The Pittsburgh Pirates announced today the complete television and radio broadcast schedule for the 2016 regular season.
ROOT SPORTS, the exclusive rights holder to Pittsburgh Pirates regional baseball game telecasts, is currently scheduled to produce and distribute 150 regular season Pirates games, all in high definition. ROOT SPORTS will begin its telecast schedule with Opening Day from PNC Park on Sunday, April 3 as the Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals open the season with the first game on the Major League Baseball schedule at 1:05 p.m.
In addition to the game telecasts, ROOT SPORTS will provide fans with additional Pirates coverage all season long including LIVE pre-game and post-game shows for all telecasts, new episodes of Inside Pirates Baseball and other exclusive Pirates-related programming.
For the third straight season, ESPN will visit Pittsburgh to broadcast Sunday Night Baseball from PNC Park on Sunday, June 12, as the Pirates host the Cardinals as part of a Sunday Night Baseball doubleheader (Dodgers at Giants nightcap). This will be the third consecutive season the Pirates and Cardinals will square off on Sunday Night Baseball from PNC Park as the two played the national event on Sunday, May 11, 2014 and Sunday, July 12, 2015.
Pirates baseball games are scheduled to appear nationally five times throughout the season on FOX. Three of those games include National League Central Division opponents as well as one Saturday interleague game vs. the Texas Rangers.
The FOX national telecasts include the following Saturday games:
*ESPN games are subject to change and games may be added as the season progresses. The Pirates will announce any changes as they occur
All 162 regular season games can also be heard on SPORTSRADIO 93-7 THE FAN in Pittsburgh and throughout the Pittsburgh region on the Pirates Radio Network. The Pirates flagship radio station, SportsRadio 93-7 THE FAN, will air extended local pre-game and post-game coverage before and after every broadcast. The station will also air the "Clint Hurdle Show" before every pre-game show and the "Neal Huntington Show" every Sunday prior to the pre-game show.
Steve Blass, Greg Brown, Bob Walk and John Wehner will be calling the action for radio and television throughout the 2016 season, along with the newest broadcast addition, play-by-play man Joe Block. Brown and Block will handle the play-by-play duties while Blass, Walk and Wehner will serve as color analysts. Please visit pirates.com for the complete Pirates schedule (all dates and times are Eastern and subject to change).