What you need
- Multimeter for macOS 13 or later, $19.99 once.
- The direct download version of Multimeter from this site (the Script source isn’t in the Mac App Store version).
jqfor picking numbers out of JSON. It comes with macOS 15 and later; on macOS 13 or 14 runbrew install jq.- Your team’s abbreviation as ESPN writes it (DAL, LAL, KC, NYY).
Set it up
- Try it with your team in place of
DAL:Commandcurl -s -m 8 https://site.api.espn.com/apis/site/v2/sports/basketball/nba/scoreboard | jq --arg t DAL '[.events[] | select(.competitions[0].competitors | any(.team.abbreviation == $t))][0] | if . == null then {value: 0, formatted: "no game"} else .competitions[0] as $c | ($c.competitors | map(select(.team.abbreviation == $t))[0]) as $us | ($c.competitors | map(select(.team.abbreviation != $t))[0]) as $them | {value: (($us.score | tonumber) - ($them.score | tonumber)), formatted: ($us.team.abbreviation + " " + $us.score + "-" + $them.score + " " + $them.team.abbreviation + " " + .status.type.shortDetail)} end' - Add a Script meter with it. Refresh every 30 seconds during the game.
- Set the range to -20 to 20 and alerts on Low values: warning at -1, critical at -10. Pick the Mood face or Label & Value.
Multimeter settings
In Customize This Meter… (from the meter’s menu):
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Source | Script |
| Command | the curl … | jq line above |
| Refresh every | 30 seconds |
| Range | -20 to 20 |
| Alerts | Low values: warning -1, critical -10 |
| Face | Label & Value (shows the score text), Mood or Gradient Track |
Tested: Run on October 29, 2026: printed {"value": 0, "formatted": "CLE 0-0 ATL 10/29 - 8:00 PM EDT"} before tip-off and no game for a team without a game that day.
Script meters need the direct download version of Multimeter from this site, which is the one on sale now. How commands run, the PATH they see and the 10 second limit are in the Script meters guide.
Limits
- This reads ESPN’s public scoreboard data, which isn’t an official, documented API: it has been stable for years, but it can change without notice.
Variations
Other leagues
Change the path: football/nfl, baseball/mlb, hockey/nhl, basketball/wnba, football/college-football, soccer/eng.1 (Premier League), soccer/usa.1 (MLS).
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The script didn’t print a number | The command failed or printed an error message instead. | Run the exact command in Terminal. If it works there, check for tools that live outside the meter’s PATH and use their full path (which tool). |
| The script took longer than 10 seconds | A slow network call. Multimeter stops scripts after 10 seconds. | Keep the -m timeout on curl, and refresh less often. |
| Scripts need the version from multimeterapp.com | This copy of Multimeter came from the Mac App Store, which can’t run scripts. | Use the direct download version, or run the command from cron or launchd and point a File meter at its output. |
| Always “no game” | The abbreviation doesn’t match ESPN’s. | Print them all: curl -s URL | jq -r '.events[].competitions[0].competitors[].team.abbreviation'. |
Questions
Does this work in the Mac App Store version?
Script meters need the direct download version from multimeterapp.com, because the App Store sandbox doesn’t let apps run your commands. Web Address, File and Sent Value meters work in every version.