ESPN's first baseball game next season will be Mets-Dodgers on MLB Jackie Robinson Day

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BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — ESPN's first Major League Baseball game next season will be on April 15 when the two-time reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers host the New York Mets on MLB Jackie Robinson Day.

The network also announced on Monday it will air a matchup between the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals on Memorial Day (May 25).

ESPN will air 30 games this season under a reworked three-year deal that begins next season. ESPN becomes the rights holder for MLB.TV, the out-of-market streaming package, and gets the in-market streaming rights for the six teams whose games are produced by MLB: San Diego, Colorado, Arizona, Cleveland, Minnesota and Seattle.

“Sunday Night Baseball” and the Wild Card round games will air on NBC and Peacock and the Home Run Derby moves to Netflix.

The 30 games ESPN will air will be primarily on weeknights and in the summer months.

It also includes the second-half opener between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies on July 16 and the MLB Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, between the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers on Aug. 23. Both games will start at 7 p.m. ET.

“Our exclusive 30-game linear package, which includes new tentpole events like our Memorial Day game and the second-half opener, will be a great complement to the thousands of games that we’ll stream as part of our exclusive MLB.TV rights,” said Julie Sobieski, ESPN's senior vice president of league sports programming and acquisitions.

ESPN2 will have an episode of “Baseball Tonight” on Wednesday night beginning at 11 p.m. ET to recap the Winter Meetings in Orlando, Florida.

ESPN also announced on Monday it has reached a multi-year extension with MLB reporter Jesse Rogers.

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