MLB Games change from IN back to PRE

[rh37hd]

I am tracking the Milwaukee Brewers via the teamtracker integration. I've noticed that fairly consistently, the status of the game will change from IN, back to PRE, and then back to IN. I can't remember exactly when this started, but I know it did not happen last season.

Here is a screenshot:

I am also using this integration to track NBA and NFL games. As far as I know, this issue does not occur on those (might be too early to tell for NFL).

[vasqued2]

The MLB API has been pretty inconsistent this season. It is not longer providing the count after every pitch for example. I don't keep history so can't tell if this happened to me or not. I'll watch for it but it is likely an issue on the ESPN side.

It's possible that it could be pulling in an upcoming game early but that shouldn't happen. I don't suppose you could confirm the game it pulls in is the same for that entire period and it isn't mistakenly pulling in the upcoming game to early? I don't have this history to validate.

[rh37hd]

Thanks for the response - I don't think I know how to check what game it's pulling since it appears that only the state attribute is tracked historically?

I can definitely check what game it's pointing to the next time this happens.

[vasqued2]

You'd have to look in the recorder database to find the historical attribute values. Catching it next time it occurs is definitely the best. Could even create an automation triggered when the switch occurs and capture the info then.

[rh37hd]

Thanks - I believe I have an automation with logging setup, but of course the issue hasn't occurred the last couple of games. I'll provide an update once it happens again - thanks for your guidance!

[rh37hd]

The issue happened again last night.

Here is the logging I captured (hopefully this is enough?)

trigger: state
entity_id:

• sensor.team_tracker_mlb
  from: IN
  to: PRE

Executed: May 5, 2025 at 7:34:08 PM
Result:

params:
  domain: system_log
  service: write
  service_data:
    message: >-
      sensor.team_tracker_mlb state changed to "PRE". All attributes:
      {"api_message": null, "api_url":
      "http://site.api.espn.com/apis/site/v2/sports/baseball/mlb/scoreboard?lang=en\u0026limit=50",
      "attribution": "Data provided by ESPN", "balls": null, "clock": "5/5 -
      7:40 PM EDT", "date": "2025-05-05T23:40Z", "down_distance_text": null,
      "event_name": "HOU @ MIL", "event_url": null, "friendly_name":
																		  
      "team_tracker_mlb", "icon": "mdi:baseball", "kickoff_in": "54 minutes
      ago", "last_play": null, "last_update": "2025-05-05 19:34:08-05:00",
      "league": "MLB", "league_logo":
      "https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/leagues/500/mlb.png", "league_path":
      "mlb", "location": "Milwaukee, Wisconsin", "odds": "MIL -115", "on_first":
      null, "on_second": null, "on_third": null, "opponent_abbr": "HOU",
      "opponent_colors": ["#002d62", "#eb6e1f"], "opponent_conference_id": null,
      "opponent_homeaway": "away", "opponent_id": "18", "opponent_logo":
      "https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/scoreboard/hou.png",
      "opponent_long_name": "Houston Astros", "opponent_name": "Astros",
      "opponent_rank": null, "opponent_record": "17-16", "opponent_score": "0",
      "opponent_sets_won": null, "opponent_shots_on_target": null,
      "opponent_timeouts": null, "opponent_total_shots": null, "opponent_url":
      "https://www.espn.com/mlb/team/_/name/hou/houston-astros",
      "opponent_win_probability": null, "opponent_winner": null, "outs": null,
      "overunder": 8.5, "possession": null, "quarter": 1, "season":
      "regular-season", "series_summary": null, "sport": "baseball",
      "sport_path": "baseball", "strikes": null, "team_abbr": "MIL",
      "team_colors": ["#13294b", "#ffc72c"], "team_conference_id": null,
      "team_homeaway": "home", "team_id": "8", "team_logo":
      "https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/scoreboard/mil.png",
      "team_long_name": "Milwaukee Brewers", "team_name": "Brewers",
      "team_rank": null, "team_record": "17-18", "team_score": "3",
      "team_sets_won": null, "team_shots_on_target": null, "team_timeouts":
      null, "team_total_shots": null, "team_url":
      "https://www.espn.com/mlb/team/_/name/mil/milwaukee-brewers",
      "team_win_probability": null, "team_winner": null, "tv_network": "MLB.TV",
      "venue": "American Family Field"}
    level: info
  target: {}
running_script: false

For comparison, here is a log of when it changed from Pre To In:

Executed: May 5, 2025 at 6:41:03 PM
Result:

params:
  domain: system_log
  service: write
  service_data:
    message: >-
      sensor.team_tracker_mlb state changed to "IN". All attributes:
      {"api_message": null, "api_url":
      "http://site.api.espn.com/apis/site/v2/sports/baseball/mlb/scoreboard?lang=en\u0026limit=50",
      "attribution": "Data provided by ESPN", "balls": 0, "clock": "Top 1st",
      "date": "2025-05-05T23:40Z", "down_distance_text": null, "event_name":
      "HOU @ MIL", "event_url":
      "https://www.espn.com/mlb/game/_/gameId/401695428", "friendly_name":
      "team_tracker_mlb", "icon": "mdi:baseball", "kickoff_in": "a minute ago",
      "last_play": "Tobias Myers pitches to Jeremy Pena", "last_update":
      "2025-05-05 18:41:03-05:00", "league": "MLB", "league_logo":
      "https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/leagues/500/mlb.png", "league_path":
      "mlb", "location": "Milwaukee, Wisconsin", "odds": null, "on_first":
      false, "on_second": false, "on_third": false, "opponent_abbr": "HOU",
      "opponent_colors": ["#002d62", "#eb6e1f"], "opponent_conference_id": null,
      "opponent_homeaway": "away", "opponent_id": "18", "opponent_logo":
      "https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/scoreboard/hou.png",
      "opponent_long_name": "Houston Astros", "opponent_name": "Astros",
      "opponent_rank": null, "opponent_record": "17-16", "opponent_score": "0",
      "opponent_sets_won": null, "opponent_shots_on_target": null,
      "opponent_timeouts": null, "opponent_total_shots": null, "opponent_url":
      "https://www.espn.com/mlb/team/_/name/hou/houston-astros",
      "opponent_win_probability": 0.0, "opponent_winner": null, "outs": 0,
      "overunder": null, "possession": "18", "quarter": 1, "season":
      "regular-season", "series_summary": null, "sport": "baseball",
      "sport_path": "baseball", "strikes": 0, "team_abbr": "MIL", "team_colors":
      ["#13294b", "#ffc72c"], "team_conference_id": null, "team_homeaway":
      "home", "team_id": "8", "team_logo":
      "https://a.espncdn.com/i/teamlogos/mlb/500/scoreboard/mil.png",
      "team_long_name": "Milwaukee Brewers", "team_name": "Brewers",
      "team_rank": null, "team_record": "17-18", "team_score": "0",
      "team_sets_won": null, "team_shots_on_target": null, "team_timeouts":
      null, "team_total_shots": null, "team_url":
      "https://www.espn.com/mlb/team/_/name/mil/milwaukee-brewers",
      "team_win_probability": 0.0, "team_winner": null, "tv_network": "MLB.TV",
      "venue": "American Family Field"}
    level: info
  target: {}
running_script: false

[vasqued2]

Thanks. Exactly what I was looking for. This is definitely caused by the data coming back from the API and not the sensor itself getting confused.

I will ask around and see if others using the API are seeing similar problems. It's at least theoretically possible something in cache is causing problems too. This gives me enough to dig but probably nothing I will be able to do.

Thanks

[Morpheus2018]

For Tennis ATP and WTA the same behavior is observed during the live broadcast, several times switches from "IN" to "POST" or "PRE" was observed.