HOUSTON, TEXAS – APRIL 05: Opening Day as the Houston Astros play the Oakland Athletics at Minute Maid Park on April 05, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)
With Opening Day on hold, MLB is broadcasting classic games from all 30 teams on Thursday to give fans a taste of baseball.
Opening Day won’t be quite the same this year, but MLB has found a way to give home-bound fans some sort of baseball fix on the day they had circled on their calendar all Winter.
With the season postponed indefinitely, MLB is planning “Opening Day at Home” for Thursday, March 26, on what would have been the season’s kickoff.
The event involves a full day of classic games being broadcast on TV and streaming on social media platforms. All 30 teams will be featured, in a game they win, at least once.
The selection of games will feature two perfect games (Felix Hernandez and Mark Buehrle), three no hitters (Justin Verlander twice and Clayton Kershaw), a cycle (Nolan Arenado), a Game 163 tiebreaker and countless walk-offs.
In addition to all of the games being streamed on social media, MLB Network will be broadcasting four great Opening Day games – starting with soon-to-be Hall of Famer Derek Jeter’s first – while FS1 will feature two classic World Series Game 7s – the Cubs beating the Indians in 2016 to end the 108-year drought and the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in 2001 on Luis Gonzalez’s walk-off blooper.
ESPN2 will also be broadcasting four classic Home Run Derby competitions starting at 6 p.m. ET.
MLB.com has more information on the full slate of games, where they are streaming on social media.
It may not be the Opening Day that fans were hoping for, but it’s the one we have and at least there will be baseball on our TVs. And for one year only, every fan is guaranteed to see their team win on Opening Day.