Courtesy: Lionsgate/MLB Productions/A&E/A&E Home Video
The New York Yankees are in the waning days of the team’s 2014 season. And along with the end of that season is the end of an era as Yankees great Derek Jeter is set to close out his Major League Baseball career, too. While this season has not exactly proven to be everything that Yankees loyalists had hoped for MLB Productions has given Yankees nation reason to look back after this season’s end and still have plenty to smile about thanks to the recent release of Baseball’s Greatest Games: New York Yankees® Postseason Heroics. This latest release continues a long-held tradition of excellence from Major League Baseball Productions as is evidenced throughout all four games contained in this set. The inclusion of four full games is central to the enjoyment of the presentation. That each game celebrates Jeter’s various accomplishments makes things even sweeter for fans. As with previous MLB Productions releases, audiences are given the option to start at the top or bottom of any of the games’ innings. They are not forced to sit through the whole game or even fast forward through to their key moments. It adds even more enjoyment to the overall presentation. And last but not least of all worth noting in this set is the collective video and audio mix in each episode. MLB productions includes a disclaimer before the game, noting that there may be some discrepancies at given points. But those discrepancies are few and far between. If anything, seeing the games as they were originally broadcast adds to a certain sense of nostalgia among viewers, whether or not they be Yankees loyalists. Each factor noted by itself is important to the whole in its own right. All three together make Baseball’s Greatest Games: New York Yankees® Postseason Heroics another welcome addition to the library of any Yankees loyalist and any true-blooded MLB fan Yankees loyalist or not.
Baseball’s Greatest Games: Yankees® Postseason Heroics is a welcome addition to the library of any Yankees loyalist and any true-blooded MLB fan Yankees loyalist or not. It is especially welcome being that New York’s season hasn’t exactly lived up to the hopes and expectations of the team or its fans. Luckily for fans, this four-disc set features four past Yankees games on which fans can look back and smile after the season’s end. The first of the games is Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS in which the Yankees faced off against the Baltimore Orioles. The second game takes fans forward four years to Game 4 of the 2000 World Series. The Yankees faced off against the Mets that year. The key moment of this game was Jeter’s leadoff home run against the Mets. The third game takes audiences another year forward to Game 3 of the 2001 ALDS. That year, the Yankees faced off against Oakland. After taking down Oakland, the Yankees moved on in 2001 to the World Series, in which the team took on Arizona for the championship. MLB Productions features Game 4 of that year’s World Series as the set’s closing game. As with the set’s other games, Jeter’s accomplishments are highlighted here, too. Of course it doesn’t focus solely on his achievements. Rather, the entire game is presented from the first pitch to the last. The commercials have been cleanly cut, again displaying that commitment to quality from MLB Productions. Simply put, with each game, audiences get the full game experience sans the commercial limitations. They can pause the game at any point that they choose so as to use the bathroom, get a couple cold ones, or anything else. All things considered here, it all proves just why the inclusion of the games and their inclusion in full at that is the central point of the set’s success.
The inclusion of four important recent Yankees games is central to the success of Baseball’s Greatest Games: Yankees® Postseason Heroics is central to the success of the set. Their inclusion in full and the fact that they are meant to highlight the accomplishments of the soon-to-be-retired Yankee great Derek Jeter makes it even more of a solid center to the set. Adding to the set’s success is the fact that once again, audiences are able to choose the inning at which they start each game. To be even more precise, audiences can choose whether they start at the top of an inning within a given game or at the top of said inning. So rather than be forced to sit through the whole game or fast forward through so much baseball, audiences can pick precisely where the game starts. So if viewers have to stop for any reason, they can just pop in the DVD, pick the inning (and its top or bottom) and go from there. If fast forwarding is still necessary, it won’t have to be but so much as a result of this inclusion. This is a standard that those at MLB Productions have maintained for years. So it is wonderful to see this standard maintained even here. It serves to make the set’s overall presentation even more enjoyable and a success.
MLB fans and Yankees fans alike will appreciate that those with MLB Productions took painstaking efforts to maintain the tradition of excellence established by the company with every one of its releases up to this point including this set. The games included in this set are presented in full. Audiences can once again choose the point at which they start giving games, whether the top or bottom of said inning(s). All of this taken into consideration, Baseball’s Greatest Games: Yankees® Postseason Heroics proves to offer plenty of enjoyment for MLB fans regardless of their team loyalty. There is still one more aspect of this set that makes it a joy for audiences. That last aspect is the fact that the games in this set are presented exactly as they were seen in their original broadcast(s). Game 1 of the team’s 1996 ALCS matchup against the Orioles was originally broadcast on NBC while the other three games were each broadcast on FOX. MLB Productions’ people covered their bases, including a disclaimer noting the potential issues with the games’ video. But the reality is the video looks just fine. As a matter of fact, seeing the games as they looked in their original airings brings back a wonderful sense of nostalgia for fans. Considering that this season hasn’t lived to the hopes and expectations of the team and its fans, that sense of nostalgia is especially welcome for the members of the Yankees nation. Together with the aforementioned aspects of the set, the presentation of each game from its original broadcast rounds out Baseball’s Greatest Games: Yankees® Postseason Heroics and makes it complete. It is one more reason that audiences, regardless of allegiance, will welcome this latest collection of games from MLB Productions and A&E Home Video.
MLB Productions and A&E Home Video have a long history together, releasing wonderful pieces of baseball’s history every year. Baseball’s Greatest Games: Yankees® Postseason Heroics is one more wonderful piece of that history. The inclusion of four games in their entirety proves that right off the top. That audiences can once more choose where they start viewing each game makes it even more of an enjoyable experience. And the still quality video and audio mix of all four games rounds out the entire set. All things considered, Baseball’s Greatest Games: Yankees® Postseason Heroics proves to be its own home run for any Yankees loyalist and any true-blooded baseball fan in general. It is available now in stores and online and can be ordered direct from The Lionsgate online store at http://www.lionsgateshop.com/product.asp?Id=31220&TitleParentId=9945. More information on this and other releases from Lionsgate and A&E Home Video is available online at:
Lionsgate
Website: http://www.lionsgate.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lionsgate
Twitter: http://twitter.com/linosgatemovies
A&E Home Video
Website: http://www.aetv.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AETV
Twitter: http://twitter.com/AEHomeEnt
MLB Productions
Website: http://mlbproductions.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mlbprod
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