On sports media: Twins likely making last appearance on ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball"
After 35 years, ESPN and MLB will go their separate ways following the season. The Twins are set to make one of their few Sunday night appearances before that relationship ends.
ESPN went into business with Major League Baseball in 1990, airing six games a week. The crown jewel of the package was the Sunday night telecast.
For years, it had a big game feel.
ESPN executives felt that was no longer the case — at least not at the $550 million it was paying each season for “Sunday Night Baseball” and other MLB properties — and the decision was made last winter to opt-out after the 2025 season. That was three years before the contract was set to expire.
That makes the Twins’ game on Sunday night in Detroit likely their final appearance on ESPN. The game was flexed into the prime-time slot by the network two weeks ago. Minnesota was 36-32 at the time but is 3-10 since. The Tigers are an American League-best 51-31 after beating the Athletics on Thursday. Lefthander Tarik Skubal, one of the American League’s top starters, is scheduled to pitch against Twins righthander Chris Paddack.
How long has it been since the Twins last appeared on “Sunday Night Baseball”?
You have to go back to Sept. 20, 2020 when the Twins beat the Chicago Cubs 4-0 at Wrigley Field.
That nearly five-year absence is nothing compared to the fact it has been almost 15 years since the Twins last played host to a Sunday night game. That came on Aug. 22, 2010 against the Los Angeles Angels, during the Twins’ first season in Target Field. Danny Valencia homered and Scott Baker was the winning pitcher in a 4-0 victory.
This also will be the first AL Central matchup on “Sunday Night Baseball” since the Chicago White Sox played host to Cleveland on Aug. 9, 2020.
ESPN usually prefers to show teams such as the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets and New York Yankees in prime time. The reason is simple: A World Series rematch between the Yankees and Dodgers on June 1 drew an average of 2.7 million viewers and a high of 3.1 million for the highest rating in seven years on “Sunday Night Baseball.” A week later, the Red Sox and Yankees averaged 1.9 million viewers and peaked at 2.2 million.
As far as where the Sunday night games might end up in 2026, The Wall Street Journal reported last month that NBCUniversal had made an offer to MLB to take over the same package of regular-season and playoff games that ESPN has owned NBCUniversal, however, was offering a lesser fee for the package.
Another option could be Apple, which already has a Friday night MLB package that reportedly is a seven-year agreement worth approximately $85 million a season. A new deal for the streaming rights to Sunday night games is a possibility.
A DIFFERENT APPROACH
A “Players Only” telecast will debut on Twins TV for the July 8-10 series against the Cubs at Target Field.
Former teammates Justin Morneau, Glen Perkins and Trevor Plouffe will be in the booth. Cory Provus, the Twins’ play-by-play voice on TV, will not work the games and there will be no traditional telecast.