It should come as no surprise that when ESPN announced their 2012 Sunday Night Baseball schedule of telecasts that we’d find the Boston Red Sox playing the New York Yankees twice.
The good thing is that we’ll be able to listen to Terry Francona every Sunday night since he’ll be a part of the broadcast crew replacing new Red Sox skipper Bobby Valentine. I do have to wonder if Tito will ask for those nights off since he knows he’ll be at the ballpark broadcasting a game for at least four-five hours.
Here’s the release from ESPN:
ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball Presented by Taco Bell – the exclusive, national game of the week – will continue to showcase Major League Baseball’s top teams and biggest stars throughout 2012. The Sunday Night Baseball schedule will feature the Los Angeles Angels and offseason acquisition Albert Pujols visiting the New York Yankees and Derek Jeter 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 Texas Rangers – the defending AL pennant winners – April 8 and 29 and May 13.
ESPN’s first seven Sunday Night games will feature at least one playoff team and several of MLB’s biggest stars will be on display, including the Angels’ Pujols; the Yankees’ Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano; Boston’s Adrian Gonzalez, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury; Texas’ Josh Hamilton; Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria; Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard and Chase Utley; St. Louis’ Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman; Dodgers slugger Matt Kemp; Atlanta’s Chipper Jones and Brian McCann; Chicago’s Paul Konerko; and Washington’s Ryan Zimmerman.
This season will also 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. 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.
The Sunday Night Baseball schedule as selected to date follows (all telecasts begin at 8 p.m. ET). Game selections for the remainder of the season will be made three weeks (June and July 1, 22 and 29) or two weeks (August and September) in advance.
ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball Schedule
| Date | Teams (all telecasts 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 include five games April 4-6 highlighted by an exclusive Opening Night telecast when the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals visit the Miami Marlins, in the debut of Marlins Park, Wednesday, April 4, at 7 p.m.
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