The first place St. Louis Cardinals and Nolan Arenado host their historic rivals, the Chicago Cubs and Anthony Rizzo on Sunday Night Baseball Presented by Taco Bell on May 23 at 7 p.m. ET. The Sunday Night Baseball team of Matt Vasgersian, World Series Champion and ESPN analyst Alex Rodriguez and reporter Buster Olney will provide commentary on ESPN. Jon “Boog” Sciambi and Chris Singleton will describe the action on ESPN Radio, where coverage begins at 6 p.m.

Baseball Tonight: Sunday Night Countdown will precede Sunday Night Baseball at 6 p.m. on ESPN. Host Karl Ravech, analysts Eduardo Perez and Tim Kurkjian and Senior MLB Insider Jeff Passan will preview the game and share their thoughts on plans the Cubs might make ahead of the 2021 MLB trade deadline. 

BBTN Live, ESPN’s digital MLB pregame show, will stream live at 6:30 p.m. on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and the ESPN App. Hosts Gary Striewski, Joon Lee and Clinton Yates will preview the Cubs and Cardinals match-up, take a look at the current state of the Cubs and revisit the plays and stories from the week.

The Cardinals return to ESPN on May 24 for a full national Monday Night Baseball Presented by USAA telecast as they visit the first place Chicago White Sox and José Abreu. Ravech, Perez and Kurkjian will provide commentary beginning at 8 p.m. The defending World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers and Mookie Betts visit the Houston Astros and José Altuve on Wednesday Night Baseball Presented by Hankook Tire beginning at 7 p.m. Ravech, Perez and Kurkjian will be on the call with Rivera reporting. This game is subject to blackout restrictions in the Los Angeles market.

This week on ESPN.com, Bradford Doolittle and David Schoenfield take an early look at their favorites for the MVP, Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards. Doolittle also outlines how much changing the baseball itself is changing the sport of baseball. On Wednesday, Kurkjian delves into how the “K” became the most destructive letter in MLB, and on Thursday, Alden Gonzalez highlights everything you need to know about MLB’s crackdown on pitchers applying foreign substances to the baseball. Friday, Lee uncovers how MLB umpires are stepping up their fashion game.

Additional MLB content, including ESPN’s MLB Power Rankings, can be found on ESPN.com.

ESPN+ continues streaming a game every day. All ESPN MLB games and content are also available on the ESPN App.

 Upcoming ESPN Baseball and Weeknight Game Schedule:

*Blackout restrictions apply to local markets

 Upcoming MLB on ESPN+ Schedule*:

*Local blackout restrictions apply to all games

-30-

Media contacts: Ben Cafardo at [email protected]; Katie Hughes at [email protected].