Teamwork hits a home run: Behind the scenes of Squeeze Play’s NCAA Baseball marathon
With wall-to-wall coverage, expert insight, and unmatched energy, ESPN’s Squeeze Play brings fans front and center for every unforgettable moment of the NCAA Baseball Tournament.
The reviews are in and ESPN’s Squeeze Play, the live whip-around show covering all the key plays from the NCAA Baseball Tournament, is a homerun.
Led by coordinating producer Scott Gustafson, producers Greg Shapiro and Eric Posman, hosts Kris Budden and Matt Schick, and analysts Chris Burke and Mike Rooney, Squeeze Play was on the air for a grand total of 45 hours from May 30-June 2. The team covered live Regionals action from more than 100 games at 16 different sites, with up to six games on the screen at a time.
Front Row spoke with Rooney about what makes the show so special.
What are the biggest challenges of doing Squeeze Play?
Rooney: Our teammate Chris Burke often jokes that we need to have great “eye discipline” when watching all the games. And that is the greatest challenge. Between box scores and what feels like a million games happening at once, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of information. My favorite way to combat that is to walk around our studio and just spend a moment in each regional to get level set.
What makes the NCAA Baseball Tournament the perfect setting for Squeeze Play?
Rooney: We have 16 sites playing doubleheaders for three consecutive days, often in three different time zones. The parity in the game and the current level of play in college baseball add to the compelling nature of the weekend. And the range of the perspectives of the players may be the most beautiful part of this. Sometimes the star of the moment is a future big leaguer. But it could also be a freshman playing in his first regional or a senior playing his very last baseball game.
What is your favorite part about being on the Squeeze Play team?
Rooney: My favorite part is that it is a shared experience. Our producers lead incredibly talented teams who make this show go. We couldn’t do this without their amazing execution. Matt and Kris are the perfect hosts and they both add to the fun while also keeping us on the rails. And “Burkie” is a baseball savant with an uncanny ability to identify inflection points in the game. All that said, the fan interactions on social media are the best part and it feels like we are all watching the games in the same room.
The #RoadToOmaha continues June 6-9 with Squeeze Play returning to cover every key play from all eight best-of-three Super Regionals series, live on ESPN+.
