Mid-Season Roster Changes: Keep Caption Files Current
You are back from an evening D1 basketball game with 150 frames on the card and the editor needs captioned selects on a tight turnaround. You load your roster file into Photo Mechanic, drop in the shortcode for jersey number 24, and the name that fills in is wrong. The player wearing 24 today is not the player who wore 24 in November. Welcome to Mid-Season Roster Changes.
Trades, transfers, call-ups, redshirts coming off, freshmen getting numbers, mid-season jersey swaps. Your file from October goes stale faster than most photographers think. SnapCaption handles weekly roster refreshes for the 10 supported leagues so the TSV file you download on game day actually matches the players on the court.
Why Mid-Season Roster Changes Break Your Caption File
A typical NCAA D1 basketball roster shifts three to six times across a single season. A walk-on gets activated. A starter switches to his preferred number when it opens up. A transfer arrives in January. None of those changes get announced to you, the photographer. You find out when the shortcode in Photo Mechanic returns the wrong name.
The cost is not dramatic, it is just slow. You caption the photo, notice the name does not match, and now you are switching tabs to verify against the team site. For more on the workflow itself, loading the TSV into Photo Mechanic code replacement takes about 30 seconds when the file is current.
Refresh the File on Game Day, Not Once a Season
The fix is not to build a smarter file once. It is to make refreshing the file fast enough that you do it before each game. SnapCaption pulls current rosters across NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, NWSL, WNBA, NCAA FBS, NCAA MBB, and NCAA WBB. Updates run weekly, so the file you download Saturday morning reflects Friday transfers.
The workflow stays the same as the first time you set up. Pick the league, select the teams playing, confirm your saved shortcode set, and download the TSV. Load it into Photo Mechanic's code replacement panel and you are back to captioning. When jersey numbers are obscured in your best action frames, the reference frame habit pairs with current roster data to catch identification mistakes before they hit the caption.
Handling Mid-Season Roster Changes Game-Side
Sometimes a change happens between the weekly refresh and the opening tip. A backup gets activated, a number swap is announced in warmups, a transfer makes their debut. The inline grid editor in SnapCaption lets you correct that data before exporting the TSV. Adjust the row, change the jersey number, hit download.
For Mid-Season Roster Changes that hit multiple teams the same week, building a fresh combined file is faster than patching the old one. Pick both teams, confirm columns, download. The duplicate-number resolution still works: football uses position-based suffixes, the other leagues use sequential letters. For the broader naming structure that holds up across a season, the Photo Mechanic shortcodes setup guide covers prefix patterns and column choices.
Fresh rosters in under a minute. Free forever, no credit card.
Add the Roster Refresh to Your Game Day Checklist
Right after you charge batteries and format cards, download a fresh TSV. SnapCaption takes under a minute, the file is current, and your shortcode set stays in place. Mid-Season Roster Changes stop being a surprise once the refresh is part of prep, not an afterthought.
Add your roster. Automate your season.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often does SnapCaption update rosters?
Rosters refresh weekly across all 10 supported leagues. Each new download reflects roster moves from the prior week, so the TSV you grab on game day is current within seven days of any trade, call-up, or jersey change.
What happens to my saved shortcodes when I refresh the file?
Shortcode sets are saved to your SnapCaption account, not the TSV file. When you re-download, only the player data refreshes. Your custom shortcode patterns, column choices, and reusable code sets (refs, venues, action codes) stay in place.
Does SnapCaption handle mid-game jersey changes that happen between weekly refreshes?
Yes. The inline grid editor lets you adjust roster rows before exporting the TSV. If a number swap is announced in warmups or a backup gets activated on game day, edit the affected row, change the jersey number, and re-download. Your Photo Mechanic code replacement picks up the change as soon as you reload the file.
Which leagues does SnapCaption cover for roster data?
Ten leagues: NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, NWSL, WNBA, NCAA FBS (Division 1 football), NCAA MBB (Division 1 men's basketball), and NCAA WBB (Division 1 women's basketball). High school, prep, AAU, and recreational leagues are not supported.
Is there a cost to refresh the file?
No. SnapCaption is free permanently. Create an account at snapcaption.app/register, no credit card required. Re-download the TSV as often as you need throughout the season.
