2023 World Series Start Times, Broadcast Details, Drone Tech, Umps, And More

The 2023 World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers starts today. Here’s all the details you need to watch the Fall Classic. The complete broadcast schedule is highlighted at the bottom.

World Series Rosters

With the best-of-7 game series set to start tonight, both teams have released their rosters. Of interest, the Diamondbacks are featuring 12 pitchers, with just three left-handers (Mantiply, Nelson and Saalfrank)

For the Texas Rangers, they are featuring 13 pitchers on their World Series roster with six lefthand pitchers. There were no changes from the previous round, as the Rangers’ 26-man roster remains the same as it was for the American League Championship Series.

World Series Umpires

How can we forget the “men in blue” (okay, they haven’t worn blue in some time, but the cliché still seems to stick). For Game 1, D.J. Reyburn is behind the dish. That’s not exactly the best if you are hoping for a consistently called game. Based on the Umpire Auditor account on Twitter, Reyburn ranks 75 out of 92 umpires this season. Here’s some examples of the bad calls.

FOX Sports Rolls Out Aerial Drones For World Series

For the first time in World Series history, FOX Sports will employ the use of aerial drones. The custom three-drone fleet, developed and operated by Beverly Hills Aerials, includes the “Gimbal Bee,” “Hummer Lite,” and “Hummingbird.” According to FOX Sports, the drones will be manned by one pilot and only flown one at a time. They will be flown out of the outfield between the bullpens and only fly during dead ball windows (i.e. pitching changes, between innings, home runs, etc)

UmpCam As Part Of 52 Total Cameras; 100 Microphones Used

FOX Sports UmpCam, which made its postseason debut in the ALDS, continues delivering its unique point of view in the World Series as part of a 52-camera effort that includes a FlyCam, three DirtCams, 13 Super Motion cameras and three RF cameras.

The FOX Sports drones and UmpCam are sponsored by T-Mobile.

For audio, more than 100 microphones are in place to capture the sounds from inside the ballpark.

World Series Broadcast Schedule

This is the 23 year that FOX has exclusively aired the television broadcast in the U.S. with Joe Davis and John Smoltz in the booth. FOX Deportes will be airing the Spanish-language broadcast. ESPN Radio will provide the exclusive home for the national broadcast. All games of the 2023 World Series will have a first pitch time of 8:03 p.m. (ET), preceded by FOX’s network coverage of the World Series beginning at 7:00 p.m. (ET). All games on FOX will be available to MLB.TV subscribers who are authenticated subscribers to the applicable network through a participating pay-TV provider. Univision Radio will carry Spanish-language coverage of all World Series games.