National networks primed for resurgent Cubs, Maddon

How do you know the Cubs are "back" on the national stage?

Just walk into the ballpark early on a Sunday. Gaze upward to the press-box area. If it looks like they're getting ready to launch the space shuttle from the TV booth, you know that ESPN Sunday Night Baseball is in town.

On those days, nearly every corner of the yard is alive with activity: crews fastening a camera to the net behind home plate, an interview being conducted outside the dugout and every gizmo imaginable being hooked up in the broadcast booth.

That'll be the scene Sunday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, where the Cubs will play the Cardinals at just past 7 p.m.

This will be the third time this season the Cubs are featured on "Sunday Night Baseball." The first came Opening Night at Wrigley Field, and the second was just two weeks ago, when the Cubs played a home game against the Cincinnati Reds.

The Cubs entered this weekend's series in third place in the National League Central behind the Cardinals and Pirates and holding the second wild-card spot.

The 2015 edition of the Cubs may not prove to be ready for prime time when all is said and done, but they do make for must-see TV, and the networks - ESPN, FOX and MLB Network - are more than happy to show up with all of their gadgetry.

"It's great because they're one of the most popular teams in baseball," said Dan Shulman, the play-by-play man for Sunday Night Baseball. "They have fans all over the country even when they're not playing well or when they're not a good team. That's heightened even more when they are a good team.

"Baseball is more interesting when the Cubs are good. Everybody knows the history and so forth. One day, and who knows when, they're going to be in the World Series, and that's going to be a very exciting time for baseball."

The Cubs are in a stretch in which nine of 14 games are being picked up by national networks. MLB did Friday night's game against the Cardinals, and FOX picked up Saturday's contest.

An ESPN crew was at Wrigley Field this past week for a Cubs-Dodgers game. By now, they've all seen the Cubs' young talent. What they've also experienced is the renewed buzz and positive vibe at Wrigley Field.

"Tremendous excitement around the fan base," Shulman said. "There have been a few lean years, and I think all the young talent has really excited the fan base, and with good reason. They are a good team. They might be a year ahead of schedule, and they might not be. But the fact is they're a contender this year. You can sense the excitement around Wrigley."

Shulman's play-by-play team includes John Kruk and Curt Schilling. A few days ago, play-by-play man Jon Sciambi was joined by former Cubs players Rick Sutcliffe and Doug Glanville for ESPN.

Glanville, who played in two stints for the Cubs, credits the front office and manager Joe Maddon for the good feelings emanating from Clark and Addison streets.

"Certainly, Joe Maddon being there is a big culture shift," said Glanville, who brings his baseball glove with him just in case he needs it to illustrate a point. "He's a guy that's well respected in terms of analytics for his ability to find diamonds in the rough. Now, the Cubs are loaded with diamonds, and he kind of takes them out of the rough, polishes them up and gives them the freedom to be themselves. And I think they're really responding and are really comfortable."

Media members meet each day with Maddon. The national TV broadcasters trek up to Maddon's office before their games to get the lowdown from the manager.

"One of the things I do is call it the philosophical question of the day," Glanville said of what he asks the manager. "And he's great. He'll take 15 minutes and just talk."

Shulman has seen plenty of Maddon over the years.

"I don't think it matters to Joe whether he's meeting with two of us or 200 of us or where we're from," he said. "I've done a lot of Tampa Bay games over the years so I've gotten to know Joe very well. He is as comfortable in his own skin as anybody I know in baseball.

"He's a very relaxed guy. He believes in who he is. He believes in his methods and obviously the numbers prove that his methods work. He's got a very nice way of relating to people, whether it's media members or fans or, most importantly, whether it's the 25 guys who play for him for the Chicago Cubs. I think he's one of the very best managers in baseball.

"He's a blend of somebody who's got a lot of old-school baseball in him and also he understands and appreciates the newer metrics. But he really relates to his players. And his players really relate to him. They really seem to like playing for him."

Doing it up big, such as ESPN does for Sunday Night Baseball, takes a lot of work. And it takes a lot of people to get that space shuttle off the ground each week.

"Our crew is about 50 people, and the three people who are doing the least are me, (Curt) Schilling and (John) Kruk," Shulman said. "It's the other 47 who are really doing the heavy lifting. From the people who set up the booth to the camera operators to the audio people to the replay and the tape people to the graphics and stats people, the producer, the director, I think it's a wonderful crew. Many have been together since the inception of Sunday Night Baseball.

"They all have a passion for baseball. They love doing what they do. They really, really make things that much easier for me, Kruk and Schilling or whoever happens to be the announcers. It's a privilege to work with people who work as hard as they do.

"The public never sees that. The game will end on Saturday, and then they will come in on a Saturday night starting to set stuff up, or they're there at the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning to set stuff up. I have a great appreciation for all the people on the show."

And when the top of the 7 o'clock hour hits in Central Time, Shulman says he appreciates what he has, too.

"It's a very cool gig," he said. "I'm blessed, I really am. And I try to think to myself every week about 7:58 Eastern Time, 'How lucky am I?' That's how I feel. The funny thing is, if I wasn't going to a baseball game to work it, I might be going to a baseball game just to watch. That's how much I like baseball. The fact that somebody will send me there to cover it is one of biggest blessings I've had in my life."

• Follow Bruce on Twitter@BruceMiles2112.