The band shows their humorous side in the 30 second clip

Metallica are not newcomers when it comes to baseball. After all, they just celebrated the second annual Metallica Night with the San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees relief pitcher Mariano Rivera, who retired at the end of last season, used the band’s “Enter Sandman” as his entrance music. Now, the band can be seen in a new This Is SportsCenter ad to make it’s ESPN debut during the MLB All-Star Home Run Derby tonight (July 14th) on the cable network.

Ulrich says it’s not that often the band gets to show its humorous side.

“Sometimes it can be quite freeing to put yourself at the mercy of others,” Lars Ulrich tells Rolling Stone about shooting the ad at the ESPN Studios in Bristol, CT in May. “ESPN’s commercials have a tendency to be hilarious. We were like, ‘That sounds like a good time.’ The whole thing had an overriding impulsivity to it.”

The band is excited about the project and their association with the popular TV network.

“For twenty years ESPN anchors, athletes, and the occasional non-sports personality have filmed a number of humorous, memorable commercials,” the band writes on its website, “so we were honored when they asked us to be a part of the fun. We had a blast spending time at the SportsCenter studios and our thanks to everyone from ESPN for an unforgettable day.”

SportsCenter anchors Jay Harris, Scott Van Pelt and Stuart Scott all make an appearance in the 30 second ad which can be seen below.