• by Tanya Gazdik , September 16, 2016

The Major League Baseball Network is prepping for post-season action, including one TV spot that plays on the nostalgia of seasons past. 

Creative content studio The Collective @ LAIR created the spot featuring former Major Leaguers Mookie Wilson and Bill Buckner. Entitled “Mookie and Buckner in ‘Catching Up,’” the spot marks the 30-year anniversary of the classic Game Six of the 1986 World Series, where Wilson hit a ground ball that slipped through Buckner's legs, sending the series to game seven. 

Starring Wilson and Buckner themselves, the spot shows the two former players in their daily lives, reading the newspaper, walking the streets, eating lunch, and playing baseball with kids, while each scenario echoes their fateful encounter 30 years ago. Putting the Wilson and Buckner play in perspective with the MLB postseason approaching, the spot concludes with the line “You can’t rewrite history, but every October new history is made.”

The spot, which debuted Sept. 14 on MLB Network, points to the memorable moments that happen each postseason and promotes MLB Network’s extensive studio coverage of the pennant races and the postseason. MLB Network will also exclusively televise two League Division Series games in October. 

In addition to MLB Network and MLB Network’s social media channels, the spot will be seen on Fox’s baseball coverage starting this Saturday, and in-stadium at Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets. Behind-the-scenes footage of the spot is also scheduled to run throughout MLB Network’s and MLB.com’s social media channels.

MLB Network will roll out new spots dedicated to teams headed to this year’s postseason, and it will continue its regular-season campaign, “Closer To The Game,” which focuses on the Pennant Chase excitement and highlights how MLB Network’s on-air analysts provide comprehensive insight on its Emmy-winning signature show, “MLB Tonight.” MLB Network will also have new spots promoting its two exclusive National League Division Series telecasts.

“Our goal is to drive baseball fans across the country to MLB Network’s comprehensive postseason coverage, including our two exclusive National League Division Series telecasts,” Mary Beck, MLB Network's senior vice president of marketing and promos, tells Marketing Daily. “The Mookie & Buckner [spot] is a great way for fans to remember one of baseball’s iconic postseason moments, and look ahead to what memorable moments could happen this October.”