ESPN Running Home Run Derby Marathon And More On What Was Opening Day

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be the official march toward warmer days when the boys of summer would run out of the dugouts and fans would pack the ballparks. The beginning of the Major League Baseball season is always a matter of celebration. As they say, hope springs eternal. At the start of the season, there’s a glimmer of hope for all 30 teams in baseball.

It seems like a distant memory now but for the longest time the baseball world was focused on the Astros scandal, whether the Red Sox would be sucked into their own mess as part of a larger sign-stealing culture, and fans were (once again), beating up commissioner Rob Manfred over a new rule to force pitchers to pitch to at least three batters in an inning in an effort to quicken the pace-of-play.

How fans would give anything for all that now.

Of course, the 2020 regular season won’t get underway on its planned date this Thursday. The novel coronavirus (also called SARS-CoV-2) and its associated disease COVID-19, have rocked the globe. Spring training operations have been shut down. Players have gone home. And while the league is shooting for a May 25th start date, the realization that this may stretch out further is becoming more of a reality by the day.

The distraction of sports hasn’t stopped the 24/7/365 networks that support the league content that they have media rights to from shutting down, but they have had to get creative. So, instead of having a dark void with no baseball content to show on what would have been opening day, ESPN is getting creative.

Opening day was slated this week beginning March 26th. Instead of match-ups that included the Washington Nationals at New York Mets, San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers, or the Opening Night special of the Los Angeles Angels at Houston Astros, the worldwide leader is going to go with a multi-platform Major League Baseball content initiative this week to try and give fans some sense of normalcy.

To start, there’s going to be a Home Run Derby marathon that ESPN is calling Home Run Derby Classics on Thursday that will air on ESPN2. The eight-hour marathon begins at 6 p.m. ET and will include encore presentations of the 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2015 Home Run Derby events. The encore telecasts will also stream via the ESPN App. Yes, it’s not the same as games, but the Home Run Derby is fun, and gives some sense of baseball content without the bittersweet feel of re-airing a game which would simply add the insult to injury (“Man, I guess this game is something to watch, but it just reminds me we should be watching games for the 2020 season, not this.”)

Here’s what ESPN has on tap for Thursday.

Other MLB Content To Fill The Void

In addition to the Home Run Derby marathon, ESPN is rolling out other baseball-related content. MLB analyst Tim Kurkjian will debut a new content series also starting on March 26th called “Baseball Fix.” In the way that only Kurkjian can really deliver, he’s going to pick what he sees as the best classic baseball story that is tied to that date in history. The show will be available not only on the ESPN television platforms, but also online at ESPN.com.

To add, senior MLB insider and Sunday Night Baseball reporter Buster Olney will continue to host his daily podcast Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney, with new episodes this week. So, when you can’t watch, and are looking to listen to baseball content, ESPN will cover it there.

What Happens After?

ESPN is rolling with the changes just like everyone else. As America has become accustom to changes on a daily basis, so too have the sports networks with their programming. There will be more, to be certain.