How AI is pitching in at this year’s World Series
It’s the bottom of the ninth at the World Series. Bases loaded, two outs. The pressure is on — not just for the players on the field, but for the announcers in the broadcast booth trying to capture the moment for millions of fans.
Broadcasters like Joe Davis and John Smoltz at FOX Sports, along with their production teams, do hours of prep before each game to make sure they keep things interesting. But now, they have a powerful new ace in their bullpen: Gemini.
FOX Sports and Google Cloud worked together to build FOX Foresight, an AI platform built with Vertex AI. FOX Foresight was then trained on data from many seasons of major league play, down to the smallest details. This allows the production team to ask incredibly specific questions and get answers in seconds.
For example, if a certain left-handed hitter is coming up to bat, they could ask: “Who are the top five left-handed batters who played in this year’s playoffs? Now who was best in the ninth inning, and what about when the bases are loaded?”
Had they relied on traditional research methods alone, this kind of cross-referencing could have taken minutes or more — long enough that an entire inning might have passed by. But with FOX Foresight, this task takes seconds.
Alex Rodriguez, FOX Sports MLB analyst, uses FOX Foresight to enhance his commentary.
It’s helping even seasoned pros get a new handle on the game, like Alex Rodriguez, the celebrated Yankees third baseman turned FOX Sports baseball analyst. “It helps us spot the big stories — like who’s heating up, who’s struggling and which performances are shaping this postseason,” Rodriguez said in an interview.
AI isn't just making the play-by-play better, either. It's also become key to making the broadcast itself more reliable.
Major League Baseball is responsible for delivering video and data feeds to broadcast partners like FOX Sports, its own MLB Network, streaming platforms, overseas and native-language networks and others. It’s a massive feat of coordination involving dozens of cameras, thousands of feet of cable, broadcast trucks, cloud-based and on-site servers and large teams of engineers.
To make sure fans don't miss a single pitch, MLB implemented its Connectivity Agent, nicknamed Connie, earlier this season.
Connie is an agentic solution, built with Google Cloud services, that proactively monitors the MLB connectivity and network feed, which are central to capturing and tracking the game on the field and delivering it to fans. Connie now helps detect anomalies in the feeds and independently take action, helping prevent issues before they occur.
With the benefit of agentic AI, Connie allows the technology team at MLB to automate its observability, detection, incident creation, triage and resolution for any ballpark connectivity issues. This significantly improves reaction time and helps engineers stay focused on more strategic activities.
From telling more engaging stories to making sure the game stays on the air, AI is changing the way we watch sports — making every moment more fun and reliable for fans.
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