No Sunday World Series games this year

ATLANTA, GA - OCTOBER 09: A baseball on the field prior to the fifth and final game of the National League Division Series between the Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals on October 9, 2019 at Suntrust Park in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire)

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Jon Lewis

Jon Lewis has been covering the sports media industry on a daily basis since 2006 as the founder and main writer of Sports Media Watch. You can contact him here or on the social media websites X (Twitter) or Bluesky.

The Milwaukee Brewers celebrate after winning baseball's World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

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Comments 7

Samuel says:

4 years ago

But in the MLB.com article it says the first day of wild card action will be on ESPN, ABC and ESPN2. So I guess ABC will be involved.
- Paulsen says:
  
  4 years ago
  
  Thanks for catching that. I saw each game listed for ESPN only.
Esl says:

4 years ago

Interesting schedule. Paulsen, do you think ABC will televise any of the wild card games? Or will they all be on ESPN/ESPN 2.
- Paulsen says:
  
  4 years ago
  
  All on ESPN, according to the MLB schedule.
  - ESL says:
    
    4 years ago
    
    That would be very surprising to me. I can’t see this happening on a college football Saturday. 4 games on Saturday. ESPN has to farm out some of these games. Even if they planned a quadruple header on ESPN, they would have to have ESPN2 ready for the bleed over games. I can’t see ESPN giving up 12 hours on a college football Saturday to cover baseball.
    - Paulsen says:
      
      4 years ago
      
      True … that will be an interesting one.
Nate Johnson says:

4 years ago

First thing first I’ll admit I was wrong about a Sunday WS game this year on a Yankees/Mets ratings post weeks ago. For some reason I always believed that the season still ended on Sunday, but it actually ends on October 5th which is a Wednesday. Looking at the calendar, it makes all sense for the MLB to do what they did and have no Sunday WS. I don’t look at this at them avoiding NFL primetime action, just at the hands they were decked following the lockout. I know there are people very frustrated for the WS to end well into November, but once again it was understandable. Now the next hope is for no games being postponed due to rain delay.

With that said, the MLB hasn’t released the 2023 schedule yet and I will bet 3 pairs of my socks that the RS season end before October and also the Wildcard series will end at the start of October (barring rain delay postponements). So I’m not reacting negatively about it. It is what it is at this point. And if there has to be reason or blame it points back to the lockout delaying the season by a week which at this point is spilled milk. Amazing though how one week makes a difference.

As far football competition goes in the World Series, the Bengals/Browns match-up probably won’t be too exciting coming in because it looks like Deshaun Watson won’t appear in that game unless his suspension surprisingly sticks to 6 games which is upbeat news for FOX and the MLB. Game 2 competition vs. College Football won’t face any unique match-up in Primetime. However, if a Game 7 comes together we’re talking about a Clemson/Notre Dame Primetime game that would highly likely attract a College Gameday visit to South Bend.

Final point, I’m curious on how ESPN will handle the MLB Wildcard rounds on a weekend during college football. One guess could be to load up non-TV games on ESPN+ which would create plenty of frustrations to those who are not subscribed to the digital platform or to those who isn’t in the SEC/ACC market where they could possibly stream for free through their cable/satellite subscription. Another situation they’re faced with is that if the four MLB games has a Noon, 3, 6, and 9 Eastern first pitch time, but games are overlapping, what is the immediate plan? I doubt ESPN2 will be available to save ESPN on a College Football Saturday (maybe they could on the Friday and Sunday), which brings up the idea that maybe the MLBN should attempt to show the start of the other games start and sure ESPN could also have it on ESPNEWS and ESPN+. After critically thinking all of this, I now hope next season the Wildcard Rounds is on Tuesday-Thursday in 2023 and beyond!

SMW Podcast

Bomani Jones joins the pod, plus thoughts on Ernie Johnson's exit, World Series ratings and more

0:000:00

Nielsen has reprocessed the viewership for NBC’s four NFL games from Week 1-3 of the season. The Patriots-Seahawks Kickoff Game has been updated to 25.2 million, up from an originally-reported 25.1 million. The Week 1 Cowboys-Giants “Sunday Night Football” game has been updated to 25.82 million, up from 25.66 million. Colts-Chiefs the following week has been updated to 24.43 million, up from 24.29 million. Finally, Rams-Broncos in Week 3 has been updated to 20.96 million, up from 20.77 million.