ESPN Reveals 2012 Sunday Night Baseball Slate

ESPN unveiled it’s the first half of its 2012 Sunday Night Baseball schedule yesterday, highlighted by a string of seven games featuring at least one playoff team to open the season. Game selections for the remainder of the season will be made three weeks (June and most of July) or two weeks (August and September) in advance.

This season will mark the debut of analyst Terry Francona, who joins play-by-play commentator Dan Shulman and analyst Orel Hershiser in the Sunday Night Baseball booth. Francona replaces Bobby Valentine, who left to succeed Francona as the manager of the Boston Red Sox.

Other Sunday Night Baseball highlights will include the Los Angeles Angels and Albert Pujols visiting the New York Yankees on April 15; two rivalry matchups between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees (April 22 and July 8); multiple appearances by the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals (May 20 and July 15, in addition to Opening Night April 4); and three appearances by the defending AL pennant winters Texas Rangers on April 8 and 29 and May 13.

The Sunday Night Baseball schedule as selected to date follows (all telecasts begin at 8 p.m. ET).

• April 8 Chicago White Sox at Texas
• April 15 L.A. Angels at N.Y. Yankees
• April 22 Yankees at Boston
• April 29 Tampa Bay at Texas
• May 6 Philadelphia at Washington
• May 13 Angels at Texas
• May 20 St. Louis at L.A. Dodgers
• May 27 Washington at Atlanta
• June 3-July 1 TBD
• July 8 Yankees at Boston
• July 15 St. Louis at Cincinnati
• July 22-Sept 23 TBD

MLB Opening Week on ESPN
ESPN’s 23rd season of Major League Baseball will also open with five games in three days on ESPN and ESPN 2, highlighted by an exclusive Opening Night telecast of the St. Louis Cardinals visiting the Miami Marlins, in the debut of Marlins Park on April 4. The four other telecasts will appear on ESPN 2 and consist of the Detroit Tigers at the Boston Red Sox and the Marlins at the Cincinnati Reds on April 5, as well as the Arizona Diamondbacks at the San Francisco Giants and the Angles at the Kansas City Royals on April 6.

Sunday Night games are also available via ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN3 and ESPN Mobile TV. ESPN Radio’s Sunday Night Baseball broadcast team will again be play-by-play commentator Jon Sciambi and analyst Chris Singleton. ESPN Radio, entering its 15th season of MLB coverage, will also broadcast a game of the week each Saturday during the regular season, the State Farm Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, and every Division Series, League Championship Series and World Series game.