MLB will be teaming up with Fox Sports 1 for an eight episode reality show called Mission October, focusing on MLB teams in the postseason hunt.

The show, which will air starting Monday, August 26th at 7:30 PM, will air for seven straight weeks heading into the MLB playoffs. The eighth and final episode will air on the Monday after the World Series concludes. Each episode will focus on one team in the playoff picture and will take fans into the clubhouse and behind the scenes as each team featured looks to keep their seasons moving into October.

The first episode this Monday will center around the first place Pittsburgh Pirates, who haven't had a winning season in 1992 but have had a resurgent 2013 to put them in the thick of the playoff picture in the National League.

Aside from the Pirates, I'd expect for more American League teams to be featured than National League teams, just because of how much closer the playoff races are in the junior circuit. In the NL, only the Diamondbacks are above .500 and not in the playoffs. Contrast that to the AL, where there are four teams above .500 still trying to break into the playoff picture, including the Yankees.

This is the first step towards a partnership between MLB and Fox that will explode in 2014 with the broadcasting of regular season games on Fox Sports 1. Documentary series like this are generally pretty good, and I'm sure the people at Fox and MLB are going to put together a solid product. If you want to think of a possible template for this show, take a look at BTN's The Journey, which spends each episode following two or three players on teams in the Big Ten and exploring their preparation for a big game along with their back story.

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.

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