Cubs Scheduled For 5 ESPN Sunday Night Games In 2017

You already know that the Cubs will take part in ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball season opener April 2 in St. Louis vs. the Cardinals.

Wednesday, the network announced four additional appearances by the Cubs on the Sunday Night baseball franchise. None of these should surprise you. The four additional dates are:

Sunday, April 30, vs. Red Sox at Fenway Park
Sunday, May 7, vs. Yankees at Wrigley Field
Sunday, June 4, vs. Cardinals at Wrigley Field
Sunday, July 23, vs. Cardinals at Wrigley Field

The complete ESPN Sunday night schedule through July 23 is in the link above. All the Sunday night dates are scheduled through that date except for June 11, June 18, June 25 and July 2, which will be announced later. It seems unlikely that the Cubs would be chosen for any of those four dates (they play the Rockies on June 11, Pirates on June 18, Marlins on June 25 and Reds on July 2).

Beyond that, each team is limited to a maximum of six Sunday night dates per year, so it’d seem logical for ESPN to want to save one more Cubs appearance for sometime in August or September. Looking at the schedule right now, August 6 vs. the Nationals or September 17 vs. the Cardinals might be attractive to the network, though that would make four Cubs/Cardinals Sunday night matchups in 2017 and ESPN is also contractually obligated to show all 30 teams at least once every season, according to the link above.

So, get ready for some Cubs Sunday night action in early 2017, including three Wrigley Field dates.