The 2023 MLB season has been in the books for only a couple of weeks now, but we’re already looking ahead to 2024. On Monday, ESPN announced its 2024 Opening Night broadcast.
The reigning World Champion Texas Rangers will open the season on ESPN, hosting the Chicago Cubs on Thursday, March 28 at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Notably, the game will be going head-to-head with Sweet 16 games from the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
ESPN’s release also notes that the incumbent Sunday Night Baseball team of Karl Ravech, David Cone, Eduardo Perez, and Buster Olney will call the game.
ESPN choosing to open the season with the Rangers, fresh off the franchise’s first World Championship, isn’t exactly a surprise. This season, ESPN opened the year with the Astros raising their World Series banner and hosting the White Sox. Last season, though the announcement was delayed due to the lockout, ESPN started the season with the Braves celebrating their World Series and hosting the Reds.
The rest of ESPN’s schedule for the 2024 season, including the slate of preselected Sunday Night Baseball games, has yet to be announced. The early schedule for the 2023 season was announced in mid-December. The company didn’t stick around in Houston after Opening Night, instead traveling to Arlington to air Phillies-Rangers in the Sunday Night Baseball opener.
If that pattern holds in 2024, there are plenty of other interesting-looking games on the schedule, including Braves-Phillies, Yankees-Astros, Giants-Padres, Cardinals-Dodgers, and Blue Jays-Rays. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if ESPN took the same trip as last year in reverse, starting the season in Arlington Thursday before heading to Houston on Sunday.
[ESPN]
