Sunday night’s ESPN telecast of the St. Louis Cardinals’ matchup with the Atlanta Braves was delayed about an hour due to rough weather around Busch Stadium. But credit to ESPN: They turned the delay into some incredible television with the help of Adam Wainwright.
Once the tarp was finally cleared and the game was nearing first pitch, a mic’d-up Wainwright went to the bullpen give a live interview as he was going through his regular pregame routine. The challenge of a rain day impacting a pitcher’s routine came up in the conversation, and that was when Wainwright offered some great insight while continuing his warmup pitches.
Adam Wainwright: Routine vs. Superstition. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/OfwMblF60o
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 29, 2022
Wainwright said:
“Routine is great, as long as it doesn’t become superstition. If you’re out there thinking you gotta do exactly the same thing every time to have success, that’s making you a weaker competitor. If they told me right now I had eight pitches to get loose, I could do that. Because you are what your brain tells you you are.”
When it comes to using mic’d-up players in broadcast, it doesn’t get much better than that. Wainwright’s commentary legitimately added value to the broadcast. MLB fans certainly appreciated the whole interview as well.