Less than a month after their preseason exhibition aired on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, the White Sox will be returning for their first regular season appearance since May 12, 2013.
ESPN announced the last-minute shift on Friday night, which comes as a direct result of the Cubs-Cardinals series postponement over positive COVID-19 tests. Because of the change, the game’s first pitch has been moved from 1:10 p.m. CST to 6:08 p.m. CST. The action will also air exclusively on ESPN, meaning there now won’t be any NBC Sports Chicago broadcast.
“I can’t remember the last time we were playing Sunday night,” outfielder Adam Engel said in a postgame interview. “I’m excited. Any time you get a primetime game, night games are always more fun than day games, in my opinion. I think a lot of guys think the same way. It should be fun, and everyone kind of knows we’re on TV, it’s talked about a little bit here and there. A little extra energy. We’ll take all the energy we can get without having our awesome fans in the stands. Knowing we’re on ESPN, it’s fun.”
Network spokesman Ben Cafardo revealed in a tweet that we can expect to hear the trio of Matt Vasgersian, Alex Rodriguez, and Buster Olney on the television broadcast. In addition, Boog Sciambi and Chris Singleton will have the radio call, though WGN’s Andy Masur and Darren Jackson are also broadcasting the game per usual.
Looking back at the last time the White Sox appeared on “Sunday Night Baseball” over seven years ago, Chris Sale retired the Angels lineup with ease. The former South Side ace faced only 28 batters, struck out seven, and surrendered just one hit over nine innings in a dominant shutout. If you’re hoping to see a similar performance, you could be in luck as it will be the elite pitching matchup of Shane Bieber and Lucas Giolito.
One final thing to note about Sunday night’s game is that we will be holding our first ever Sox On 35th live game watch on Twitter (@SoxOn35th). Our stream is set to begin around 6:00 PM CST and will be hosted by the normal podcast crew of myself, Jordan Lazowski (Editor-In-Chief), Jonnie Nonnie (Engagement Director), and Brandon Anderson (Creative Director).
Plenty of White Sox talk will be had along with some special giveaways, trivia contests, guest appearances, and more throughout the duration of the game. We hope you tune in!
For more updates, be sure to follow us on social media @SoxOn35th.
Featured Photo: White Sox/Twitter