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Pitchers and catchers do not report to Major League Baseball spring training quite yet, but ESPN has announced the initial schedule for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. It should not be a surprise that the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies will appear in six out of the 12 games that are locked in place.


Fans of other teams may hate this, but these are the teams (well at least the Yankees are the team), that deliver the highest baseball ratings on national network telecasts.

Here is the schedule for the games that are locked in place, followed by the ESPN press release.

ESPN'S Sunday Night Baseball Schedule for 2010

(8 p.m. ET unless noted)

April 4   Opening Night: New York Yankees at Boston (ESPN2 HD)
April 11 St. Louis at Milwaukee
April 18 New York Mets at St. Louis
April 25 Atlanta at N.Y. Mets
May 2 N.Y. Mets at Philadelphia
May 9 N.Y. Yankees at Boston
May 16 Philadelphia at Milwaukee
May 23 N.Y. Yankees at N.Y. Mets
May 30 Texas at Minnesota (ESPN2 HD)
July 4 Kansas City at L.A. Angels
July 11 Chicago Cubs at L.A. Dodgers
July 18 Philadelphia at Chicago Cubs (6 p.m.)

ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball Features Star-Studded Early Season Schedule

ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball – the exclusive, national game of the week – will showcase a star-studded early season schedule, including three appearances by the World Champion New York Yankees and National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies. The Sunday Night Baseball lineup will also include multiple appearances by the Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals.

Major League Baseball’s elite players will also be on display, including the defending champion New York Yankees’ Derek Jeter, league MVP winners Joe Mauer (A.L., Minnesota) and Albert Pujols (N.L., St. Louis), the Angels’ Torii Hunter, Atlanta’s Chipper Jones, Boston’s David Ortiz, Philadelphia’s Chase Utley, the Mets’ David Wright, Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder, and Texas’ Josh Hamilton.

The April and May Sunday Night Baseball schedule follows (all telecasts begin at 8 p.m. ET, unless noted). Game selections for the remainder of the season will be made three weeks (June and July 25) or two weeks (August and September) in advance. All Sunday Night Baseball telecasts are also available in high definition on ESPN HD and via ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, ESPN360.com and ESPN Mobile TV.

Spring Training and Opening Day on ESPN

ESPN will televise 10 Spring Training games, each weekday at 1 p.m., beginning March 22 through Friday, April 2. ESPN and ESPN2 will combine to televise five opening day games Monday, April 5 – St. Louis at Cincinnati at 1 p.m. (ESPN HD), Cleveland at Chicago White Sox at 2 p.m. (ESPN2 HD), Chicago Cubs at Atlanta at 4 p.m. (ESPN HD), San Francisco at Houston at 7 p.m. (ESPN2 HD), and Minnesota at the L.A. Angels at 10 p.m. (ESPN2 HD).

The 2010 campaign will mark the 21st consecutive season of Major League Baseball on ESPN. ESPN and ESPN2 will combine to televise 80 regular season games, which will be simulcast on ESPN360.com and ESPN Mobile TV. For the 13th year, ESPN Radio will provide coverage from Opening Night through the final game of the World Series.

ESPN’s vast MLB offerings include: the exclusive Sunday Night Baseball franchise; Monday Night Baseball, including up to three co-exists (shown in local markets) per team; Wednesday Night Baseball; and the acclaimed Baseball Tonight, the most-viewed destination for MLB highlights, news and information. ESPN will also continue to televise the State Farm Home Run Derby and additional All-Star related events.