The Philadelphia Phillies are still a month away from the beginning of spring training in Clearwater, but baseball fans are already turning their attention to the upcoming regular season. ESPN has helped us start dreaming about those glorious summer evenings when MLB games rule the North American sporting landscape with the release of its Sunday Night Baseball schedule.
The Phillies are featured three times on the national broadcaster's "early-season" schedule. While two of the Phillies' opponents aren't going to raise your blood pressure, their third matchup is sure to be a doozy.
The Phillies' first Sunday Night Baseball game is scheduled for April 27 as they travel to the Windy City against the NL Central Chicago Cubs, who missed the playoffs last year but landed star outfielder Kyle Tucker in trade this winter. They'll then be the road team again when they face off against the defending AL Central champion Cleveland Guardians on May 11.
Phillies and Mets scheduled for a classic ESPN Sunday Night Baseball showdown
The Phillies' third and final Sunday Night Baseball matchup features an NL East showdown with the longtime rival New York Mets on June 22 at Citizens Bank Park.
As Phillies fans painfully remember, the Wild Card Mets eliminated the Phillies from the 2024 postseason in the brief four-game NLDS. The Mets will obviously feature a new-look lineup this season after signing Juan Soto to his megadeal. Whether or not career Mets first baseman Pete Alonso will be back is another matter.
The Phillies' ESPN Sunday Night Baseball games will air in the 7 p.m. ET primetime slot.
ESPN unveils the 2025 #SundayNightBaseball early-season game schedule⚾️
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) January 15, 2025
SNB begins March 30 with #BravesCountry vs #Padres
Details: https://t.co/YzKKR7jVcj pic.twitter.com/I8czCWte6G
This isn't the final schedule, so there's a good chance that ESPN will add at least one more Sunday Night Baseball game to the Phillies' schedule. With the NL East shaping up to be a challenging division this season, a close race at the end is all too likely, so a late-season Sunday night game is in the realm of possibility.
Unfortunately, the MLB schedule-makers weren't thinking along those lines when they created the Phillies' September schedule. With weekend series against the Miami Marlins, Kansas City Royals, Arizona Diamondbacks and Minnesota Twins, there's a distinct lack of intriguing rivalry games. The best chance ESPN will get will be on Sunday, Aug. 31, when the Phillies and Atlanta Braves have their final head-to-head game of the regular season.