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All Starts March 29 with Four Games, 13+ Hours of Consecutive Coverage
New Sunday Night Baseball Team Makes Regular Season Debut on Thursday for Giants-Dodgers
20+ ESPN MLB Commentators, Analysts & Reporters Combine to Call Opening Week Slate on TV & Radio
ESPN.com Writers on Site at All 15 Opening Day Games Across the League
ESPN’s MLB season-opening schedule will feature 10 games over six days with multiple appearances by the defending World Series Champion Houston Astros, including their home opener and banner reveal on April 2. It all begins on Thursday, March 29, with four games and more than 13 consecutive hours of Opening Day coverage on ESPN presented by Coca-Cola starting at noon ET with Baseball Tonight presented by Coca-Cola on ESPN2.
The new Sunday Night Baseball team of play-by-play voice Matt Vasgersian, World Series Champion Alex Rodriguez and Olympic Gold Medalist Jessica Mendoza, with Buster Olney reporting make their regular season debut on Opening Day at 7 p.m. when the Los Angeles Dodgers host the San Francisco Giants on ESPN. On April 1, they call their first Sunday Night Baseball presented Taco Bell telecast as the Dodgers and Giants return to start off the 29th season of ESPN’s exclusive game of the week at 8:30 p.m.
Rotating teams of play-by-play voices Karl Ravech, Jon Sciambi, Dave Flemming and Dan Shulman paired with analysts Eduardo Perez, Tim Kurkjian, Rick Sutcliffe, David Ross and Mark Teixeira will call the remaining eight opening week games.
Fernando Álvarez, Luis Alfredo Álvarez, Guillermo Celis, Ernesto Jerez and Enrique Rojas will combine to cover the 10-game schedule on ESPN Deportes. Giants-Dodgers on Opening Day and the Sunday Night Baseball premiere will also be on ESPN Radio Deportes. ESPN MLB reporter Marly Rivera will also be covering opening week across TV and digital.
Baseball Tonight
ESPN’s MLB pre-game show Baseball Tonight: Sunday Night Countdown presented by Chevrolet will make its 2018 debut on April 1 with host Adnan Virk and Teixeira. The duo will also be joined by recently announced ESPN Baseball Tonight analyst and World Series Champion manager, John Farrell. The telecast will lead into Giants-Dodgers on the 2018 premiere of Sunday Night Baseball.
The Baseball Tonight – 2018 Preview Show presented by Coca-Cola will lead into Opening Day on Wednesday, March 28 at midnight (ESPN2). Virk, Teixeira and Farrell will provide all the need-to-know storylines before the regular season gets underway. Baseball Tonight presented by Coca-Cola will have two half-hour shows at noon (ESPN2) and 6:30 p.m. (ESPN) on Opening Day and a one-hour long show at 4 p.m. (ESPN) on April 1. On April 2, Baseball Tonight with Virk and Farrell will showcase the Astros World Series banner reveal ceremony at 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
MLB Intentional Talk with Chris Rose and 2004 World Series Champion Kevin Millar, will have one-hour shows on April 2 (ESPN) and April 3 (ESPN2) from 4-5 p.m.
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio will have a three-game slate across opening week, starting with Giants-Dodgers on Opening Day. Play-by-play voice Roxy Bernstein will have the call with analyst Chris Singleton. Singleton returns on April 1, to join Jon Sciambi in the booth for their 2018 Sunday Night Baseball debut. The following day, Flemming and Singleton will have the call on ESPN Radio when the Tampa Bay Rays take on the New York Yankees at 1 p.m.
ESPN.com
ESPN.com writers will be reporting on site from all 15 Opening Day games across Major League Baseball as every team plays its first game on the same day.
| ESPN.com Writers | Game |
| Jesse Rogers | Chicago Cubs at Miami Marlins |
| Michael Rothstein | Pittsburgh Pirates at Detroit Tigers |
| Kieran Darcy | St. Louis Cardinals at New York Mets |
| Eddie Matz | Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles |
| Jerry Crasnick | Houston Astros at Texas Rangers |
| Coley Harvey | New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays |
| Scott Lauber | Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays |
| Paul Gutierrez | Los Angeles Angels at Oakland Athletics |
| Alden Gonzalez | Milwaukee Brewers at San Diego Padres |
| Vaughn McClure | Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves |
| Katherine Terrell | Washington Nationals at Cincinnati Reds |
| Adam Teicher | Chicago White Sox at Kansas City Royals |
| Brad Doolittle | San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers |
| Brady Henderson | Cleveland Indians at Seattle Mariners |
| Josh Weinfuss | Colorado Rockies at Arizona Diamondbacks |
*ESPN games in italics
SportsCenter
ESPN’s New York Yankees reporter Coley Harvey will be providing on-site updates on SportsCenter from each of the team’s games during the first week of the season. He will join the full team of ESPN MLB voices contributing live updates and reports from stadiums across the slate of opening week games from March 29-April 3.
SportsCenter will also have reporter coverage of Shohei Ohtani’s regular season, opening series with the Los Angeles Angels when the team visits the Oakland Athletics.
All ESPN game and studio programming on TV and radio are also available streaming on the ESPN App.
Opening Week Schedule
| Date | Time (ET) | Matchups/Commentators | Network(s) |
| Wed, Mar 28 | Midnight | Baseball Tonight – 2018 Preview Show presented by Coca-Cola
Adnan Virk, Mark Teixeira, John Farrell |
ESPN2 |
| Thu, Mar 29 | Noon | Baseball Tonight presented by Coca-Cola
Adnan Virk, Mark Teixeira, John Farrell |
ESPN2 |
| 12:30 p.m. | Chicago Cubs at Miami Marlins telecast presented by Coca-Cola*
Karl Ravech, Eduardo Perez, Tim Kurkjian |
ESPN, ESPN Deportes | |
| 3:30 p.m. | Houston Astros at Texas Rangers telecast presented by Coca-Cola
Jon Sciambi, Rick Sutcliffe |
ESPN, ESPN Deportes | |
| 6:30 p.m. | Baseball Tonight presented by Coca-Cola
Adnan Virk, Mark Teixeira, John Farrell |
ESPN | |
| 7 p.m. | San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers telecast presented by Coca-Cola
Matt Vasgersian, Jessica Mendoza, Alex Rodriguez, Buster Olney |
ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Deportes Radio | |
| 10 p.m. | Cleveland Indians at Seattle Mariners telecast presented by Coca-Cola
Dave Flemming, David Ross |
ESPN, ESPN Deportes | |
| Sun, Apr 1 | 1 p.m. | St. Louis Cardinals at New York Mets telecast presented by Coca-Cola**
Karl Ravech, Eduardo Perez, Tim Kurkjian |
ESPN, ESPN Deportes |
| 4 p.m. | Baseball Tonight presented by Coca-Cola
Adnan Virk, Mark Teixeira, John Farrell |
ESPN | |
| 7:30 p.m. | Baseball Tonight: Sunday Night Countdown presented by Chevrolet
Adnan Virk, Mark Teixeira, John Farrell |
ESPN2 | |
| 8:30 p.m. | San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers telecast presented by Taco Bell
Matt Vasgersian, Jessica Mendoza, Alex Rodriguez, Buster Olney |
ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Deportes Radio | |
| Mon, Apr 2 | 1 p.m. | Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees telecast presented by USAA***
Karl Ravech, Mark Teixeira, Tim Kurkjian |
ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes |
| 4 p.m. | MLB Intentional Talk
Chris Rose, Kevin Millar |
ESPN | |
| 6:30 p.m. | Baseball Tonight presented by Coca-Cola
Adnan Virk, John Farrell |
ESPN2 | |
| 7 p.m. | Baltimore Orioles at Houston Astros telecast presented by USAA
Jon Sciambi, Rick Sutcliffe, Eduardo Perez |
ESPN, ESPN Deportes | |
| 10 p.m. | Cleveland Indians at Los Angeles Angels telecast presented by USAA
Dan Shulman, David Ross |
ESPN2, ESPN Deportes | |
| Tue, Apr 3 | 4 p.m. | MLB Intentional Talk
Chris Rose, Kevin Millar |
ESPN2 |
| 10 p.m. | Cleveland Indians at Los Angeles Angels telecast presented by Hankook Tire
Dan Shulman, David Ross |
ESPN, ESPN Deportes+ |
*Telecast will be subject to blackout restrictions in the Chicago market.
**Telecast will be subject to blackout restrictions in both the St. Louis and New York markets.
***Telecast will be subject to blackout restrictions in the New York market.
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ESPN MLB contacts: Ben Cafardo at 860-766-3496 or [email protected]. Twitter: @Ben_ESPN;
Michael Skarka at 860-766-1342 or [email protected]. Twitter: @Michael_ESPN.
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