Coverage of the MLB Championship Series — 1,680 US articles, ~638K estimated visits. Surprise ran 3.48× above baseline on 523 articles.
Surprise (3.48×) edges excitement (3.02×) even though excitement tags far more articles (71.2% vs 31.1%). Last week's Division Series showed 3.11× vs 2.61×; the Championship Series is the same pattern, intensified by a single decisive sweep.
Each emotion's share within this event's articles compared to its share across the country's network. Lift > 1.5× = over-represented; lift < 0.5× = suppressed — same "×" convention as every weekly card.
A single "excitement" number hides very different stories underneath it. This breaks each of Step 0's top emotions into the specific angles actually driving it within MLB Championship Series coverage — read by an LLM across the top 100 articles for that emotion, not a fixed taxonomy.
Top internal articles per emotion grouped into nuanced sub-shades anchored in actual article titles and editorial angles.
Reaction to Milwaukee sweeping the defending champions, including Shohei Ohtani's slump and 'who's to blame' columns.
Surprise with excitement — an upset to witness.
Milwaukee fans surprised by World Series ticket prices.
Surprise with anger — joy at the Series, frustration at the price.
The sections above describe what MLB Championship Series coverage actually feels like. This is what to do with that read: which emotional registers to lean into, which to avoid, and where the coverage is genuinely under-bought for a brand activating around it.
A mid-sized, clean story (1,680 articles, ~638K estimated visits) where surprise and excitement run at roughly 3×; creative that plays on an underdog's moment fits the mood.
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