Before the White Sox play in a cornfield on Fox, they’ll play at Wrigley Field on ABC.
For the first time in the 32-year history of ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball,” the broadcast will air exclusively on ABC when the Sox visit the Cubs this weekend. The “SNB” crew of play-by-play voice Matt Vasgersian, analyst Alex Rodriguez and reporter Buster Olney will call the game from the ballpark donning classic ABC Sports patches. (Sadly, no yellow jackets.)
ESPN had been looking to put “SNB” on broadcast TV for a while, but ABC had been locked into programming on Sunday nights. A window opened this weekend, and ESPN chose Sox-Cubs. The network made the selection almost a month before the Cubs’ sell-off at the trade deadline.
To commemorate ABC’s first regular-season MLB game since 1995 (the network aired wild-card series games last year), the broadcast will include flashbacks to memorable baseball moments on ABC and tributes to announcers who called them. Al Michaels, the 2021 Ford C. Frick Award winner and former MLB on ABC voice, will join the broadcast via FaceTime in the fourth or fifth inning.
It feels as though what’s old is new again as ESPN puts games on broadcast TV despite the trend toward streaming. The network will simulcast its NFL Week 1 “Monday Night Football” game on ABC, as well as its Week 18 Saturday doubleheader. Parent company Disney is aiming to take advantage of all its platforms by putting some games on ABC, and it will look to add more “SNB” broadcasts next season.
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