Wednesday Night Baseball

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Wednesday Night Baseball
Genre	Sports
Running time	3 hours (approximate)
Starring	Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser, and Duke Castiglione
Country of origin	USA
Original channel	ESPN (1990-) and ESPN2 (1996-2005)

Wednesday Night Baseball is a live game telecast of Major League Baseball that airs every Wednesday night on ESPN and is also available in high definition on ESPN HD. The game starts at 7pm ET, following SportsCenter, and usually lasts around three hours with an hour long Baseball Tonight after the game leading up to the 11pm ET SportsCenter. The official name is ESPN Wednesday Night Baseball presented by Goodyear. The play-by-play announcer is Dan Shulman along with analysis from former Major League Baseball pitcher Orel Hershiser and Duke Castiglione serving as field reporter.

The program debuted in 1990, when ESPN first acquired MLB rights. Since 2000 and until 2005, Wednesday night baseball doubleheaders usually aired at 7 p.m. on ESPN and 10 p.m. on ESPN2, though this could have changed depending on ESPN's programming schedule. The second part of the doubleheader has been discontinued. Wednesdays also include an afternoon game, called ESPN DayGame which airs typically at 12:30 or 1:00 p.m EST on ESPN, making Wednesdays ESPN's primary day of baseball, as games air both in the afternoon and in primetime. The day game sometimes airs on Thursday instead. Unlike ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball, Wednesday Night Baseball is not exclusive. Local sports networks may still air the game. ESPNEWS is seen on ESPN during the game in the teams local markets, unless local broadcasters choose not to televise the game. ESPN's blackout (100-mile radius from the stadium, and all of a team's designated market) can be lifted in the latter scenario.

Past announcing teams for Wednesday Night Baseball include Chris Berman, along with analysts Tony Gwynn or Rick Sutcliffe, as well as other play-by-play men such as Dan Shulman or Dave O'Brien. ESPN's DayGame coverage has almost exclusively been called by broadcaster Gary Thorne. ESPN's coverage of Wednesday Night Baseball is typically aired in high-definition on ESPNHD, and every 7:00 p.m game on ESPN is followed by their flagship baseball studio show, Baseball Tonight.