limb [tracking], we believe there’s almost nothing we won’t be able to analyze in the game,” Lehanski said.
While the movements of the players will be more realistic than ever, the “Big City Greens Classic” promises to increase the absurdity from last year’s edition.
Cricket is coaching the Penguins — who will occasionally morph into animated penguins during play — having been endorsed by captain Sidney Crosby. Bruins captain Brad Marchand has endorsed Gramma as the coach for Boston.
“The younger generation of kids are really going to connect to this,” Marchand said. “A lot of the games are catered towards adults and older people. This is an opportunity for the young generation to connect with the game. Hopefully it allows them to have a better understanding and be a little more excited about watching.”
Another innovation this season: There will be a skills competition held between periods featuring the “Big City Greens” characters.
The ESPN commentators calling the action on the animated telecast — Drew Carter, Kevin Weekes and Arda Öcal — will wear virtual reality headsets for motion capture to immerse them in the animated environment of Times Circle.
The real-time animation will be produced by ESPN Edge Innovation Center and NHL Edge Innovation partner Beyond Sports. Outside the U.S., the “NHL Big City Greens Classic” will be available on Disney+ in select countries.
Hard-throwing rookie Jacob Misiorowski is a National League All-Star replacement, giving the Milwaukee Brewers right-hander a chance to break Paul Skenes‘ record for the fewest big league appearances before playing in the Midsummer Classic.
Misiorowski was named Friday night to replace Chicago Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd, who will be unavailable for the All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Atlanta because he is scheduled to start Saturday at the New York Yankees.
The 23-year-old Misiorowski has made just five starts for the Brewers, going 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA while averaging 99.3 mph on his fastball, with 89 pitches that have reached 100 mph.
If he pitches at Truist Park, Misiorowski will make it consecutive years for a player to set the mark for fewest big league games before an All-Star showing.
Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander getting ready for his second All-Star appearance, had made 11 starts in the majors when he was chosen as the NL starter for last year’s All-Star Game at Texas. He pitched a scoreless inning.
“I’m speechless,” said a teary-eyed Misiorowski, who said he was given the news a few minutes before the Brewers’ 8-3 victory over Washington. “It’s awesome. It’s very unexpected and it’s an honor.”
Misiorowski is the 30th first-time All-Star and 16th replacement this year. There are now 80 total All-Stars.
“He’s impressive. He’s got some of the best stuff in the game right now, even though he’s a young pitcher,” said Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who is a starting AL outfielder for his seventh All-Star nod. “He’s going to be a special pitcher in this game for a long time so I think he deserved it and it’s going be pretty cool for him and his family.”
Carlos Rodón, Carlos Estévez and Casey Mize were named replacement pitchers on the AL roster.
The New York Yankees‘ Rodón, an All-Star for the third time in five seasons, will replace teammate Max Fried for Tuesday’s game in Atlanta. Fried will be unavailable because he is scheduled to start Saturday against the Chicago Cubs.
In his final start before the All-Star game, Rodón allowed four hits and struck out eight in eight innings in an 11-0 victory over the Cubs.
“This one’s a little special for me,” said Rodón, an All-Star in 2021 and ’22 who was 3-8 in his first season with the Yankees two years ago before rebounding. “I wasn’t good when I first got here, and I just wanted to prove that I wasn’t to going to give up and just put my best foot forward and try to win as many games as I can.”
The Kansas City Royals‘ Estévez replaces Texas’ Jacob deGrom, who is scheduled to start at Houston on Saturday night. Estévez was a 2023 All-Star when he was with the Los Angeles Angels.
Mize takes the spot held by Boston‘s Garrett Crochet, who is scheduled to start Saturday against Tampa Bay. Mize gives the Tigers six All-Stars, most of any team and tied for the franchise record.
Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia will replace Tampa Bay‘s Brandon Lowe, who went on the injured list with left oblique tightness. The additions of Estévez and Garcia give the Royals four All-Stars, matching their 2024 total.
The Seattle Mariners announced center fielder Julio Rodríguez will not participate, and he was replaced by teammate Randy Arozarena. Rodríguez had been voted onto the AL roster via the players’ ballot. The Mariners, who have five All-Stars, said Rodríguez will use the break to “recuperate, rest and prepare for the second half.”
Arozarena is an All-Star for the second time. He started in left field for the AL two years ago, when he was with Tampa Bay. Arozarena was the runner-up to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the 2023 Home Run Derby.
Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen, a first-time All-Star, is replacing Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, who is scheduled to start Saturday night at Arizona. Rasmussen is 7-5 with a 2.82 ERA in 18 starts.
San Diego added a third NL All-Star reliever in lefty Adrián Morejón, who replaces Philadelphia starter Zack Wheeler. The Phillies’ right-hander is scheduled to start at San Diego on Saturday night. Morejón entered the weekend with a 1.71 ERA in 45 appearances.
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Jesse Rogers
CHICAGO — Former White Sox lefty Mark Buehrle was forever immortalized inside Rate Field as the team unveiled a statue in his honor Friday.
Buehrle, 46, played 16 years in the majors, including the first 12 with the White Sox, who he helped win a World Series in 2005. He won 214 games and pitched 200 innings or more in 14 consecutive seasons from 2001 to 2014.
“I can’t put it into words,” Buehrle said after the unveiling. “You don’t play the game for any of this. You never think of number retirements or statues. I can’t even wrap my head around it. It doesn’t make sense.”
The statue is an action shot of him throwing a pitch.
His wife and kids were in attendance and helped pull off the cover to unveil the statue while his 2005 teammates looked on. The event kicked off a weekend reunion for the World Series team which went 11-1 in the postseason, beating the Houston Astros in four games to take home the title.
Buehrle was a five-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner, finishing fifth in Cy Young voting in 2005.
“Well-deserved,” former right fielder Jermaine Dye said of the statue. “Great teammate. Great leader. Definitely someone you want on a ballclub to lead a pitching staff.”
The White Sox rotation — led by Buehrle — threw four complete games in the ALCS against the Boston Red Sox in 2005, missing a fifth complete game by two-thirds of an inning. It’s an unheard of accomplishment in today’s game since starters infrequently go the distance.
Besides being an innings-eater on the mound, Buehrle was a fast worker — a favorite trait of his catcher, A.J Pierzynski. And he wasn’t someone who threw a lot of different pitches. He caught it and threw it without much input from behind the plate.
“He was fast,” Pierzynski said. “We had Jermaine Dye calling pitches from right field some games. We did come crazy things you wouldn’t recommend to people to do nowadays.”
Buehrle is a notoriously low-key guy who hates the spotlight but even he was moved by the team’s decision to honor him with a statue, which joins former slugger Harold Baines in the right-field concourse.
“I joked with him when I saw him,” Dye said. “I told him ‘Man it takes you getting a statue to get you out of the house.'”
Buehrle added: “I was literally nervous as can be today. This is not my comfort zone but by no means am I taking it lightly. This is incredible.”
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