MLB: Anyone else notice all these camera angles?

With every MLB playoff game being televised on either FS1 or TBS for this round of the playoffs, many baseball fans can watch from their televisions. But for a few minutes last night, I noticed that MLB.tv offers up eight different camera angles–and you get to pick which one you want.

Throughout the course of a regular MLB game, you’ll see numerous camera angles being used. There is the standard center field angle, which is where the pitches are generally shown from. There are the angles down the line that can zoom in on either left or right-handed batters while they dig into the box. Then of course there are the cameras that catch fan reactions to events and have a little more fun.

While my wife was finishing up her show last night, I turned on the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks game on MLB.tv. At first, I wasn’t sure if it would work since I had subscribed for the season. Do the playoffs count as the season? I found out that for this particular game it worked, but for the New York and Cleveland matchup there was a blackout restriction, so no dice.

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Typically from MLB.tv, you just click on the game and then click on the feed that you’d like, home or away. Instead, last night there were eight camera angles to choose from. Of course, there was the regular center field view, along with cameras down the lines. They also included a “high home view” which is basically the view of the field from behind home plate from the top deck at Chase Field. This one would be used for general shots, like crowd size figures or returning from commercial break. There was also a “mid home view” which I didn’t click on, but can assume was just in between the high view and field level.

The angle that really caught my attention was that there were dugout cameras for each team. No game action–just the manager (or whomever stood close enough) as the game unfolded. This is generally the camera used for in-game interviews. In the Dodgers dugout, manager Dave Roberts was well within view and just a couple of innings after my wife’s program had ended and we were watching on TV, I found myself wishing I still had it tuned to that camera angle live as Cody Bellinger tumbled into the Dodger dugout.

Next: Brewers 2017 review, offseason preview

Every day in baseball, you see something that you hadn’t seen before. Yesterday, for me, it was that I could play camera operator for an inning or two. It was a fun novelty, and since I wasn’t particularly attached to either of the clubs, it was fun to flip around.

Has anyone else noticed this feature and if so, is this brand new or have I really been missing out? Feel free to at me @byjasonb.