Sports Media Report
ESPN will open its 30th season of Major League Baseball coverage with 14 season-opening games, beginning with an Opening Day tripleheader on Thursday, March 28, 2019. At 1 p.m. ET, the New York Yankees and Aaron Judge will host the Baltimore Orioles and Trey Mancini. At 4 p.m., the National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw will host the Arizona Diamondbacks and Paul Goldschmidt. And, at 7 p.m., the defending World Series Champion Boston Red Sox and American League M.V.P. Mookie Betts will visit the Seattle Mariners and Robinson Cano in an exclusive ESPN telecast. All ESPN MLB games are also available on the ESPN App.
The 30th season of Sunday Night Baseball presented by Taco Bell – the exclusive, national MLB game of the week – opens on Sunday, March 31, with a National League showdown set for 7 p.m. It will pit the Philadelphia Phillies and Rhys Hoskins against the Atlanta Braves and Freddie Freeman from Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pa. Sunday Night Baseball is available on ESPN, the ESPN App, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes and ESPN Deportes Radio. Prior to Sunday Night Baseball on March 31, the Texas Rangers and Joey Gallo will host the Chicago Cubs and Anthony Rizzo on ESPN at 4 p.m. as they open their final season at Globe Life Park.
ESPN’s season-opening MLB schedule will continue on Monday, April 1, with more than 12 consecutive hours of baseball across a quadrupleheader. First, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Starling Marte will host the St. Louis Cardinals and Yadier Molina at 1 p.m. Then at 4 p.m., the Cleveland Indians and Francisco Lindor will host the Chicago White Sox and Jose Abreu. At 7 p.m., the Braves and Freeman will host the Cubs and Kris Bryant. The slate concludes with the 10 p.m. game – the Dodgers and Yasiel Puig will host their long-time rivals, the San Francisco Giants, and Buster Posey.
ESPN’s MLB coverage will continue on Wednesday, April 3, when the Braves and Cubs make their third season-opening appearances on ESPN as they square off at 7 p.m. On Sunday, April 7, the Dodgers will visit the Colorado Rockies and Nolan Arenado on Sunday Night Baseball presented by Taco Bell, with a special start time of 8:30 p.m.
On Monday, April 8, the Yankees will visit the Astros in a matchup of American League heavyweights. The telecast airs at 8 p.m. on ESPN’s Monday Night Baseball.
ESPN’s season-opening slate continues on Tuesday, April 9, with the Red Sox home-opener at Fenway Park at 2 p.m. The telecast will include the live banner raising ceremony. The Red Sox will then host the Toronto Blue Jays and Justin Smoak. The 14-game season-opening schedule concludes at 8 p.m. when the Yankees battle the Astros on ESPN.
