On Monday, ESPN announced their first nine selections for Sunday Night Baseball in 2023. They’ll broadcast 25 games in that Sunday night slot over the course of the season, plus five games in other slots (including a MLB Opening Night Houston Astros-Chicago White Sox game on March 30). The remaining 16 SNB games will be selected up to two weeks before game date. Here’s the list of the nine announced so far, which feature a whole lot of the Philadelphia Phillies and their big new free agent signing, Trea Turner:
| April 2 | 7 p.m. | Philadelphia Phillies vs. Texas Rangers*
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ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN App |
| April 9 | 7 p.m. | San Diego Padres vs. Atlanta Braves | ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN App |
| April 16 | 7 p.m. | Texas Rangers vs. Houston Astros | ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN App |
| April 23 | 7 p.m. | New York Mets vs. San Francisco Giants* | ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN App |
| April 30 | 7 p.m. | Philadelphia Phillies vs. Houston Astros | ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN App |
| May 28 | 7 p.m. | Philadelphia Phillies vs. Atlanta Braves | ESPN or ESPN2, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN App |
| June 4 | 7 p.m. | New York Yankees vs. Los Angeles Dodgers | ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN App |
| June 18 | 7 p.m. | New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox | ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN App |
| August 20 | 7 p.m. | MLB Little League Classic: Philadelphia Phillies vs. Washington Nationals | ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN App |
(The starred games there will feature a KayRod Cast alternate feed on ESPN2.)
It’s interesting to see the Phillies tabbed four times here, with no other team listed more than twice (the Astros, Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers and New York Yankees each appear twice). Of course, the defending World Series champion Astros will be on ESPN at least three times in the early part of the season, given that previous Opening Night selection. And of course, the Little League Classic matchup was announced last summer, and it’s much later in the season than the majority of the games picked so far, so it’s not certain that the Phillies will actually wind up with the most SNB appearances for the year. But SNB is certainly very interested in them early on. That makes some sense given their on-field success as World Series runner-ups last year, and given their big free agency moves, but it’s still notable to see.
[ESPN Press Room; photo of the Phillies during the first game of the 2022 World Series from Troy Taormina/USA Today Sports]
