ESPN will air four live MLB Spring Training games, with six more airing on ESPN+

MLB Spring Training is upon us, and to fill out a week of daytime programming, ESPN announced that the network will air four live games.

Here’s the schedule of those games, which will all air on ESPN proper and stream on the ESPN app.

• Monday, February 27th: Mets vs Cardinals
• Tuesday, February 28th: Astros vs Mets
• Wednesday, March 1st: Nationals vs Yankees
• Thursday, March 2nd: Phillies vs Red Sox

The Tuesday and Wednesday games will all be called by the trio of Kevin Brown, Jessica Mendoza, and Tim Kurkjian. The Monday and Thursday games will both feature Karl Ravech, Eduardo Perez, and Buster Olney, with David Cone joining the team on Monday and Kurkjian being added for Thursday.

Additionally, six games later in the spring will air on ESPN+.

• Thursday, March 23rd: Yankees vs Cardinals
• Friday, March 24th: Phillies vs Blue Jays
• Saturday, March 25th: Cardinals vs Mets
• Sunday, March 26th: Blue Jays vs Yankees
• Monday, March 27th: Dodgers vs Angels
• Tuesday, March 28th: Braves vs Red Sox

ESPN’s regular season MLB coverage begins on Thursday, March 30th with a previously announced primetime broadcast of White Sox-Astros.

So, why isn’t ESPN airing more Spring Training games? College basketball, naturally. ESPN’s schedule is loaded with conference tournaments over the first week and a half of March, and over the rest of the month, many days are occupied by the Women’s NCAA Tournament.

While a game schedule hasn’t been announced yet, MLB Network traditionally airs more than its share of Spring Training games, both live and on a delay, which will provide fans with a fix of games prior to the start of the 2023 season.

The World Baseball Classic will also take place in March, airing on Fox’s various platforms.

[ESPN]