The seven Opening Day games that will be aired on ESPN will include all 10 teams that played in the postseason, including the “Sunday Night Baseball” national opener that will renew the match-up of the 2015 World Series.
Advertisement
The season-opening series between the 2015 pennant winners will anchor ESPN’s Opening Day tripleheader on Sunday, April 3.
The world champion Kansas City Royals and NY Mets will have yet another primetime meeting. As a result, the Opening Day series in Kauffman Stadium takes on a heightened significance as the Mets can start their 2016 campaign looking for a dose of revenge against the Royals.
The Mets-Royals opener had been announced in September, along with the rest of the schedule. The AL runner-up Blue Jays will the Rays three hours later, and the Mets and Royals will then resume where they left off in October in the showcase game at 8:35 p.m. ET. ESPN will follow up with four more nationally televised games Monday, the traditional day for openers. The Astros return to Yankee Stadium, where they eliminated the Yankees in the American League wild-card game, on Monday, April 4 at 1 p.m.
Advertisement
That freaky schedule will allow the Mets to basically do whatever they want with the starting rotation over the first five games of the season. Whoever starts Opening Day on Sunday can start the Home Opener on Friday with regular rest, so the Mets’ fifth starter likely won’t be seen until the second week of the season.
