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Wednesday Night Baseball
| Wednesday Night Baseball | |
|---|---|
| 250px | |
| Starring |
Chris Berman Jon Sciambi Rick Sutcliffe Doug Glanville and others (see below) |
| Country of origin | 23x15px United States |
| No. of seasons | 18th Season |
| Production | |
| Running time | 3 hours (approximate) |
| Release | |
| Original channel |
ESPN (1990-) ESPN2 (1996-2005) |
| Original release | April 18, 1990 – Present |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | SportsCenter |
| Followed by | Baseball Tonight |
| Related shows |
Sun Night Baseball Mon Night Baseball |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Wednesday Night Baseball is a live game telecast of Major League Baseball that airs every Wednesday night during the regular season on ESPN and is also available in high definition on ESPNHD. The game starts at 7pm ET, following SportsCenter, and usually lasts around three hours (six counting the Monday Night Baseball game every September at the start of the NFL season) with an hour-long Baseball Tonight following the game leading up to the 11pm ET SportsCenter (1am ET for September games with Baseball Tonight moving to ESPN2 at 12am ET). The official name is ESPN Wednesday Night Baseball presented by T-Mobile. Every April some broadcasts air on ESPN2 due to ESPN's priority with Wednesday's NBA coverage.
Wednesday Night Baseball is not exclusive to ESPN. Local sports networks may still air the game. ESPNEWS is seen on ESPN during the game in the teams' designated markets, unless local broadcasters choose not to televise the game. ESPN's blackout (100-mile radius from the stadium, and all of a team's designated market) can be lifted in the latter scenario. On double-headers in September, due to the broadcast of Monday Night Football, either one of the Wednesday Night Baseball games will co-exist with the local markets' carriers and will not always be subject to blackout.
Commentators
A complete list of broadcasters, with their period of tenure on the show (beginning years of each season shown).
Current
- Manny Acta: (color commentator: 2013–present)
- Chris Berman: (play-by-play, 1990–present, select games)
- Aaron Boone: (fill-in analyst, 2010–present, for September games only)
- Doug Glanville: (analyst, 2013–present)
- Tim Kurkjian: (field reporter, 2011–present, for September games only)
- Barry Larkin: (fill-in analyst, 2013–present)
- Steve Levy: (fill-in play-by-play, 2013–present)
- Sean McDonough: (play-by-play, 2011–2012, for September games only; 2013–present, select games)
- Mark Mulder: (fill-in analyst, 2013–present)
- Dave O'Brien: (play-by-play, 2008–2012; 2013–present, for September games only)
- Karl Ravech: (fill-in play-by-play, 2013–present)
- Jon Sciambi: (play-by-play, 2005; fill-in play-by-play, 2013; play-by-play, 2014–present)
- Rick Sutcliffe: (analyst, 2008–2010, for regular broadcasts; 2011–2013, for September games only; 2014–present, for regular broadcasts)
- Curt Schilling: (color analyst, 2013–present)
Past
- Erin Andrews: (field reporter, 2008)
- Bonnie Bernstein: (field reporter, 2007, select games)
- Steve Berthiaume: (fill-in play-by-play, 2007–2012)
- Jeff Brantley: (analyst, 2002–2005)
- Dave Campbell: (analyst, 1990–2002)
- Bob Carpenter: (play-by-play, 1990–2004)
- Duke Castiglione: (field reporter, 2006)
- Nomar Garciaparra: (analyst, 2010–2013)
- Pedro Gomez (field reporter, 2011–2014)
- Orel Hershiser: (analyst, 2001 and 2006–07; 2009–10 for September games)
- Buck Martinez: (analyst, 1992–2000 and 2002–05)
- Joe Morgan: (analyst, 1990–2010, select games)
- Steve Phillips: (analyst, 2007)
- Dan Shulman: (play-by-play, 1995–2007; 2009–10 for September games)
History
The program debuted in 1990, when ESPN first acquired MLB rights. From 2000 to 2005, Wednesday night baseball doubleheaders usually aired at 7pm ET on ESPN and 10pm ET on ESPN2, though this could have changed depending on ESPN's programming schedule. The second part of the doubleheader was discontinued after 2005 season, however.
Wednesdays also included an afternoon game, called ESPN DayGame which aired typically at 12:30pm or 1pm ET on ESPN, making Wednesdays ESPN's primary day of baseball, as games aired both in the afternoon and in primetime. However, ESPN DayGame was also discontinued following the 2006 season.
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id:lightline value:rgb(0.6,0.6,0.6) id:pbp value:rgb(0.6,0.6,1) legend:Play-by-play id:analyst value:rgb(1,0.8,0) legend:Color commentator id:freporter value:green legend:Field reporter id:fanalyst value:blue legend:Field analyst
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layer:front at:2008 color:red
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bar:Dave Barnett mark: (line,black) width:17 from:1996 till:2005 color:pbp bar:Chris Berman mark: (line,black) width:17 from:1993 till:2008 color:pbp bar:Jeff Brantley mark: (line,black) width:17 from:2002 till:2005 color:analyst bar:Dave Campbell mark: (line,black) width:17 from:1991 till:2002 color:analyst bar:Bob Carpenter mark: (line,black) width:17 from:1992 till:1995 color:pbp bar:Duke Castiglione mark: (line,black) width:17 from:2006 till:2006 color:freporter bar:Orel Hershiser mark:(line,black) width:17 from:2006 till:2008 color:analyst bar:Orel Hershiser mark: (line,black) width:17 from:2001 till:2001 color:analyst bar:Norm Hitzges mark: (line,black) width:17 from:1990 till:1990 color:analyst bar:Buck Martinez mark: (line,black) width:17 from:2002 till:2006 color:analyst bar:Buck Martinez mark: (line,black) width:17 from:1992 till:2001 color:analyst bar:Mike Lupica mark: (line,black) width:17 from:1990 till:1990 color:analyst bar:Fred Lynn mark: (line,black) width:17 from:1993 till:1994 color:analyst bar:Joel Meyers mark: (line,black) width:17 from:1994 till:1995 color:pbp bar:Sean McDonough mark: (line,black) width:17 from:1994 till:1995 color:pbp bar:Steve Phillips mark: (line,black) width:17 from:2007 till:2008 color:analyst bar:Steve Physioc mark: (line,black) width:17 from:1994 till:1995 color:pbp bar:Jim Rooker mark: (line,black) width:17 from:1994 till:1995 color:analyst bar:Jon Sciambi mark: (line,black) width:17 from:2005 till:2006 color:pbp bar:Dan Shulman mark:(line,black) width:17 from:1996 till:2008 color:pbp bar:Dave Sims mark:(line,black) width:17 from:1993 till:1994 color:pbp bar:Dewayne Staats mark:(line,black) width:17 from:1995 till:1997 color:pbp bar:Gary Thorne mark:(line,black) width:17 from:1990 till:1992 color:pbp</timeline>
- Note: From 1990 till 2005, the Wednesday night telecast appeared as a doubleheader. That is why there are two pairings of play-by-play commentators and analysts listed from those years.
See also
- ESPN Major League Baseball
- Baseball Tonight
- Sunday Night Baseball
- Monday Night Baseball
- Thursday Night Baseball
- Major League Baseball on Fox
- Major League Baseball on ESPN Radio
- ESPN Major League Baseball broadcasters
- Major League Baseball on ESPN Radio broadcasters
- List of current Major League Baseball announcers
Resources
- ESPN.tv
- Press Release: ESPN’s Signature MLB Franchises Return - Sunday, Monday and Wednesday Night Baseball