It might be the heart of winter, but it’s never too early to start talking baseball.
Today, ESPN announced its early-season 2015 Sunday Night Baseball schedule, as well as its Opening Day schedule.
Big games, big stars and big rivalries abound on Sunday Night Baseball, the sport’s biggest stage. On April 5, the St. Louis Cardinals visit the new-look Chicago Cubs (8 p.m. ET, ESPN2).
Sunday Night’s Dan Shulman and Buster Olney are both entering their fifth seasons as part of the crew – Dan doing play-by-play, Buster reporting. They will be joined once again by analysts Curt Schilling and John Kruk as the quartet enters its second official season together, but its first full season as a group (Schilling missed a large chunk of 2014 while battling cancer).
Shulman, Olney and ESPN MLB coordinating producer Fernando Lopez shared their thoughts on Opening Night on Sunday Night Baseball:
Shulman: “Opening Day is always a day I look forward to, and the prospect of a [new Cubs pitcher] Jon Lester-Adam Wainwright Opening Night matchup makes that game even that much more compelling.”
Olney: “I can’t wait for the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs on Opening Night with all the renovations going on with the Cubs: the manager, the ballpark, the roster, the rotation. When they signed Jon Lester, I thought immediately about how he almost certainly will throw the first pitch of the 2015 season.”
Lopez: “It’s Wainwright versus Lester and two of the best managers in the Major Leagues [the Cubs’ Joe Maddon and Cardinals’ Mike Matheny]. It’s being played at the second-oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball at Wrigley Field. What is not to like about Opening Night?”
