If YES Network doesn’t have the New York Yankees on Opening Day, Michael Kay will be “red-hot.”
ESPN announced last week that it’ll showcase both the American League and National League pennant winners from 2024 on Opening Day next season.
The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers will anchor doubleheader coverage of Major League Baseball’s Opening Day in 2025. An afternoon tilt between the Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers will kick off the league’s national television schedule at 3 p.m. ET. Then, at 7 p.m. ET, the Dodgers will take on the Detroit Tigers.
And to say Kay is upset is putting it mildly.
“For 37 years, I’ve either written or announced Opening Day,” Kay exclaimed. “I’m hoping it’s (ESPN’s got the whole country, but YES still covers it), but if it’s exclusive, I might weep. Is it wrong if I weep?… I don’t. I don’t like the feeling.”
Co-hosts Don La Greca and Peter Rosenberg suggested that Kay make some phone calls to resolve the issue, but that didn’t seem like a tangible solution to the Yankees’ play-by-play voice. He joked that he would call his psychiatrist (Kay doesn’t have a physiatrist) but also scoffed at the idea of dialing Hal Steinbrenner’s number.
“You think Hal could change that?” he asked.
Some 15 seconds later, Kay was informed that it was 100 percent an ESPN-exclusive game.
It sure sounds like Kay will be there one way or another, as he wants to take his young son, Charlie, to Opening Day. But still, a streak of 37 years is bound to be broken, even if Kay is in attendance and he was having a hard time piecing it together.
“But why? Why can’t ESPN do it around the country and let YES have the local?” He asked.
“No offense, Michael, I really don’t think ESPN was thinking about you,” said La Greca.
“No, I’m sure they never do,” Kay added. “They haven’t lately.”
Perhaps ESPN can have Kay be part of its national broadcast, as he is an announcer for a select few MLB games on ESPN. Karl Ravech and Jon ‘Boog’ Sciambi are the network’s top baseball announcers, so Kay offered to be a sideline reporter for the game or even do it on ESPN Radio.
“The main broadcast crew will do one of the games, and maybe that’s the Dodgers because they’re the defending champs,” he said. “This could be my London game.”
Kay, Dan Orlovsky and Louis Riddick on Yankees Opening Day, anyone?
It’s the Steve Levy game, if you will.
[The Michael Kay Show]