Major League Baseball announced Friday morning that the Chicago Cubs will host the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday, April 5th – MLB’s 2015 Opening Night. The two teams had initially been scheduled to begin their three game series the next day, but that will now be an off day for the two clubs after the change in schedule. That day will still have 14 other games, featuring the season openers for the remaining 28 teams.
MLB’s Opening Night game will be broadcast nationwide on ESPN2, beginning at 8:00 PM EST. Dan Shulman, Curt Schilling, John Kruk, and Buster Olney will handle the broadcast duties.
The occasion will be a historic one, as MLB has never opened it’s season with a game at Wrigley Field – a somewhat surprising feat given that the stadium has stood for more than 100 years. Wrigley has seen it’s fair share of openers, despite the potential for cold and windy weather in early April, they’ve just never held the Sunday night opener.
The game will also mark Joe Maddon’s debut with the Cubs – as well as any other potential additions they bring in this offseason.
For St. Louis, this will mark the fourth consecutive year in which they will open the regular season on the road. This will also be the second time in last four years that they’ll play in the Opening Night game.