There are plenty of huge events on CMSI’s calendar every year, but none are quite as much fun as the Little League World Series and the Little League Softball World Series.
This August, CMSI returned to support ESPN at both the Little League Softball World Series in Greenville, North Carolina, and the Little League Baseball World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The softball tournament wrapped up August 9, while the baseball tournament will crown its 2026 champion on August 30.
For the players on the field, these are some of the most highly anticipated games of their young lives. For the production crews bringing those games to the people at home, they’re major live broadcasts with all the technical demands that come with them.
Play Ball
The Little League Softball World Series brought 12 teams from across the United States to Greenville for eight days of competition. All 22 games aired across ESPN’s linear networks for the first time in the tournament’s history, with the championship game airing on ABC.
Just a few days later, attention turned to Williamsport for the Little League Baseball World Series. ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC are presenting all 38 games from the tournament, culminating with the championship game on ABC on August 30.
Behind all those games is a production operation responsible for capturing, managing, editing, and delivering a huge volume of content throughout two packed tournaments.
CMSI’s team supports the workflows that help keep that content moving, bringing the same technology, engineering experience, and production expertise we use at some of the biggest professional and collegiate sporting events in the country.
One of Our Favorite Times of the Year
The Little League World Series in particular has become one of those events the CMSI team genuinely looks forward to.
There’s something different about watching young athletes from around the country (and in the case of the Baseball Series, around the world) get their opportunity to play on a national stage. The atmosphere is fun, the games are unpredictable, and the excitement surrounding the players, families, fans, and production crews makes these tournaments unlike almost anything else on the sports calendar.
And after returning year after year, CMSI has developed a few traditions of its own.
In Williamsport, that includes our annual Cheesesteak Day, returning August 26. This year, we went a little further and had custom CMSI T-shirts and enamel pins made for members of the broadcast crew to commemorate the occasion.
Is Cheesesteak Day technically necessary to the production workflow? No.
Is it necessary to us? Absolutely. And please don’t ask that question again in front of our Senior Workflow Specialist.
Two World Series, Three Champions
As much fun as we have, the Little League World Series requires the same thing every major live production does: technology and workflows that work when they’re needed.
CMSI is proud to support the production teams responsible for bringing these games to audiences across the country, helping ensure the people behind the broadcast can focus on telling the stories happening on the field.
We spend a lot of the year supporting professional athletes, major championships, and some of the largest productions in sports. Getting to bring that same level of support to the next generation of players is one of the highlights of our year. Both Series produce one champion team each, and CMSI strongly feels that we are the third champion on the field. Yes, it may be corny, but corn and baseball have a history, so we aren’t embarrassed to say it out loud.
