This the time of year when news of television schedules for all major league clubs start to trickle out. Of course that includes the St. Louis Cardinals. This post is an update of my January 8 report.
MLB Network and spring games
Probably the main reason for this post is my excitement over the MLB Network’s television plans for spring training. Starting on February 25, their published schedule lists three live spring games at 1 pm, 4 pm and 7 pm Eastern on most days.
Teams are not yet announced, but it seems logical that MLB Network might pick up some feeds from team-oriented networks. Of course, the schedules could change, but I consider this very good news.
MLB Network will also provide televised coverage of selected World Baseball Classic games, as well.
Cardinals to be featured on MLB Network
MLB Network plans to travel around to all 30 clubs’ spring training camps and will be running a daily program covering one team per day. The Cardinals’ day in the spotlight will be on Friday, February 27.
The one-hour program will run four times, three times on the 27th with the first actually scheduled at 11:30 pm Eastern the night before, on February 26.
“An In-Depth Look at the 2009 Team Featuring Player, Coach and GM Interviews; Expert Analysis on Personnel and Other Decisions for the Upcoming Regular Season,” says their program schedule.
First opponent spring TV game
The Minnesota Twins have announced their spring television schedule with their Sunday, March 29th game against the visiting Cardinals among the telecasts. The game will start at 1:05 pm ET and will be on local Minneapolis-St. Paul WFTC-29 and Fox Sports North.
Big FOX regular season games
The Cardinals are already scheduled on the national FOX network for nine regular season Saturday afternoon games, including three during April. This is in addition to the April 19 Cubs game previously put on the ESPN schedule. In fact, five of the ten national games are against the Chicagoans.
The games:
Sat., April 11 vs. Astros FOX
Sat., April 18 @ Cubs FOX
Sun., April 19 @ Cubs ESPN
Sat., April 25 vs. Cubs FOX
Sat., June 14 @ Indians FOX
Sat., July 11 @ Cubs FOX
Sat., July 25 @ Phillies FOX
Sat., August 1 vs. Astros FOX
Sat., September 12 vs. Braves FOX
Sat., September 19 vs. Cubs FOX
We also now know that Fox Sports Midwest will be covering 130 regular season games this coming season. Assuming all 162 games will be televised, that leaves 21 contests that are likely candidates for local KSDK Channel 5. Typically they are Sunday afternoon games.
Winter Warm-up specials on FS Midwest
Remember that starting tomorrow Tuesday, January 20, Fox Sports Midwest kicks off their 2009 coverage of Cardinals baseball with two 30-minute specials recapping the Cardinals Winter Warm-up and looking ahead to the upcoming season. Details here.