ESPN Launches MLB Pre-Season Coverage Thursday; To Carry World Baseball Classic Final Tonight

Courtesy: ESPN

ESPN kicks off its Major League Baseball pre-season coverage Thursday afternoon.

The Yankees and the Rays face off in the first of the network’s pre-season broadcasts beginning at 1 p.m. Jon Sciambi will have the call for the Grapefruit League game.  He will be joined by analysts Rick Sutcliffe and Doug Glanville in the booth for additional commentary.

The Dodgers and Angels follow at 7 p.m. on ESPN in a Cactus League showdown.  The Angels currently sit fourth in the league while Los Angeles sits seventh.  Dan Shulman, the voice of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, will have the call for the game.  He will be joined in the booth by his SNB cohorts Jessica Mendoza and Aaron Boone.  Reporter Buster Olney will also be on hand for all of the latest in-game news and interviews.

Karl Ravech and Tim Kurkjian will have a wrap of up the day’s action on the diamond at 10 p.m. on Baseball Tonight on ESPN.

Before ESPN launches its Major League pre-season coverage Thursday, it will broadcast live the World Baseball Classic Final tonight at 9 p.m.  The United States and Puerto Rico will face off for this year’s title live on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.  The broadcast begins at 9 p.m. ET.

The United States made its way to the Final after defeating Japan 2 – 1 Tuesday. The game marks the team’s first-ever time it has reached the Final.

The re-match against Puerto Rico will not be an easy contest for the Americans.  That is because Puerto Rico is undefeated in the tournament at 7 – 0.  Marcus Stroman is expected to get the start in tonight’s game for the United States while Seth Lugo is scheduled to take the mound for Puerto Rico.

More information on ESPN’s Major League Baseball coverage is available online now along with all of the latest MLB headlines at:

 

 

 

Website: http://espn.go.com/mlb

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ESPNBaseballTonight

Twitter: http://twitter.com/BBTN

 

 

 

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ESPN Deportes To Carry Exclusive Spanish-Language World Baseball Classic Coverage

Courtesy: ESPN Deportes/ESPN

ESPN is expanding its coverage of the World Baseball Classic.

The worldwide leader in sports is expanding coverage of the annual baseball event this year to include coverage from ESPN Deportes, ESPN Deportes Radio, WatchESPN and a Spanish-language simulcast of Final on Match 22 on ESPN2.

ESPN Deportes’ coverage of the tournament begins March 6 at 10 p.m. ET with first-round pool play featuring Israel vs. Chinese Taipei.  On March 9, things pick up even more as defending champion Dominican Republic makes its debut against Canada at 6 p.m. ET.  Mexico vs. Italy airs immediately after Dominican Republic vs. Canada at 9 p.m. ET.

MLB Network will partner with ESPN for additional coverage of the World Baseball Classic.

The 2017 World Baseball Classic will feature some of Major League Baseball’s biggest names.  They include Miguel Cabrera (Venezuela), Nolan Arenado (United States), Robinson Cano (Dominican Republic) and Yadier Molina (Puerto Rico) among many others.  In all, 63 MLB All-Stars have appeared through the years at the World Baseball Classic.

Adding to the tournament’s international feel, ESPN Deportes has launched a new marketing campaign for its coverage of the World Baseball Classic featuring Latin Grammy ®-winners ChocQuib Town.  The group’s song ‘De Donde Vengo Yo’ will serve as the music base for the network’s World Baseball Classic-related television promotions.

The tournament’s extensive coverage and list of superstars to appear is just part of what will make ESPN networks’ coverage stand out this year.  The networks’ list of talent covering the tournament stands out just as much as the superstars playing in the games.

ESPN Deportes’ experts tapped to help cover the tournament includes: Ernesto Jerez, Luis Alfredo Alvarez, Guillermo Celis, Eduardo Perez, Jorge Eduardo Sanchez, Eitan Benezra, Fernando Alvarez, Carolina Guillen, Renato Bermudez, Carlos Nava, Jorge Morejon, Jose Francisco Rivera, Kenneth Garay and Enrique Rojas.

Former MLB player and manager Ozzie Guillen will join ESPN Deportes’ staff for additional commentary throughout the tournament.  Fellow legends Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez and Ismael Valdez will also join the networks’ staff for more insight.  Pedro Gomez and Marly Rivera will serve as bilingual reporters for SportsCenter, Nacion ESPN on ESPN2 and Baseball Tonight.

The ESPN networks’ broadcast schedule for the World Baseball Classic is noted below.

Detailed schedule below includes live events for Round 1 and Round 2:

DATE	TIME (ET)	MATCH	NETWORKS
Mon, March 6	4:30 a.m.	Israel vs. Korea	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN
	10:00 p.m.	Israel vs. Chinese Taipei	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN
Tue, March 7	4:30 a.m.	Korea vs. Netherlands	ESPN Deportes+
	5:00 a.m.	Cuba vs. Japan	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN
	10:00 p.m.	China vs. Cuba	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN
Wed, March 8	4:30 a.m.	Chinese Taipei vs. Netherlands	ESPN Deportes+
	5:00 a.m.	Japan vs. Australia	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN
	10:00 p.m.	Netherlands vs. Israel	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN
Thu, March 9	4:30 a.m.	Korea vs. Chinese Taipei	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN
	5:00 a.m.	Australia vs. China	ESPN Deportes+
	6:00 p.m.	Canada vs. Dominican Republic	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN
	9:00 p.m.	Mexico vs. Italy	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN
	10:00 p.m.	Australia vs. Cuba	ESPN Deportes+
Fri, March 10	5:00 a.m.	China vs. Japan	ESPN Deportes+
	6:00 p.m.	Colombia vs. United States	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN
	9:00 p.m.	Venezuela vs. Puerto Rico	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN
Sat, March 11	12:00 p.m.	Colombia vs. Canada	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN
	3:00 p.m.	Venezuela vs. Italy	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN
	6:30 p.m.	United States vs. Dominican Republic	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN
	9:30 p.m.	Puerto Rico vs. Mexico	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN
Sun, March 12	12:30 p.m.	Dominican Republic vs. Colombia	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN
	3:30 p.m.	Italy vs. Puerto Rico	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN
	7:00 p.m.	Canada vs. United States	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN
	10:00 p.m.	Mexico vs. Venezuela	ESPN Deportes, WatchESPN

 

 

More information on ESPN Deportes’ World Baseball Classic coverage is available online now along with all of the network’s latest news and more at:

 

 

 

Website: http://espndeportes.espn.go.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ESPNDeportes

 

 

 

To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.