We may be in college basketball mode with the NCAA Tournament, but it’s getting close to baseball Opening Day. ESPN will air three games on Opening Day. This includes the Season Opening Night game between the defending World Champion San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.
ESPN will use Opening Day and Night to debut its new Sunday, Monday and Wednesday Night Baseball announcing teams. Take a look at the press release below.
ESPN to Televise Six MLB Games to Start 2011 Season
ESPN’s New Sunday Night Baseball Team to Call Three Games in Four Days; Baseball Tonight Debuts On-Site Show April 3
ESPN will begin its 22nd season of Major League Baseball coverage with six games from March 31 through April 3, including Opening Night showcasing the defending World Champion San Francisco Giants visiting rival Los Angeles Dodgers at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. The game will mark the regular-season debut of ESPN’s new Sunday Night Baseball commentator team of Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser and Bobby Valentine, with reporter Wendi Nix. It will also mark the debut of ESPN Radio’s new Sunday Night Baseball team of Jon Sciambi and Chris Singleton (coverage beginning at 7 p.m.). Opening Night will be available via ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com and ESPN Mobile TV.
Shulman, Hershiser and Valentine will hit the road to call three games in four days during MLB Opening Week, including the Boston Red Sox at Texas Rangers (with reporter Buster Olney) on Friday, April 1, at 4 p.m. on ESPN, before returning to Los Angeles (with reporters Nix and Olney) for Dodgers vs. Giants on Sunday, April 3, at 8 p.m. on ESPN2.
Opening Day will also feature the regular-season debuts of the new Monday Night Baseball and Wednesday Night Baseball commentator teams. Monday Night’s Sean McDonough, Aaron Boone and Rick Sutcliffe will call games on back-to-back days – the Detroit Tigers at New York Yankees (with reporters Olney and Tim Kurkjian) on March 31 at 1 p.m. on ESPN, followed by the Houston Astros at Philadelphia Phillies (with reporter Kurkjian) on April 1 at 1 p.m. on ESPN. Wednesday Night’s Dave O’Brien and Nomar Garciaparra, with reporter Pedro Gomez, will debut on Opening Day for the San Diego Padres at St. Louis Cardinals at 4 p.m. on ESPN. All MLB games airing on ESPN throughout the season will also be available via ESPN3.com and ESPN Mobile TV.
In addition to Opening Night, ESPN Radio’s Sciambi and Singleton will also provide commentary for Red Sox/Rangers on April 1 (coverage beginning at 3:30 p.m.), Padres/Cardinals on April 2 (3 p.m.) and Giants/Dodgers on April 3 (7 p.m.).
ESPN’s Opening Week game schedule with commentator assignments:
Date Time (ET) Teams/Commentators Network Thu, March 31 1 p.m. Detroit at N.Y. Yankees
Sean McDonough, Rick Sutcliffe, Aaron Boone, Tim Kurkjian, Buster OlneyESPN, ESPN3.com, ESPN Mobile TV 4 p.m. San Diego at St. Louis
Dave O’Brien, Nomar Garciaparra, Pedro GomezESPN 8 p.m. San Francisco at L.A. Dodgers
Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser, Bobby Valentine, Wendi NixESPN, ESPN3.com, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Radio Fri, April 1 1 p.m. Houston at Philadelphia
Sean McDonough, Rick Sutcliffe, Aaron Boone, Tim KurkjianESPN 4 p.m. Boston at Texas
Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser, Bobby Valentine, Buster OlneyESPN, ESPN3.com, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN Radio Sat, April 2 3 p.m. San Diego at St. Louis ESPN Radio Sun, April 3 8 p.m. San Francisco at L.A. Dodgers
Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser, Bobby Valentine, Wendi Nix, Buster OlneyESPN2, ESPN Radio Baseball Tonight Road Shows Begin April 3
ESPN’s Baseball Tonight will regularly travel to the site of Sunday Night Baseball this season, beginning with the Giants at Dodgers on April 3, with shows each Sunday at 12:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. (generally on ESPN). Hosted by Karl Ravech (entering his 17th season hosting the show) with analysts John Kruk and Barry Larkin, Sunday Night Baseball analysts Hershiser and Valentine, along with reporters Olney and Nix, Baseball Tonight will also feed content throughout the day to ESPN’s news and information shows and ESPN.com, ESPN Mobile TV and ESPN Radio. The set for Sunday’s Baseball Tonight will be positioned outside of the ballpark to capture the atmosphere as fans enter the venue during the 7 p.m. show.
Baseball Tonight will televise three shows on Thursday, March 31 – noon, 7 p.m. and midnight (9 p.m. PT) on ESPN – and a pair of shows on Friday, April 1 (noon on ESPN and midnight on ESPN2). Baseball Tonight is generally televised at 10 p.m. and midnight throughout the season with Sunday shows at 12:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Baseball Tonight’s deep roster of commentators includes hosts Ravech, Nix and Steve Berthiaume and analysts Kruk, Larkin, Valentine, Hershiser, Boone, Garciaparra, Kurkjian, Olney, Eduardo Perez, Singleton and Dave Winfield.
ESPN’s 22nd Season of MLB Coverage
Entering its 22nd season of MLB coverage, ESPN is the home of Sunday Night Baseball – the only exclusive, national game of the week – the Home Run Derby, weekly Monday Night Baseball and Wednesday Night Baseball telecasts, and Baseball Tonight. ESPN Radio, in its 14th season, exclusively broadcast Sunday Night games, a Saturday Game of the Week, Memorial, Independence and Labor Day doubleheaders, MLB All-Star festivities, select primetime pennant race games in September, and every postseason game through the World Series. ESPN Deportes televises Sunday Night Baseball games, and ESPN3.com and ESPN Mobile TV will provide coverage of ESPN games throughout the season.
And that is it.
– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
