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On Monday, ESPN released their Sunday Night Baseball schedule for the 2016 Major League Baseball season, and there are — as you expected — zero games on the slate involving the Colorado Rockies. Such is the result of being a bad ball club in a smaller media market.
Enjoy a few highlights from ESPN's press release:
- Multiple appearances by several teams expected to contend in 2016: Boston Red Sox; Los Angeles Dodgers; New York Mets; New York Yankees; and San Francisco Giants;
- Sunday Night Baseball to document Boston Red Sox icon David Ortiz’s final season across four early appearances;
- The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox renew their rivalry three times, including back-to-back weeks (May 1, May 8, July 17);
- NL West rivals: Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants will square off twice (April 17, June 12);
The Worldwide Leader will be there to admire — in an unbiased way, of course — David Ortiz's final season, while also showing back-to-back-to-back Red Sox games from late April to early May (against the Astros, and then twice with the Yankees).
In the ten weeks of programming ESPN announced, their ten national games feature 13 teams. The Arizona Diamondbacks, who added Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller this offseason, will make their first appearance on the network since 2008 (!) in July.
After July 17, the rest of the year's schedule will be determined several weeks in advance, presumably based upon league standings and games with potential playoff matchups or implications. The Rockies have little chance of making it onto national TV there, either.
In addition to Sunday Night Baseball, ESPN also announced their Opening Day docket of games — seven across Sunday, April 3 and Monday, April 4. None of those matchups include your Rockies, either.
Let's do this, ROOT Sports.