Jessica Mendoza to Become First Female Analyst for Nationally Televised MLB Postseason Game

Baseball Tonight, SportsCenter on the Road; Both Wild Card Games on ESPN Radio

The 2015 Major League Baseball postseason begins exclusively on ESPN with the American League Wild Card Game telecast presented by Hankook Tires on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 8 p.m. ET. Jessica Mendoza will become the first female analyst to call a nationally televised MLB postseason game when she joins fellow analyst John Kruk and play-by-play veteran Dan Shulman, the voice of Sunday Night Baseball. ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney will be reporting.

Note: Going into action on Oct. 1, the New York Yankees currently have a 2.5 game lead atop the AL Wild Card standings. The Houston Astros currently hold the second AL Wild Card spot, with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim only 0.5 games behind.

This is ESPN’s second consecutive year televising an MLB Wild Card Game, per its new multi-platform rights agreement with MLB, which went into effect in 2014. The game will also be available on WatchESPN, ESPN Radio and ESPN Deportes.

Baseball Tonight presented by Chevrolet, ESPN’s MLB studio show, will hit the road for on-site, pre-game telecasts from the AL Wild Card venue. Baseball Tonight will air live from the host team’s stadium from 5-6 p.m. and then again from 7-8 p.m., leading into the game. Host Karl Ravech will be joined by analysts Aaron Boone, Eduardo Perez and reporter Tim Kurkjian.

 SportsCenter will take its 6 p.m. show, hosted by Lindsay Czarniak, on the road to the AL Wild Card Game site. ESPN’s flagship program will air from inside the stadium and include analysis from ESPN MLB commentators.

ESPN’s AL Wild Card schedule – Oct. 6

ESPN Radio will air the national radio broadcast of both Wild Card games, beginning with the American League Wild Card Game, at 8 p.m. Dave O’Brien and Aaron Boone will describe the action. In addition, ESPN Radio will broadcast the National League Wild Card Game – Pittsburgh Pirates versus Chicago Cubs – on Wed, Oct. 7, at 8 p.m. with Jon Sciambi and Chris Singleton providing commentary.

ESPN International: ESPN will also televise the American League Wild Card Game across platforms in Latin America, Brazil, Caribbean and Pac-Rim. Additionally, the National League Wild Card Game – Wed, Oct. 7 – will air on ESPN International platforms in Brazil and Pac-Rim.

Tie-breaker Games: ESPN will be the exclusive national home for any and all Major League Baseball tie-breaker games on Monday, Oct. 5.

ESPN’s MLB Postseason Impact Games

ESPN will continue to document the final days of the 2015 regular-season across news and information programming, such as SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight presented by Chevrolet. Additionally, ESPN will televise the following MLB Postseason Impact Games presented by U.S. Army:

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Media contacts: Ben Cafardo at 860-766-3496 or [email protected] (@Ben_ESPN);

Gianina Thompson at 860-766-7022 or [email protected] (@Gianina_ESPN).